Intermittent Mach 3 Issue with Jogging and Running a Program

[jayrussellbhllc]

Hello,

I’m running Mach 3 Version R3.043.062 on a 64-Bit, Windows 10 laptop, and I have the computer connected to the controller using the UC-100 Motion Controller.

I'm having an issue where, on seemingly random occasion, the machine and software will stop responding when I switch the jog mode to Step. There seem to be no warning signs, either. Unfortunately, it isn't that the machine just won't jog in Step mode; the machine and software are completely unresponsive in Continuous and Step mode after the issue shows up. The values on the DRO won't change and the Diagnostics tab shows no faults or errors.

There's another issue, that's very similar to the jogging issue, where, again, on seemingly random occasion, when I try to run a program, the software will stop on the line of the program that just has "G20" by itself.

The only ways I've been able to get the machine to respond again or run a program involve restarting the software and/or the machine controller, or cycling the E-Stop button in Mach 3 and jogging an axis in Continuous mode (Step mode doesn't work); simply cycling the E-Stop button won't reactivate the machine.

I've been discussing the issue with ArtSoft and the manufacturer of the mill, and none of their suggestions have had any effect on the issue. At this point, we're all suspecting some sort of bug with the UC-100 Motion Controller.

Please let me know if you need any additonal information or have any questions!

Thank you!

[cncdrive]

We know about the G20 issue, but as far as we know it is a mach3 R3.043.062 specific issue/bug in mach3. I mean it works fine with other versions like the R3.043.066 which was the latest official release.
Can you try that mach3 version to see if the issue still remains with that?

[ger21]

3.043.066 no longer works in Windows 10.
3.043.062 has a patch to work in the latest version of Windows 10.

My suggestion would be to switch to UCCNC, where everything works, and any bugs found actually get fixed.

[cncdrive]

Oh, I did not know that Mach3 R3.043.066 does not work on Win 10. anymore.
We will then check the R3.043.062 to see if we can workaround those mentioned issues.

[jayrussellbhllc]

The only reason I have .062 is because ArtSoft suggested that I roll back to it from the latest release because they've had a lot of people reporting errors with it. All of the issues were present in .066, though. So, I wouldn't associate them with the .062 release.

[cncdrive]

Can you please post a g-code file with which this issue happens?

[jayrussellbhllc]

As far as I can tell, it's 100% random. There's never been a pattern with either of these issues. Sometimes it'll go for a few days without messing up; other times it'll happen multiple times within a few minutes. The issue is so random that I literally forget about it when it goes a few days without happening. However, the issue still is still a major problem for our manufacturing process.

[jayrussellbhllc]

I don't know if anything on the UC100 side has been changed, but, I'm now having a new issue: Very frequently, clicking the "Go to Zero" button will cause the machine and DRO to freeze. The only ways to restore function are via a restarting of the software and/or mill controller. Please provide an update on this issue as soon as possible. Thank you!

[jayrussellbhllc]

Has there been any progress/updates on this? I haven't heard anything from anyone about what's going on.

[cncdrive]

Except the G20 issue which is an already known problem we could not reproduce the other problems you reported yet on any of our computers. Can you try it on a different computer too? It might be something about the computer or the windows installation.