[mountaindew]

PP under Linux so I could have dropbox, ?

.

I don't understand the importance of dropbox. PP has wireless network option and connects to my machine shop empire of servers, workstations, and machine controllers with a click or 2 of mouse if file exchange is important.
What am I missing here?

[popspipes]

PathPilot speeded up things here by not deviating from the program, it has run without errors since I started using it.......

I can go eat dinner, deburr parts cut stock, which speeds up what I can get done in a day because I dont have to babysit the machine while its running etc. plus the peace of mind......

It hasnt made any unprogrammed moves to date, that makes it more than worth it here...................

[TurboStep]

You modified the stock Path Pilot, which is WHY yours isn't slower.

Of course I did, but you weren't using the stock Tormach Machine Control software either! Any other comparison wouldn't really be fair.
I tried the ESS a while back but I wasn't too happy with some of the delays. It seemed to be pausing to think between operations but maybe the firmware has been improved since then. I don't believe I ever used it to machine a single part. I have much more confidence in PathPilot. You might regret selling your mesa card
Step

[BAMCNC.COM]

Of course I did, but you weren't using the stock Tormach Machine Control software either! Any other comparison wouldn't really be fair.
I tried the ESS a while back but I wasn't too happy with some of the delays. It seemed to be pausing to think between operations but maybe the firmware has been improved since then. I don't believe I ever used it to machine a single part. I have much more confidence in PathPilot. You might regret selling your mesa card
Step

I agree, I was comparing what I knew you could do to mach, vs what I DIDN'T now you could "easily" do to PathPilot. Is there a thread on this? I also didn't know you could transfer files over WiFi with PathPilot. Had I known either of these, I would of stuck with it. So, is there a thread I need to read, or a YouTube video about what you have done?

[Gilmax]

Where have you been man? There was quite a bit of talk and promotion by Tormach about being able to be "in the cloud." Type in "networking in pathilot tormach" in google and a pdf with instruction will show up. The process was pretty simple for me. I'm using a wireless adapter. I have my default folder destination in my CAM software set to a folder on my Tormach controller and its just one click and it shows up right away. I have never used Mach on my Tormach as I bought it shortly after Pathpilot was released, but I would never want to use it based on my experience using Mach on other machines. Pathpilot was what sealed the deal for me when I bought the Tormach. Reliability is king for me.

I can go eat dinner, deburr parts cut stock, which speeds up what I can get done in a day because I dont have to babysit the machine while its running etc. plus the peace of mind......

It hasnt made any unprogrammed moves to date, that makes it more than worth it here...................

I very much agree. I just cant tolerate a CNC mill making unexpected moves. The constant fear of ruining expensive parts, tooling, and the mill itself, would not be worth it to me.

[tmarks11]

I have Pathpilot now running comfortably at 157.5in/min and 130in/min respectively.

Please explain how you did that. I would be very interested.

[BAMCNC.COM]

Where have you been man?

I have been making money to buy a Robodrill, then once I got that Father's Day weekend, I've been learning that.

[Strip]

Ok, being very busy, I have not had time to do the above suggestions. The problem seems to have gotten worse since I installed a vista pendant. It will do it on almost every tool change. However, I found that if I turn my coolant pump switch to ON, and do not let g-code switch it on and off, it fixes the problem. So, what can I do to to the pump to stop this from happening since I am now convinced this is the problem.

[KSky]

I don't understand the importance of dropbox. PP has wireless network option and connects to my machine shop empire of servers, workstations, and machine controllers with a click or 2 of mouse if file exchange is important.
What am I missing here?

Dropbox is a requirement in my environment, fortunately its pretty easy to get working on PP. I have multiple computers in the office running my CAM programs and multiple machines running PP in the shop area with a shared /gcode/<project> folders. Dropbox puts a copy of the program locally, so you don't have to worry about a network glitch or something cropping up in the middle of a huge program run. Dropbox also keeps a backup of all changed files and a log of what changed. So if I need a copy of some program from last week, I can get it.

One trick I use is I have a dropbox status check every minute that writes to a file in the PP directory. I can click on the file and see in the view pane what the status is and know that my files are in sync.

[Philbobb]

Did you check for the suppression kit as previously recommended?

[Strip]

Well, here is the thing. I contacted Tormach about this issue months ago. I was asked to send them a picture of inside my cabinet and a picture of my serial number plate as they would check on if I needed the suppression kit. I did all of this and emailed them a copy of a program it was messing up on. I spoke with them on the phone after all of this and they never told me I needed a suppression kit so I assumed it was on there already. He was supposed to email me with some additional information and I never heard back from them. In fact, the only time I have ever received return emails is when I was wanting to buy something. So I guess Tormach's great customer service is a bit one sided. I just finished googling my problem again and it took me to the Tormach website where I found the noise suppression kit and found that my machine was earlier than the serial number where they started installing them in house. So, I guess I dont have the kit. It really makes me mad that I have been fighting this issue for so long because Tormach was too busy to respond to my emails about my problem.

[wtopace]

Wow, so much bad info here =( For ME, PathPilot has been FAR better than Mach3 could ever be. 100% of all axis movement has been rock solid perfect all the time, every time.

Transferring files - I created a simple cron job to "svn update" and pull from my g-code directory on my Subversion server. This cron job runs every minute and ties directly in with my source control system... simple... works. 100% of the time. Yes, wifi works great under PathPilot.

Editing settings - Although this isn't supported and will almost certainly void any warranties. I have found the PathPilot / LCNC configuration files to be very straight forward and very well commented by Tormach also. I noticed that BAMCNC mentioned that he was Linux savvy, but I don't get how he couldn't do a simple "grep -rn 110 ~/tmc | less" to see exactly where to change the 110 in/min (another grep line that will work!). I found the config setting just now in about 30 seconds in an SSH session, although I also consider myself "Linux Savvy".

In a nutshell, please don't trash better software because you don't understand it. You might turn someone else away from something that would make their life so much better than it currently is. There are a lot of people on these forums that carry a lot of opinion weight, it would be best to not comment negatively on something you don't understand. /rant over

[smokediver576]

So I guess Tormach's great customer service is a bit one sided.

If you are talking about the past month or two, please keep in mind that they have suffered a huge tragedy as a company and that this could be the reason for some communications gaps in the tech service/support.

[Strip]

Wow, so much bad info here =( For ME, PathPilot has been FAR better than Mach3 could ever be. 100% of all axis movement has been rock solid perfect all the time, every time.

Transferring files - I created a simple cron job to "svn update" and pull from my g-code directory on my Subversion server. This cron job runs every minute and ties directly in with my source control system... simple... works. 100% of the time. Yes, wifi works great under PathPilot.

Editing settings - Although this isn't supported and will almost certainly void any warranties. I have found the PathPilot / LCNC configuration files to be very straight forward and very well commented by Tormach also. I noticed that BAMCNC mentioned that he was Linux savvy, but I don't get how he couldn't do a simple "grep -rn 110 ~/tmc | less" to see exactly where to change the 110 in/min (another grep line that will work!). I found the config setting just now in about 30 seconds in an SSH session, although I also consider myself "Linux Savvy".

In a nutshell, please don't trash better software because you don't understand it. You might turn someone else away from something that would make their life so much better than it currently is. There are a lot of people on these forums that carry a lot of opinion weight, it would be best to not comment negatively on something you don't understand. /rant over

I have no Idea what you are talking about. I would love to switch to Path Pilot, but I will not because I want to keep my Vista pendant.

[Strip]

If you are talking about the past month or two, please keep in mind that they have suffered a huge tragedy as a company and that this could be the reason for some communications gaps in the tech service/support.

I was not aware of any tragedies at Tormach. Too many people have raved about the service at that company for me to be totally put out with them as a whole. However, If I knew for sure that the hours of frustration and time loss that I have suffered due to this issue could have been avoided had Tormach followed up with me on the noise filters, I would be livid to say the least.

[tmarks11]

I was not aware of any tragedies at Tormach.

Company founder and president Greg Jackson died in a sailing accident two months ago.

Tormach News and Announcements | Tormach Inc. providers of personal small CNC machines, CNC tooling, and many more CNC items.

I would love to switch to Path Pilot, but I will not because I want to keep my Vista pendant.

Vistacnc now has the files on their website for linuxcnc for the P2-S and P4-S. I haven't tried installing it yet on PP, but maybe I will take a shot at this weekend.

[smokediver576]

I was not aware of any tragedies at Tormach. Too many people have raved about the service at that company for me to be totally put out with them as a whole. However, If I knew for sure that the hours of frustration and time loss that I have suffered due to this issue could have been avoided had Tormach followed up with me on the noise filters, I would be livid to say the least.

Is your machine under maintenance? If not, it's the best $450 you'll spend on your machine. I've owned quite a few pieces of equipment in my time and I can tell you that $450 per year for tech support and maintenance on a used machine is unheard of. I'm sorry you are having issues with your machine, however, there is a ton of folks on here who've had quite an opposite experience with Tormach. In fact, the customer service is why I bought mine. I called before I went to CO to pick mine up. The folks at Tormach ran the serial number, let me know it was legit and even gave me the history on the machine from their end. I knew then that they were a pretty cool group of folks to work with.


Now, if your machine is still under warranty then disregard my above statement.

Just my $0.02
So, my advise, you pay for maintenance on you machine and move to the front of the customer service line. This is how it should be. Who knows, maybe they have been swamped with folk like me who paid for service and we should get priority.

[wtopace]

I have no Idea what you are talking about. I would love to switch to Path Pilot, but I will not because I want to keep my Vista pendant.

Sorry, that rant was in no way directed at you =)

If I had a vista pendant, I would love to help out to integrate it with PathPilot. I haven't invested in one because I am quite happy with the Tormach Shuttle pendant + Haimer for quick touch-offs and would rather spend the $$ on tooling.

[Strip]

Is your machine under maintenance? If not, it's the best $450 you'll spend on your machine. I've owned quite a few pieces of equipment in my time and I can tell you that $450 per year for tech support and maintenance on a used machine is unheard of. I'm sorry you are having issues with your machine, however, there is a ton of folks on here who've had quite an opposite experience with Tormach. In fact, the customer service is why I bought mine. I called before I went to CO to pick mine up. The folks at Tormach ran the serial number, let me know it was legit and even gave me the history on the machine from their end. I knew then that they were a pretty cool group of folks to work with.


Now, if your machine is still under warranty then disregard my above statement.

Just my $0.02
So, my advise, you pay for maintenance on you machine and move to the front of the customer service line. This is how it should be. Who knows, maybe they have been swamped with folk like me who paid for service and we should get priority.

I some what agree with you, I dont have the maintenance contract, but will look into it. My complaint here was that he asked for photos and serial number to check on the noise filters, I gave it to him. I received no response. I called again and this time he asked for a program that I was having issues with and never mentioned the noise filter, but suggested I move the M9 in my programs. I made an assumption that the filter must be installed. People get busy, I understand that. I am not throwing them under the bus by any means. It's just been a very frustrating problem.

[Strip]

Company founder and president Greg Jackson died in a sailing accident two months ago.

Tormach News and Announcements | Tormach Inc. providers of personal small CNC machines, CNC tooling, and many more CNC items.


Vistacnc now has the files on their website for linuxcnc for the P2-S and P4-S. I haven't tried installing it yet on PP, but maybe I will take a shot at this weekend.

That is a sad deal, I really hate to hear this. Gods Peace to his family and friends.