Conditional and Loop Statements in Mach3

[Monotoba]

Hi All,

I am pretty new to CNC and I am actually learning this stuff to help my father.

I have used EMC2 a little bit and like it much better than the Kcam he started with.

With EMC2 I can use conditional statements and while loops in my gCode using "O" words. I tried this with Mach3 trial version to no avail. Does the paid version of Mach3 Support looping and conditions. I did find in the manual the use of macros as subroutines. But no mention of conditional or looping statements.

Thanks for your response.

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[ger21]

Not in the g-code. You can, though, create M code macros with if..then and while... loops and call them from the g-code. A bit more trouble, but it is doable.

[Monotoba]

Can you give me an example? I know how to use M98/99 for macros but how do I use a macro for conditional and looping statements in Mach3.

We are looking into purchasing Mach 3 with the mill add-ons. I like the fact that I can write VB extensions for it much like I write extensions for EMC2 using Php, C++, and Python. However, much of what my Dad is doing is easier done with loops and once in a while I find conditional statements to be handy.

I can already tell Mach 3 is much better than KCam. I like EMC2 and it seems very powerful. But Dad can't see the screen very well and I don't have time to write a new UI for it right now. So Mach 3 seems to be the easiest route right now. It looks comparable to EMC2 as far as I can tell. What is your take on Mach 3 For beginners?

Thank you again for your help.

[ger21]

You can use VB script in the macro, and assign it to any M code, like M555. When you call the M555 in your g-code, it'll run your VB script.

Here's a lot of samples.
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/ind...oard,75.0.html

Mach3 for beginners? The main problem is that there's too much stuff on the screens that most beginners don't need. I use a greatly simplified screen that I made.
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/ind...c,11115.0.html

Other than that, it's very easy to use.

[Monotoba]

Ok, I get it. I have to do it in VB and pass in the arguments from the gcode. That's kind of an odd solution. I would have thought that a program that looks as advanced as Mach3 would have support for loops and conditionals.

Thank you for the info. You have been a great help!

[vlmarshall]

Ok, I get it. I have to do it in VB and pass in the arguments from the gcode. That's kind of an odd solution. I would have thought that a program that looks as advanced as Mach3 would have support for loops and conditionals.

That's why I switched to EMC from Mach, every time I asked about a special G-code or function, the answer was always "do it yourself". With EMC, there are already a bunch of programmers doing just that... so I can stick to making parts.