Mach3 Screensets

**kirby43a** · 24-11-2017

Is it feasible to load a couple of screen sets without inter-corruption, I have a suspicion that my Big Tex installation has been corrupted by a previous screen set e.g. M6 overrides the tool change position and reverts to a location I had set for a previous screen set?

**Neale** · 24-11-2017

Originally Posted by kirby43a

Is it feasible to load a couple of screen sets without inter-corruption, I have a suspicion that my Big Tex installation has been corrupted by a previous screen set e.g. M6 overrides the tool change position and reverts to a location I had set for a previous screen set?

I don't think that changing a screenset will change other aspects of that profile. The macros are stored per-profile, i.e. typically per machine, so if you updated a macro in one profile, that change won't be seen in other profiles.

However, there are a few odd things that can happen around M6 that aren't quite right if you are using a CSMIO-IP/M, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's not true for other CSMIO variants. For example, when I first started playing with tool height setting/resetting during an M6 tool change (i.e. between the calls to M6start and M6end), there were problems about losing X and Y position. The fix (in my case) was to "upgrade" to an earlier version of mach3. I'm currently using 3.043.028 which is not the latest version but can still be downloaded and installed. Remember to save any profile modifications in a custom machine profile and not mach3mill or any of the other out-of-the-box profiles or they will definitely be overwritten. The CSMIO compatibility thing is well-known and documented but you won't generally find it unless you go looking for it.

**kirby43a** · 24-11-2017

Enormous thanks!

An explanation at last, maybe not the one I had hoped for but a clear understanding.
What bothers me most, now, is losing all of my CSMIO-IP/M settings that have taken months to resolve. Which begs the question is it possible to run two versions of Mach on a single machine using an alternative profile name?

**needleworks** · 24-11-2017

Originally Posted by kirby43a

Enormous thanks!

An explanation at last, maybe not the one I had hoped for but a clear understanding.
What bothers me most, now, is losing all of my CSMIO-IP/M settings that have taken months to resolve. Which begs the question is it possible to run two versions of Mach on a single machine using an alternative profile name?

When you first open Mach3, can you not just "create" a copy of your working profile, rename it to something else and make any changes you want to your new renamed profile, if it goes tits up, just delete it and start again ? I'm sure I have done this in the past where I had 2 x copies of one profile, where one (the original) was set up for metric and the other (copy) was set up for imperial. I'm almost certain I was using different screensets as well, but it was a long time ago so I could be wrong.

**kirby43a** · 24-11-2017

I had something like that in mind but I guess being a little overcautious, recollecting the pain of setting up the servo parameters etc. before it would move a single step. I needed confirmation, thanks for the encouragement.

**Neale** · 25-11-2017

Easy to create a second profile based on an existing one. Start "Mach3 Loader" (which is an application installed as part of the initial Mach3 installation). That gives you the opportunity to create a new profile (just click "Create Profile"), and then tell it which profile you want to use as a starting point. When you load it for the first time, it creates the relevant folder in the macros folder and copies over the macros from the starting profile you specified. You'll probably want to create a new icon on your desktop - copy an existing Mach3 shortcut icon (such as mach3mill), right-click on it, select properties, and in the "target" entry, replace mach3mill with whatever your new profile name is. If your new profile name has spaces in it, then put the profile name in double-quotes (e.g. "router mk2" in my case).

Job done!

You can have as many different profiles as you like, as far as I know. However, there does seem to be a gotcha. If you are using a CSMIO, you can only have one set of CSMIO parameters per machine. That is, all the profiles that use the CSMIO also use the same parameters for it, the ones you set in the config plugins->CSMIO page. That might not be a limitation if you want different profiles because you are playing with different screensets and/or macros for each profile, but it's all with the same machine.

**Ger21** · 25-11-2017

Fwiw, I've had a couple 2010 users with CS Labs controllers that couldn't get the macros to work. I've even redid the macros to use CS Labs M31 probe, and it still didn't seem to help them. Not sure what the issue was??

Is it feasible to load a couple of screen sets without inter-corruption, I have a suspicion that my Big Tex installation has been corrupted by a previous screen set e.g. M6 overrides the tool change position and reverts to a location I had set for a previous screen set?

It's not the screenset that causes the issue, but rather the macros included with them. You can change between screens with no issues, but changing screens does not change the macros. If you want to switch between screens like my 2010 or the Big Tex, then I'd create separate profiles, to keep the macros separate.

MachStdMill, on the other hand, is an entirely different animal. It does a lot of things that "standard" screensets don't, and it can cause a lot of issues if not uninstalled properly.

**Davek0974** · 02-01-2018

Originally Posted by Neale

However, there are a few odd things that can happen around M6 that aren't quite right if you are using a CSMIO-IP/M, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's not true for other CSMIO variants. For example, when I first started playing with tool height setting/resetting during an M6 tool change (i.e. between the calls to M6start and M6end), there were problems about losing X and Y position. The fix (in my case) was to "upgrade" to an earlier version of mach3. I'm currently using 3.043.028 which is not the latest version but can still be downloaded and installed. Remember to save any profile modifications in a custom machine profile and not mach3mill or any of the other out-of-the-box profiles or they will definitely be overwritten. The CSMIO compatibility thing is well-known and documented but you won't generally find it unless you go looking for it.

Pretty certain I have run into this on my Bridgeport conversion, IIRC if you jog the table while in the M6 loop it will fault with ePid error.

Any idea how i find the "well documented" info :)

**Neale** · 03-01-2018

Originally Posted by Davek0974

Pretty certain I have run into this on my Bridgeport conversion, IIRC if you jog the table while in the M6 loop it will fault with ePid error.

Any idea how i find the "well documented" info :)

Dave - take a look at this for starters. It has a couple of pointers to some general info on Mach3 internal architecture and at the bottom of the post a pointer to a pdf with a bit more specific info on the CSMIO problem. What it doesn't have is a "fix" as really there isn't a proper fix as such. However, I have found that .028 works fine (at least, I have had no problems with it on my machine) although it has a few other bugs which were fixed in later releases. I have a feeling that these were more lathe-related, though, so not something that worries me too much. I have seen another post that suggests version .022 as well.

Maybe I overstated it a bit when I said "well-documented". The problem is well-documented in the sense that plenty of people have complained about it. In general, it shows up if you do any movement between an M6start and m6end. That rules out tool-height setting during a tool change, which is a bit of a bugger. The "solution" or work-around seems less well known but it does seem to work.

**Davek0974** · 03-01-2018

Thanks,

Originally Posted by Neale

tool-height setting during a tool change, which is a bit of a bugger..

THAT was the issue - was going to try that on the mill as it worked great on my mini-mill but that only had a UC100 controller on it. In the end i gave up and locked-out all the auto-set buttons on the screen-set for safety.

It seems my idea will be ok as having the M6 macro move the Z axis works fine so having it also move the knee should be ok too.