Cslabs now have Own Control Software

[JAZZCNC]

Hi just to let know that Cslabs now have there own Control software. It's called SimCNC and it's currently on 30day free trial.
http://en.cs-lab.eu/premiere-new-simcnc-software-cs-lab-offer/

Haven't used it yet my self but will be doing and I'll post a thread about it.

[m_c]

Interesting. Shame they've not provided much detail about it.

Any chance of what it's actually capable of, and some screenshots when you do test it?

[JAZZCNC]

Interesting. Shame they've not provided much detail about it.

Any chance of what it's actually capable of, and some screenshots when you do test it?

Here's the front end. That's far as I've got so far. I'm having trouble updating Firmware and until it's done can't use it in anger. I'll start a thread with any issues I find and why can't update firm ware etc. Thinking it's dodgy Firmware or loader because I've updated many these controllers without issues.

23694

[alboy]

Just ordered the 30 day trial software myself. Not much info on the website, no manual to peruse, does a manual come with the software download Dean?

[routercnc]

Nice one Dean thanks.

An interesting proposition as this means controller hardware and controller software are from the same vendor, not having to use a plug-in with a 3rd party (e.g. Mach3) software.

If I understand what they are doing -
This offer was launched only a month ago so it is not ready yet.
You can get a perpetual 30 day demo licence now for free whilst they finish it but when it is finished you will have to pay a higher amount (potentially 259 Euro).

Or you can take a punt and pay only '179 Euro' now, receive the WIP versions as they are updated, and when it is ready you will get it shipped free.

Either way following with interest.

[JAZZCNC]

Just ordered the 30 day trial software myself. Not much info on the website, no manual to peruse, does a manual come with the software download Dean?

No there is an Install manual you can download. I'm sure there will be manual at some point but it's still early days and sure there will be changes happening. Manual tends to be little later down the line when things have settled down.

Just so your aware machine needs to be connected to internet to install software which is a pain in the arse but I'm sure they'll come up with a standalone version at some point.

[alboy]

yep, having to connect to the internet is a right pain in the arse, I deliberately do not have my control PC connected to the internet. I look forward to your review of the software Dean. I am sure it will be far more informative than anything I could do lol. I am really hoping that there is semi auto tool change height setter like the 2010 screen set.

[JAZZCNC]

Nice one Dean thanks.

An interesting proposition as this means controller hardware and controller software are from the same vendor, not having to use a plug-in with a 3rd party (e.g. Mach3) software.

Yep but better still is the motion planner they are using. S curve planners give much smoother performance than standard planners which most other control softwares use.
Art fennerty made a version of Mach Called Tempest which used S curve planner and for 3D work it was great but at that time the computing power of PC's wasn't enough to justify Art to developing it further. Today's PC's are more than upto hence why we are seeing it.

[alboy]

Yep but better still is the motion planner they are using. S curve planners give much smoother performance than standard planners which most other control softwares use.
Art fennerty made a version of Mach Called Tempest which used S curve planner and for 3D work it was great but at that time the computing power of PC's wasn't enough to justify Art to developing it further. Today's PC's are more than upto hence why we are seeing it.

Dammit now I have to go and google S curve control methods lol.

[Ger21]

I wonder what the pace of development will be. A complex control can take a long time to develop. UCCNC for example, has been steadily adding features for over 3 years now.
We all know how long Mach4 has been in development.
Fwiw, S curve is on the to do list for UCCNC, but I don't expect it anytime too..
I still use Tempest occasionally on my old router. Much smoother, and more accurate for 3D work than the default Mach3 planner.
S-Curve is really good for powerful, fast machines.

Lot's of good control options available these days, and still everyone keeps using Mach3. :witless:

[JAZZCNC]

I wonder what the pace of development will be. A complex control can take a long time to develop. UCCNC for example, has been steadily adding features for over 3 years now.
We all know how long Mach4 has been in development.
Fwiw, S curve is on the to do list for UCCNC, but I don't expect it anytime too..
I still use Tempest occasionally on my old router. Much smoother, and more accurate for 3D work than the default Mach3 planner.
S-Curve is really good for powerful, fast machines.

Lot's of good control options available these days, and still everyone keeps using Mach3. :witless:

Familiarity and huge user base is all that's keeping mach3 alive I think Gerry. Mach4 is just none starter really hence why people like Cslabs and MCP are jumping ship I think. Just wished they'd done it sooner.

Regards development we'll have to wait and see. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see it features Tangential cutting which I believe UCCNC still doesn't.?
You'd expect little often used a feature like this to be low priority or sidelined for a future release. Let's hope it allows G2/3 moves for arcs.!

What I will do when get it working is check out how it handles G42 as well and report on UCCNC.

[Web Goblin]

Dean,
A good report on the software would be great particularly looking at dual homing/gantry correction and info on the tool change procedure would be well received. I am seriously looking and dumping the cslabs control and moving to Centroids Acorn. I remember emailing Cslabs a while back asking if they would support any other software apart from Mach and they said they didn't have any plans for it so maybe this was just under wraps until it reached release stage. Unfortunately I don't have a working machine to test it on at the moment but does it operate in demo mode?

Ian

[Krammer002]

Here's the front end. That's far as I've got so far. I'm having trouble updating Firmware and until it's done can't use it in anger. I'll start a thread with any issues I find and why can't update firm ware etc. Thinking it's dodgy Firmware or loader because I've updated many these controllers without issues.

23694

Am i right in thinking that it doesn't run without CS-LAB hardware connected?

A good excuse to make a Youtube video...:nevreness:

[JAZZCNC]

Dean,
A good report on the software would be great particularly looking at dual homing/gantry correction and info on the tool change procedure would be well received. I am seriously looking and dumping the cslabs control and moving to Centroids Acorn. I remember emailing Cslabs a while back asking if they would support any other software apart from Mach and they said they didn't have any plans for it so maybe this was just under wraps until it reached release stage. Unfortunately I don't have a working machine to test it on at the moment but does it operate in demo mode?

Ian

Hi Ian,

Wouldn't jump ship to Acorn just yet if your using on Router. I've got one here and it's not well featured for Routers at minute. However it's being worked on as we speak. Centroid guys are very helpful and as we are asking them for features they are providing them or trying.
Just last night was working on new tool change macro provided which is more suited to routers. But there PLC works very different to anything I've used before so lots of head scratching at minute.

To be honest, until they make the homing work correctly to suit slaved motors it's none starter for me. But they are working on it and hopefully will soon have something to test.

Regards SimCNC then I will report back but as of yet, I've not got it working with the IP-S on my machine because it won't update the firmware. (But my IP-S is very early version so could something to do with that.?)
I have just installed it on new IP-M (just on bench test) and worked no problems. However, I now need License key so waiting for them to send me that.

The software will install without needing controller attached (does need internet access to install) but won't let you do anything without controller attached and even when you do have one attached won't do anything without license Key.

When I have it up and Running then Yes I will make video. However I wouldn't start getting excited just yet because it's still work in progress and I'm sure got a long way to go before can match other well established software.

[JAZZCNC]

Ok here's a (Like watching paint drying as Clive S told me) video showing Install, Firmware update and first bench test without License look at software.

I'll do better one when can get it on actual machine.


https://youtu.be/QQb5RSa_rHI

[Neale]

...and still everyone keeps using Mach3. :witless:

In my case, because I'm using an IP/M! But now it looks as if there might be a choice...

[routercnc]

Nice video Dean thanks for taking the time to investigate. Hope your license arrives soon.

[JAZZCNC]

Nice video Dean thanks for taking the time to investigate. Hope your license arrives soon.

Not having the license isn't so much big deal as not having the time to play properly.!!

[Chaz]

Thanks, wasnt aware of this. Interesting move, they were having some real Mach 3 issues, so not surprised by this actually.

[Krammer002]

Thanks for the video Dean...

[Chaz]

Anyone running SimCNC? Just tried it, spent ages on it. Axis were drifting on their own, solved that with Zero offset. But I cannot PID tune and all I get are motors that shake and PID error.

Thoughts?

[Chaz]

Ok, got it to work.

The PID values in Mach 3 are not nearly transferable, wiped them to zero, enabled the drive, disabled commands to it, ran auto tune for all 3 axis.

What's strange at the moment is the fact that I cant run a programme whilst the MPG is enabled.

[Chaz]

Turns out that the MPG should not have its enable signal hardware but should be switched. Odd setup I think.

I cant find any info on how / where to do any backlash settings.

Nice looking software, seems decent but feels somewhat unfinished.

A pity. I can see me moving this machine to Centroid Acorn at some point.

[Steve_p]

Chaz have you used simcnc any more since your last post here? I've got a mill which came with an unfinished csmio-ip/a retrofit, I'm wondering whether to keep it or swap it out, you're the only person here who seems to have tried sim... any further thoughts?

[Chaz]

Chaz have you used simcnc any more since your last post here? I've got a mill which came with an unfinished csmio-ip/a retrofit, I'm wondering whether to keep it or swap it out, you're the only person here who seems to have tried sim... any further thoughts?

Hi. I used it a bit. If I owned a license, I reckon I would have stayed using it. It feels more stable / accomplished than Mach 3. Currently using Mach 4 as there was no cost to me for it. Just rewiring my machine at the moment in preparation for a potential house move, so will start to use the machine more once that is done.

It seems like a decent bit of software. My biggest concern (ignoring the additional cost) is lack of support / few people use it. So if you want to solve an issue or get a macro sorted, you might struggle. CS Labs themselves will respond but I find it takes long and then they often only answer some or a few questions and ignore the rest.

They have some basic macro guides - think based on Python, need to check, but not a lot more.

Whereas if you look at Centroid, you will see an excess of documentation and active users helping each other - I dont see this in the CS Labs ecosystem.

[Eatonm62]

Hi all.
I have been trying to find information about the CSlabs software and found this thread and thought I would revive it to see if anything else has happened in the last 9 months.

[Eatonm62]

Sorry to bring an old thread back from the dead. But, I was wondering if anyone had started to use this software as I am thinking about jumping from Mach3 to sim cnc. I was looking at upgrading to Mach 4 but I have not heard great things about it and that CSL were not fixing bugs as quickly as they once did.

[Chaz]

Same, I was fortunate to get a copy of Mach 4 at no cost (legally) but not used my machine much (we have moved, new workshop being built) to know. From a bit of use, Mach 4 worked OK however its not a popular choice either.

[Eatonm62]

I have decided to try Sim CNC on my mill but sadly failed at the first hurdle which was when you open the software my IPA controller doesn't show up. Very disappointed as I even did my homework by reading the Sim CNC quick start guide last night. I have just messaged CSL and when I get this sorted I will come back with any updates.
I am quite happy with the look of Sim CNC and as Mach 4 has some issues I thought why not give it a go.

[Chaz]

I have decided to try Sim CNC on my mill but sadly failed at the first hurdle which was when you open the software my IPA controller doesn't show up. Very disappointed as I even did my homework by reading the Sim CNC quick start guide last night. I have just messaged CSL and when I get this sorted I will come back with any updates.
I am quite happy with the look of Sim CNC and as Mach 4 has some issues I thought why not give it a go.

I had similar issues. After a lot of restarts and firmware flashing it was detected but it wasnt a great start either.

[Hood]

I have decided to try Sim CNC on my mill but sadly failed at the first hurdle which was when you open the software my IPA controller doesn't show up. Very disappointed as I even did my homework by reading the Sim CNC quick start guide last night. I have just messaged CSL and when I get this sorted I will come back with any updates.
I am quite happy with the look of Sim CNC and as Mach 4 has some issues I thought why not give it a go.

Is yours an earlyish one? The controller needs to be one of the newer FP4 versions for SimCNC. If you look on the front of the CSMIO, you should see FP4 in small writing to the right hand side below the yellow bar.

[Hood]

Here is where it will say fp4.

29584

[Eatonm62]

I did have a reply from CS Labs today regarding my issue of not being able to connect to the IPA and was told I needed to update the firmware -
To use simCNC you need CSMIO firmware v3.xxx.
Update the firmware to see your MAC address.

I did but from my old PC running Win XP using the boot loader v3.6 it worked fine but I still couldn't connect to the IPA with my new PC which is running WIN 10.
Very confused is it because of any security settings within Win 10 or something else ?

Hood My unit is FP 4-10.

To clear up any confusion
I bought my mill already converted and it came with a PC running Win XP and Mach 3 which is ok but the PC is very old and has frozen a few times so rather than wait for it to go wrong I would rather get it changed.
It just so happened I had a decent one doing nothing it has an AMD Ryzen 5 3400G Processor 16Gb Ram and a PCIE SSD more than needed for Sim CNC.

[Ozemale6t9]

Sorry to bring an old thread back from the dead, but seemed to be the logical place to post.

I finally finished my upgrade to an IP-A, but need to add controls in the SimCNC software for a second spindle.

I'd like to use M13/14/15 and can see I need to add the M code macros, and also assign in Device script, but can't see how to tie that to the relevant outputs.

Does anyone have an idea how this may be achieved?

regards, Oz