Editing Mach4 SimpleMotion drive plugin

[http://www.machsupport.com/software/mach4/ Mach4] is a CNC motion control software developed by Newfangled Solutions. The Mach4 SimpleMotion drive plugin is needed to run motor drivers connected to [[SimpleMotion V2|SimpleMotion]] bus with Mach4.

== '''Requirements''' ==
The following things are needed for building a CNC machine using Mach4 and motor drivers connected with SimpleMotion bus:
* [[ATOMI|Atomi]], [[IONI Servo & Stepper Drive|IONI]] or [[ARGON Servo Drive|Argon]]-based motion system, e.g. CNC mill, connected with [[SimpleMotion V2|SimpleMotion]] bus
* Windows PC
* Mach4 software + license
* SimpleMotion adapter depending on selected motor drivers

==== '''Mach4 installation''' ====
* Download and install Mach4
* Download the plugin files to the Mach4 plugin folder
* Read the Mach4 installation, configuration and operation [http://www.machsupport.com/help-learning/product-manuals/ manuals] before use

== '''Configuration''' ==

=== '''Motor driver configuration with Granity Software''' ===
* Motor specific settings
* Set position mode for every driver except for possible velocity-controlled spindle motor
* Set suitable max. speed
* Configure homing for all possible axes to ensure the positioning accuracy
* Set soft travel limits

=== '''Mach4 configuration''' ===

==== '''Open the Mach4 Configuration dialog''' ====
[[File:MachConfigurationTab.png|400px]]

==== ''' '''Enable the SimpleMotion drive plugin from the plugins tab. ====
[[File:MachConfigurationPlugins.png|800px]]

The program should ask to restart Mach4 after enabling the plugin. Restart Mach4 before continuing.

==== '''Select the SimpleMotion drive plugin to be used as a motion device''' ====
[[File:SelectMotionDevTab.PNG|400px]]

[[File:SelectMotionDev.png|400px]]

==== '''Configure the motors''' ====
Open the Mach configuration again, and select the motors tab.

Select each used motor and configure them as following:
* The motor indexes are always one smaller than the SimpleMotion axis numbers. For example, Motor0 means drive 1 in the SimpleMotion bus.
* How many steps the motors should move for each unit of measure
* The maximum velocity of each motor
* The maximum acceleration of each motor
* Motors can also be reversed here
[[File:MachConfigurationMotors.png|800px]]

==== Axis mapping ====
Enable the axes used in your machine. The following picture shows 3-axis machine where the spindle motor is also controlled by Mach4. The axes X-C (0-5) are for motion, and the OB axes (6-11) can be used for controlling a spindle motor. 
* Enable used axes
* The motor indexes are always one smaller than the SimpleMotion drive numbers. For example, Motor0 means drive 1 in the SimpleMotion bus
* Select a motor for each axis. Slave motors can also be set for an axis if they use more than one motor
* Do not enable axes without motors
* The spindle control type  (velocity or position-controlled) will be set later
[[File:MachConfigurationAxisMapping.png|800px]]

==== '''Homing / Soft limits''' ====
* Set the homing order. If some axes have the same number, they will be homed at the same time
* Enable soft limits for motion axes
* Set the soft limits to prevent axes from hitting their physical limits. If you don't know what to put here, you can also configure them later
* The homing direction, offset and speed are selected in Granity software when using this plugin
[[File:MachConfigurationHomingAndSoftLimits.png|800px]]

==== '''Spindle configuration''' ====
* Set min. and max. rpm for the spindle motor if it is controlled by Mach4.
* The max. rpm set here doesn't have effect to the real speed of velocity-controlled spindle. Running a velocity-controlled spindle by here configured max. speed runs the spindle motor by the maximum speed configured in the motor driver.
* If the spindle is position-controlled, the spindle motor should be selected in the "Step/Dir Spindle Axis"-dropdown. The axis must be enabled and mapped before this.
[[File:MachConfigurationSpindlePos.png|800px]]

==== '''SimpleMotion drive plugin configuration''' ====
Close the Mach configuration and open the SimpleMotion drive plugin configuration

[[File:PluginConfigurationTab.PNG|400px]]

Set the following settings. The default values work in most cases.
* SimpleMotion V2 adapter FTDI port number
* SimpleMotion V2 buffer max. fill percentage
* In the case of using a velocity-controlled spindle, its axis should be selected here. The list shows only mapped and enabled axes that are not selected as position-controlled spindle
[[File:PluginConfiguration.PNG|600px]]

Save the SimpleMotion drive plugin configuration by pressing "OK", and start using the software!
== Other ==

==== '''Versions''' ====
{| class="wikitable"
!Version
!Comments
!Download
|-
|0.1
|The first beta release
|
|}

==== '''Known issues''' ====
* A possible small bump after disabling or stopping motion due to aborted buffered motion

==TODO==
{{param|CVL}}

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