[kvom]

How is the show so far? We're looking forward to those pictures and video.

Go over and bug the ArtSoft / Newfangled Solutions guys about Mach 4. The Cabin Fever Expo is the most logical place to announce a Mach 4 release.

Titaniumboy

They did a presentation on it last year; I didn't attend but those friends of mine who dud saw little reason to switch from Mach3 based on what was presented.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I got a one hour one-on-one introduction to Mach4 from Brian Barker today, and it's looking really good. It will be released for "beta" very soon (as in within days, for real this time....), but the "beta" will not really be usable for real work, as there are currently no fully-functional motion controller plug-ins available. So, you'll be able to play with all the features, but not actually run a machine.

Overall, it's looking like a massive improvement, with a completely from-the-ground-up new architecture which should be FAR more stable, and FAR more flexible that Mach3. It is, for all practical purposes, a completely new and very different product. It looks different, it behaves different, and all the interfaces are different.

For anyone who wants to carry over any Mach3 knoweldge to Mach4, be ready for disappointment - you won't be able to. Mach3 macros, plug-ins, wizards, etc. will no longer work. Macros will now be written in Lua, instead of Cypress Basic. The screen designer is built into the higher-end versions, but absent from the low-end versions. But, the macro/scripting interface provides an order of magnitude more functionality and more control, plug-ins, particularly for motion controllers, are MUCH simpler, and overall system performance, and especially stability, should be vastly improved. I am very much looking forward to receiving the "Developer kit", and doing the ATC plug-in.

One of the really major changes is it will be cross-platform, and will run on Windows, Linux, and Mac-OS. Even the screen-sets are cross-platform, so a screen-set designed on a PC will run unchanged on Linux.

Regards,
Ray L.

[Novakon]

Here are a few pictures of the show today. The internet connection at the Arena was horrible so we had to wait to upload at the hotel. We will try to upload some at the show but if it takes 15 minutes to navigate into the zone, it would take hours to load the pictures.

Everything is set up and ready to go.

Regards,
Novakon Team

[Titaniumboy]

Novakon,

Thanks for the pictures! I hadn't realized that they stuck you guys right next to Charter Oak and Tormach. I also see LIttle Machine Shop in the background. Has Novakon been to this show before? If yes, how is this years attendance compared to previous years?


Ray,

Thanks for your update on Mach 4. You said "the "beta" will not really be usable for real work, as there are currently no fully-functional motion controller plug-ins available." How can this be? This seems to me that motion control would be the heart of the program. I'm stunned that the beta wouldn't at least be able to send simple Step and Dir signals to stepper motors.

I know that you are not a fan of Mach 3, but what would you do if you were in my position? I will need to buy a real version of Mach in the next month or so. Would you hold out for Mach 4 being released? Given the previous delays it seems possible (probable?) that a stable version of Mach 4 might take until the end of the year.

Titaniumboy

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Novakon,

Thanks for the pictures! I hadn't realized that they stuck you guys right next to Charter Oak and Tormach. I also see LIttle Machine Shop in the background. Has Novakon been to this show before? If yes, how is this years attendance compared to previous years?

Novakon had the best location in the show - right up front, along the two main aisles, where pretty much everyone walked right past the booth. It was VERY busy today, and there was a lot of interest all day long. Charter Oak was behind Novakon on one side, Dolphin CAD/CAM on the other side, and ArtSoft behind that. Tormach was in the corner of the room, a bit more out of the way. They had an 1100 with a pre-production "hard" enclosure, and their new surface grinder on display.

Ray,

Thanks for your update on Mach 4. You said "the "beta" will not really be usable for real work, as there are currently no fully-functional motion controller plug-ins available." How can this be? This seems to me that motion control would be the heart of the program. I'm stunned that the beta wouldn't at least be able to send simple Step and Dir signals to stepper motors.

It can be, and it is. That came straight from Brian Barker. Think of it more as a "preview" than an actual beta. The problem is, the motion controller plug-ins are the responsibility of the motion controller providers, not ArtSoft, so it is out of Artsofts hands. There are several that are "close", but none that are current "ready". I would expect to see the first one fairly soon.

I know that you are not a fan of Mach 3, but what would you do if you were in my position? I will need to buy a real version of Mach in the next month or so. Would you hold out for Mach 4 being released? Given the previous delays it seems possible (probable?) that a stable version of Mach 4 might take until the end of the year.

Titaniumboy

How long it will take to reach a stable Mach4 is anyones guess at this point, but I would not expect to see it in less than several months. I would expect it to shake out pretty quickly, as the new architecture should make any bugs MUCH easier to find and fix, with greatly reduced risk of creating new bugs in the process. But there is a LOT of new code (virtually all of it, really), so there will be bugs. I would think end of the year would be a reasonable estimate for something that is at least as stable as the current Mach3. When it is stable, it should be a VAST improvement over Mach3.

BTW - I didn't explicitly ask Brian, but it does appear he has changed the name from Mach3 v4 to Mach4. A smart move, IMHO. I expect to have a copy of play with very soon, and will post my impressions to the extent I am allowed to (some of what I'll be receiving is under NDA).

Regards,
Ray L.

[Titaniumboy]

Novakon had the best location in the show - right up front, along the two main aisles, where pretty much everyone walked right past the booth. It was VERY busy today, and there was a lot of interest all day long. Charter Oak was behind Novakon on one side, Dolphin CAD/CAM on the other side, and ArtSoft behind that. Tormach was in the corner of the room, a bit more out of the way. They had an 1100 with a pre-production "hard" enclosure, and their new surface grinder on display.

Are you helping man the Novakon booth? Will you be at the show again on Sunday?

It can be, and it is. That came straight from Brian Barker. Think of it more as a "preview" than an actual beta. The problem is, the motion controller plug-ins are the responsibility of the motion controller providers, not ArtSoft, so it is out of Artsofts hands. There are several that are "close", but none that are current "ready". I would expect to see the first one fairly soon.

I'm confused. Who would be the "motion controller provider" on a mill like mine which has stepper motors. Wouldn't the same Step/Dir signals work with all stepper motors?

How long it will take to reach a stable Mach4 is anyones guess at this point, but I would not expect to see it in less than several months. <snip> I would think end of the year would be a reasonable estimate for something that is at least as stable as the current Mach3. When it is stable, it should be a VAST improvement over Mach3.

Well, I guess that settles that. I'll be shelling out for a real copy of Mach 3 later this month. Thanks for your help.

Titaniumboy

[ger21]

I'm confused. Who would be the "motion controller provider" on a mill like mine which has stepper motors. Wouldn't the same Step/Dir signals work with all stepper motors?

The parallel port driver for Mach4 will be a plugin, and I believe it will be an extra cost option. Mach4 is designed to use external motion contrtollers, like the Smoothstepper, KFlop, UC-100, .....
The parallel port is considered to be just another motion controller.

The motion control hardware providers write there own plugins. With Mach3, it was 100% up to them. I was under the impression that plugins would need to be "certified" to work with Mach4, and Artsoft would be making sure that they all worked correctly, and all worked the same. If they don't do this, it's a big mistake imo, because the plugin will dictate your mach4 experience.

I've heard that the Smoothstepper plugin has been in development for several months now. CS Labs website says they're currently working on theirs.

I agree with Ray, that I think it's still many months from a fully functional, mostly bug free state.

[kvom]

If they want people to pay the upgrade I'd think they should provide a PP motion controller. Otherwise getting people to do a pre-purchase trial wouldn't work.

[Novakon]

Another day at the show....

The show went very well with many interested in the Pulsar and it's rigid tapping capability. We had set up dozens of drill and tap sequences for an impressive time. Five holes and taps in about a little over two minutes. The Lever Draw Bar made for for very quick tool changes resulting in a very fast process. We will be posting the video links after it loads up later tonight on U-tube. The internet is very slow here and it takes a lot longer than normal. These videos should be posted late tonight or first thing in the morning.

The Torus PRO was running a screaming fast etching program with it's servo motors. The Power Draw Bar nicely and rapidly changed the tools with a push of a button.

More pics to come still....

Regards,
Novakon Team

[LeeWay]

Very cool stuff. Sounds like you guys are doing well with it. Looking forward to the videos.

[Novakon]

We finally got the exhibit closed down and all packed up on Sunday for the long ride home. The exhibit was, for us at least, a very successful event. The internet at the arena was very poor at best and still not real great at the hotel so uploading video was next to impossible. We have now uploaded the video and have provide 4 videos for you viewing.

We did have an excellent booth location and had virtually an endless stream of on lookers. We will have to say we were very proud of the demonstration of the rigid tapping capabilities as shown in the video. The post code for rigid tapping came from BobCAD CAM V26 and it will be available as a download from the BobCAD CAM web site.

We were next to Dolphin CAM and I had a chance to have a good conversation with Chad. They seemed to be a good group of people at their exhibit and it was a pleasure to meet them. We will be working with them to get some post processors going for rigid tapping for their CAM.

Regards,

Novakon Team

[Novakon]

Here is video number 2.

[Novakon]

Here is video #3.

[Novakon]

Here is video #4

[ram48]

The Novakon display always seemed to have a crowd around the machines Anytime the pulsar was demonstrated doing the rigid tapping program the crowd was three deep. I guess when a machine can spot drill, drill and tap 5, 1/2x13 holes in a brittle, abrasive and hard material like Corian with NO COOLANT and in well UNDER 3 Min. with a tap feed speed of 150in per min. it will draw a crowd. (group)