Mach3 Screen Editor Download
Rachele Weishaar
You should design your screen using the target resolution of your CNC Controller monitor for best looking results. NOTE: the Mach3 Menu line and the Windows Task bar take up valuable room on your screen. You can autohide the windows task bar, but you will still have the Mach3 title bar and menu. This will push your screen design down. Make sure you account for this.
Not me. I chose to make just the one screen I want. If I want to access other features, I am just going to jump back to the stock Mach screenset called 1024. If I seem to be using a specific feature a lot, I will just add it to my own screen.
-Open the profile you wish to change the button in.
-With Mach4 disabled, click on the "Operator" tab at the top.
-Then, "Edit Screen."
-In the "Screen Tree Manager" (top left), click on the wx4, or whatever is listed. This is the screen currently loaded for this profile.
-Down the column under properties, you will see what look like two text doc icons. One is properties and the other, looks like it has a lightning bolt through it. Click on that one, which is the "Events" tab.
-The first item that appears in the list is the screen load script. Click on this and then click on the box with three dots that shows up. (this is the edit box)
-The Screen Load script should appear on the screen. If not, look for the LUA editor down in the task bar and expand it. Sometimes the editor will open in the minimized form. The editor will need to be expanded before continuing.
-Find the GoToWork zero function. Ctrl+F will allow you to search for keywords, or you can simply scroll until you find it. This function runs here and is called by the button from the Run Screen.
-Replace the function with the one pasted at the bottom of this page.
-There is a note in the function explaining how it will work. It is now configured for Z to now move first to home (Machine Coordinate Zero) and then X and Y to Work Coordinate Zero.
-Once the edits are complete, go to "Screen" and "Save Screen As". Give your screen a unique name so the original wx4.set is left in tact. This will also prevent your screen from being overwritten if you update in the future.
-Click the "Operator" drop down menu again, then "Edit Screen". This will exit the screen editor and return Mach4 to the run screen in disable mode.
-Enable Mach4 and test the newly configured Go To Work Zero Button.
A couple of times now I've come here with questions as I, with no programming experience whatsoever, was tasked with making a new six-axis mach3 screenset. I've come a long way and am so far pretty pleased. However, as I'm bringing the screenset into mach3 proper for coding and testing, I'm running into issues.
Second, I have several buttons on screen which require macro or VB scripting. Being that most of these buttons do the exact same thing that they did in the 5-axis screen I based a lot of my work around, I literally copy/pasted the VB scripting from the editor from one to the other. I know these codes do work. If I run the code within the VB script editor, it works.
Here's how I've been entering in the code. After opening/loading the screenset, I go to Operator -> edit button script, and select the button I want to edit (say my "open record file" button). I retype the code for that exact button in the working 5-axis screen into the VB-script editor in mach. Same spacing, capitalization, everything. I will then go to the VB-script file option and choose save before closing out. It saves it as that hiddenscript.m1s, which I've read elsewhere is just a placeholder in the mach macro folder and that the code is supposed to be saved into your screenset. I do this then "Save Settings" from the Mach Config menu.
However, the button I just assigned the code does not work. It acts as though it has no code to it. I will get an error that there's no code. If I close mach and open it again, ALL of the code I put in is deleted and replaced with "None". It does this on every single VB-script button. The method I entered it in is exactly what was described as correct procedure in the official machsupport forum, but I can't get it to actually save to my screenset.
Lastly, I want to add a couple of intelligent labels. Other mach screens have intelligent labels that will tell you things like the name of the loaded file or the last error status. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out the correct scripting for these labels in Mach. I can set them up as userlabels and make them read a line of text I type in, but I can't make it tell me the name of my file or other system label things.
I really liked CNCZone member ger21's Aqua screen set, both because it looks a lot crisper and more modern than the default 1024.set screens, and also because I think the real estate is better organized and better suited to a touch screen I'll eventually start using. Gerry's out of the box screen set is pretty darned good, but was missing a couple of my favorite features, so I set about making a few mods to it for my own purposes. BTW, it is particularly nice not to have to create a screen design from scratch. Modifying gerry's is much easier! Also, don't hesitate to watch the excellent tutorial videos on the Artsoft support site. Thanks Gerry for doing all the heavy lifting!
I get a lot of mileage out of jogging by steps and being able to cycle through the step sizes. This is especially true since I got the idea from Hoss to set up Mach3 to include a half thou (0.0005") step size. Changing the list of jog step increments is easy. Just go to the Config menu and select "General Config". The list is right on that screen. I had no use for the larger increments, so my list looks like this:
And I repeat the same values a second time. Most of the time I like to use 0.0005, so it's convenient that Mach3 remembers which one you selected last. The original Aqua screen set lacked a way to step through the jog increments (it's on the jog fly-out, which is missing), so I added a button to do this.
I have used Mach 3 on 3 other mills/routers. It represents the standard screen configurations that a mill/router would provide the user. Although the maslow is different than a conventional machine(in that it does the x-y calculation in terms of the chain lengths) many of the operation are identical to other machines.
Just thought I would introduce the concept. As I understand the code better, this would not be an operational change, but more a reworking of the UIElements chosen to display/activate certain component controls, and their size and placement on the screen.
Since the encoder position is already scaledwithin KFLOP/Kogna to match the μsteps/Unit scale of the motor, the Mach3 Encoder resolution should be set to the same value as the Motor "Tuning" as shown below. The Encoder/MPG screen is opened using the ConfigPorts and Pins Menu. The Port and Pin definitions are not relevant when using KFLOP/Kogna and should be set to some unused Port.
Theory of operation: Grab the total run-time seconds from the NC file (xxxx.tap in this case for Mach3 NC files) put there by the Fusion 360 post process and display it on the screen so the operator knows how long this job will take.
8.) Now load your Fusion-exported NC file created by the post processor template with all the changes above. Mach3 will process the M1050 macro script on loading and place the Hours, Minutes, Seconds on the Mach3 screen! Done!
NOTE: I realize Mach3 can also calculate an Estimate Time when you do a simulation. However, it was extra work to wait for on another screen that you have to do, and I generally just skipped doing it because I didn't want to wait. Now, job run-times are displayed instantly upon loading the file.
Next step (which might need the macropump function?) is to have a real-time count down or Percent Complete bar updating on the screen, but I haven't figured that one out yet. For now, this is what I needed.
To install Mach3 Version 3.043.066, you need to double-click the file and follow the instructions on the screen. The installation process is fairly straightforward and should not take more than a few minutes.
Mach3 Version 3.043.066 also has some extra features that enhance its performance and usability, such as spindle speed control, multiple relay control, manual pulse generation, video display of machine, touch screen ability, and full screen eligibility.
The Screen Designer is a graphical tool that lets you create or modify screens using drag and drop elements. You can add or remove buttons, dros, leds, gauges, sliders, and other components to your screen. You can also resize, move, align, group, and layer them as you wish.
The Screen Editor is a text-based tool that lets you edit the script files that control the behavior of the screen elements. You can use VBscript to write your own logic and commands for the buttons, dros, leds, and other components. You can also access the Mach3 API functions and variables to interact with the Mach3 software.
To access the Screen Designer or the Screen Editor tools, you need to go to the View menu and select Load Screens. Then you can choose either .set files for the Screen Designer or .lset files for the Screen Editor. You can also create your own screen files or download some from the online resources.
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