For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

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motoguy
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For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by motoguy »

Just curious. When I purchased my table, Matt at Bulltear warned me that there are several things with Win7 that can/will cause timing issues between Mach3 and the control of the table. Windows Defender, Security Essentials, Firewall, etc. Things that I would probably want activated if the computer is on the web/network. So, my control computer is NOT connected to the web, or a network. I transfer all files from my "general purpose" computer to the control computer, vs USB. Which sucks, BTW. lol

Just curious who has your control computer connected to the web/network, and what problems you've had.
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by acourtjester »

Ditto on no web My control PC only runs the table, all drawing and configuring is done on the inside PC.
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by SeanP »

I wouldn't like to go back to usb for that job, even though it's only feet away, I added an extra lan card in my office pc and networked it to the mach pc , I don't see any problems and it's been like that for 12 months now.
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by _Ogre »

we are connected to the internet on an xp machine
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by tcaudle »

On an ethercut machine its pretty simple (and safer) to setup . You have to use a second network card or a USB to WIFI adapter and in Windows you set THAT Ethernet channel to your internal network or WAN address (TCP/IP) and you make that the public network type and leave the Firewall enabled. You can't run anything but the EtherCut on the 10,0.0.9 network anyway. Just make sure you only turn on the Firewall for the outside network to the Internet.

Most of the problem is in the setup and getting it right in Windows You still don't what to be cutting and surfing the NET at the same time.
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by motoguy »

Wells sounds like I need to look into that! It would be nice to download updates, and most importantly, share a network drive for files! I bought USB hubs for both machines, just so I don't wear out the USB ports in the cases!
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by Capstone »

As Tom said, with Ethercut, I'm not seeing any blips or performance hits. I use a usb wifi card on my control PC and it's pretty much a must because I also use DropBox for all of my files.
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by rons »

I run windows 7 32 bit, EtherCut, Sheetcam, Mach 3, usb xbox360 controller, Corel DrawX7, TurboCad 2015, internet on second wifi card, dropbox and onedrive all open and running at the same time and the table is not grounded maybe this is not a great idea but I never have any problems.
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by Larry83301 »

I use Mach 3 on my table with XP PRO, 1gig memory and it has NEVER been hooked to the internet. I have a computer that I use for CAD/CAM and internet in the house and I move files with a flash drive. Never had a problem with the computer that runs the table, and I believe if it ain't broke don't fix it!!! :D :D :D


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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by Capstone »

rons wrote:I run windows 7 32 bit, EtherCut, Sheetcam, Mach 3, usb xbox360 controller, Corel DrawX7, TurboCad 2015, internet on second wifi card, dropbox and onedrive all open and running at the same time and the table is not grounded maybe this is not a great idea but I never have any problems.

Rons, How on earth did you get the Xbox360 controller to work?! I have one and MACH3 kept saying the .dll was bad. If you have anykind of details on the install that would be a huge help, maybe as a separate thread.
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by acourtjester »

I had a wired Xbox controller that worked just fine but the wireless one did not. Funny as the wireless controller I won from Spider works just fine.
:o :lol:
Did you get the .DLL from the mach site??
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by BTA Plasma »

.DLL defective means you did not load the xbox controller for windows. Download and install that. You wont get a wireless to work without the wireless tether that connects to the PC through the USB.

Hooking up to the internet is absolutely not something you should be doing with your machine controller. When you do any kind of update to windows you enter the windows 10 shell game, sometimes an update will turn on the firewall or windows defender or change or modify your settings. I have worked over enough #2 pcs for folks to tell them not to put their controllers online. Some computers especially in the XP vintage will use the DTHCII and be responsible for step and direction. The last thing you want them to do is steer precious resources away from Mach.

The issues don't really start from the first day. Its a month later when you see a quick program for making a gear tooth profile or a font or another add on you want to try that starts to let the bugs cascade your pc into the volcano of issues.
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by rons »

I used lee davis from machsupport but I do remember down loading the engine from microsoft, I apologize for not having better details it just worked without fussing, even the second time when replacing the hard drive.

I have been running for about 9 months all works great.
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by Capstone »

I finally figured it out after about 20 different software installs and reboots. Turns out I was using a power only cable to connect the normally wireless Xbox controller to the PC via USB and so the PC never saw it. I ended up getting a $20 Walmart off-brand "wired" Xbox controller and then used the Xbox-Schilling .dll and it finally all clicked. Had I spent $40 on the Microsoft brand, I may have been able to use the original .dll but now that I'm running its a moot point. Thanks for the help and replies
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by Gustav129 »

I production, being completely dependent on a network was a pain sometimes. If the network router went down, then I couldn't access my .TAP files and do any work. Any part that was cut in high numbers, or often enough, was saved to a USB drive.

All of the original DXF files that were done by the office people were saved on Drive X of the network. Anything approved for cutting was then copied to Drive W, then I had access to them. All the CAM work was saved on Drive W too.
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by plasmaworkz »

ok i get why you wouldn't want to hook up your outdated pc to internet, but my question is why is everyone running $90 CPUs on their cncs? the table I bought came with a terribly old pc like 4GB of ram with 9k preloaded cut files. makes the controller almost worthless because its so slow and outdated. is there a reason why we are using such outdated tech????
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by WyoGreen »

I don't think it's the machine tech level so much as it's the operating system that causes problems.
My wife has a long-arm quilting machine that's CNC controlled on Windows 10 via a tablet. It's a real POS to keep working. Windows 10 is forever deciding it wants to do something else other than just run the CNC program. Every iteration of windows seems to get worse.
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by Larry83301 »

plasmaworkz wrote: Wed Dec 15, 2021 4:59 pm ok i get why you wouldn't want to hook up your outdated pc to internet, but my question is why is everyone running $90 CPUs on their cncs? the table I bought came with a terribly old pc like 4GB of ram with 9k preloaded cut files. makes the controller almost worthless because its so slow and outdated. is there a reason why we are using such outdated tech????
I would say that the old adage " If it ain't broke don't fix it" is why. XP runs my table well and Mach 3 does a fine job keeping it going from point to point at speed so why make an added expense to change it.
This is just my opinion (everybody has one) :Yay :Yay :Yay


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P.S. I have three computers running all the time and the only one that ever has problems in the one on the internet. :(
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by beefy »

Windows is a multi-tasking operating system, i.e. it does several things at once. Now everything can't really be done "at once", and tasks are jumped between at high speed. Some tasks are "interrupted" to allow another task to be done.
When I used to run Mach3 on XP, if I did not need something in the operating system I would completely disable it. Went into Task Manager and disable and uninstalled alsorts. Definitely no internet and my LAN device was disabled. As a result I had a very stable system.
Bare in mind this was a "non-buffered" type setup which directly used the parallel port, and could not handle any interruptions to the running of the main cnc program. In a nutshell I treated the PC as a standalone CNC motion controller with no other purpose.

Then I moved to UCCNC which had it own external motion controller with an ethernet connection to the PC. That was a whole different ball game because the movement commands are buffered and sent in bunches to the motion controller, which seemed immune to what was happening on the PC.
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by robertspark »

when I ran windows for mach3, mach4 or uccnc it was off line as it ran without antivirus, just a basic os install with sheetcam + cad but more importantly I did not want windows updating its self and stuff stopping working.

please note I never ran mach3 with a parallel port, always a motion controller (usb smooth stepper , ethernet smooth stepper, uc400 Eth and uc300 Eth)

I just fed it usb memory sticks.

now I run Linux and it's on the network and has internet access (but it just gets used to update software packages), and and files to it (no longer use USB sticks).

each to their own, many ways to skin that same cat, do what you think will work best for you.

I would never ever recommend usb for a motion controller in a plasma or vfd environment, you are just setting yourself up for agro to fault find earth loop faults. no issues with ethernet. I would also never recommend the use of a parallel port for motion control, as the step and dir timing is too reliant upon a pc that needs intensive / accurate timing that is not being polled by other devices (like internet or shared video card memory)
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by motoguy »

robertspark wrote: Sat Dec 18, 2021 4:07 am now I run Linux and it's on the network and has internet access (but it just gets used to update software packages), and and files to it (no longer use USB sticks).
Same. I've been running CommandCNC for several years now. It has internet access. Like you, I basically only use it to go to CandCNC's page and download updates. The "main" purpose for connectivity for it is so I can send files to it from the office computer. They're networked together. This USB transfer crap is for the birds.
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by 4Dscreenart »

motoguy wrote: Fri Apr 29, 2016 10:21 am Just curious. When I purchased my table, Matt at Bulltear warned me that there are several things with Win7 that can/will cause timing issues between Mach3 and the control of the table. Windows Defender, Security Essentials, Firewall, etc. Things that I would probably want activated if the computer is on the web/network. So, my control computer is NOT connected to the web, or a network. I transfer all files from my "general purpose" computer to the control computer, vs USB. Which sucks, BTW. lol

Just curious who has your control computer connected to the web/network, and what problems you've had.
The only time I use the one is for cutting however it is networked so it's easy transferring files. I keep all of them on a network cloud so I'm not running back and forth with a thumb drive. With that in mind, it is a pain in the but with the upgraded windows always wanting to update and at times paused my work.
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by c_rossman »

I run my home made plasma table on a Windows 10 Dell Laptop. I use the Ethernet port to connect to the motion controller(warp9) and use the built in Wifi to connect to my network to transfer files from my programming PC. Mach 3 is the only program I have installed on it. I did disable the internet on it because I was sick of the Windows Updates. I believe it was port 80 or 81 you need to turn off.
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Re: For Mach3 users...is your control computer connected to the internet?

Post by Rodw »

I can't imagine running ANY machine without access to your network which by definition means my cnc machines have access to the internet.
But I run linuxcnc so don't have to fight with the limitations of some of the windows cnc systems.

Best thing I ever did was to configure Samba on my plasma cutter so I can create a windows share.
So I can output a sheetcam file direct to the plasma cutter from my windows pc in my air conditioned office. All I have to do is walk out and hit the load latest button and I'm ready to cut before retreating back to the cool!
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