Has anyone had any recent issues with UGS Platform? Yesterday my previously working copy (on Windows 10) took an abnormally long time to boot up & then showed the Visualizer window greyed out. Ran two jobs ok without & then re-installed UGS. Program then froze at the nightly build window pop-up. Reloaded & now freezes once initial window opens. Also had to modify config file to point to Java as it also couldn’t find it.
Tad frustrating as have some must do projects this week.
Are there any viable alternative programs to UGS?
Russ
GrblGru, TinyG and there are others.
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Try estlcam. I have used it. Pretty good.
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Thanks, will give them a look.
Thanks, will have a look.
UPDATE: Using UGS Platform Snapshot version 2 w/Java 1.8.0. found that a file “jogamp_exe_tst1~~1.exe” appears to be the culprit in causing the program to freeze while loading. On research it appears others have had issues with same. It is used to find a temp file to extract .jar files to.
Once I’ve started UGS platform & it has froze I use task manager to kill the jogamp exe file. There may be two instances of the file that need removing. Don’t remove the UGSplatform.exe. Once the offending file(s) are stopped UGS starts up & runs fine. Will be checking with ugs programmer to see if a work around or patch can be had. Not sure why this hit now unless a windows update tripped ugs up.
Probably Windows updates. Lots of problems with latest batch of updates. From little irritating things to outright crashes so I’ve heard.
Please let us all know if and when you get a resolution.
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At some point it will become clear to all that user side Java is dying rapidly. Just getting java installed anymore is a pain. I know it’s machine control and needs hardware access (I use the Linux version) but java looks like windows 95 these days.
I will look at the other options too. X-Carve does a good job with just a usb driver and a web app. Andy is worried about them dropping support though.
Commercial operators have more options, hobbyists generally want free which limits us.
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Hey guys, new to the CNC world. I’ve got my machine set up but i cant seem to get it to respond to the UGS. Any common issues?
Welcome Thenris. If you are talking about not moving while trying to jog check the UGS jogging feed rate. It’s probably set to 10mm per minute. Change it to 1000mm per minute. See if that helps. If not then there is some other issue. Does it make noise like it’s trying to move?
Robert, welcome to the party.
When you’re sure all your cables are connected correctly, power up the LongBoard. Make sure UGS is set for 115K baud and that it found the correct port. Then listen for the ‘thump’ when you hit the connect icon in the top left. If you don’t hear anything you may have a loose USB cable, or the UGS settings are wrong.
Keep plugging and report back. There are lots of people here to help.
Bill
Hey there. I’m brand new to cnc. I’ve been experiencing some trouble with my machine just plunging deeper then it should and then continuing on the tool path. The last task I did it crashed, I re zero’d the machine and ran the program again. On the second attempt it ran longer then the first time and then plunged too deep again.
I don’t think its the programing of the tool paths (done in Fusion 360). Does anyone have any insight. is this a ugs glitch? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
I’ve not used Fusion360, but others here do, so I’m sure you will get help.
That said, a couple of questions immediately come to mind:
1: In fusion, are you setting the zeroing on the top of the material, on the bottom, or on the top of the spoil board.
2.How your are zeroing out your Z axis in UGS? Do you have the touch plate sold here?
I use F360 for most of my jobs. and there are couple things to look out for:
Be sure to enter the info in the Feed & Speed tab for the tool you’re using. Even though the LongMill is not controlling the router speed, F360 uses this info to populate the the Tool tab in the setup. This is especially important if you are letting F360 use its calcs.
As Grant said, make sure you set the Box Point instead of letting F360 assume what you want. Make sure you zero the router to the same place.
I have had recurrent issues with UGS Platform ignoring the zero point using the LongMill zeroing tool, so when I hit the RUN button I watch it carefully to be sure it does what I expect. From the second time on it’s fine. I have not had any issues zeroing manually like when the zero point is not critical.
Another thing to look for is to make sure you are not too near the upper or lower travel limits of the Z axis. Since the LongMill is so stout, you can hit the limit, UGS keeps plugging along, and you don’t know it maxed out because there’s no crunching or belt snapping noises. This is what I expect might be your issue - UGS tells the bit to go higher but it maxes out so it doesn’t go as high, and when UGS sends it down it goes too low. This would most likely happen between moves because F360 raises the bit to clear everything. Make sure when you do the setup you keep an eye on the retracts and clearance heights in the Heights tab.
And I know it sounds pretty basic, but make sure your bit is chucked in tight enough, especially with a 1/8" tool and a collett adapter. You will not be the first person to forget to tighten the chuck - or turn on the router.
Hope something works. Please check back so we can keep trying.
Bill
Up until last week I had a perfectly functioning Longmill & ugsplatform duet going on. I finished a couple of programs turned everything off, done for the day. I turned the controller on and fired up the laptop ready for another day and wah $%^&! la nada, my longmill no longer connects to ugs. All the lights on the longmill controller light up (4xred & 1xgreen) makes a noise, hums abit but ugs doesn’t make the connection. When ugs 1st starts up it reports com3 @ 115200 baud rate but try as I might it won’t connect. If I try and refresh the com ports I get a warning report that no serial ports are found. So off to device manager and no com or lpt ports to be found even with show hidden devices in Win 10.
I’m so annoyed with ugs at the moment that I’m actively looking for an alternative. How can it work one day and then poof no workie and make my life miserable?? I’ve reinstalled everything, Java, ugs, spent hours trolling through sites looking for solutions and no joy what so ever. I’m hoping one of ye can do the impossible, thanking ye in advance!
@Br5d Brad: If windows is not showing the com port that your controller is attached to, this is not a UGS issue. It’s a windows issue. UGS can only use what windows delivers. You may want to plug the usb cable into another port on your laptop, and ensure that the connection to the controller is good. Then, restart windows and look again in device manager.
Assuming that you get this resolved, going forward, make sure that you go into windows 10 power setting and turn off allowing it to reduce power to USB ports. The default in windows 10 reduces power to USB ports from time to time and that will play hell with UGS and your controller.
I hear you, but I’ve plugged the controller into every usb port on the laptop to no avail. I spent an hour yesterday changing & rebooting for every allowed for com port from 2 to 42 and nothing worked. When I switch from grbl to diagnostics (testing) in ugs I can get it to connect the wee emblem goes orange. When I switch back to grbl - nada. So I don’t know where the problem is…windows…ugs…control block/brick, I’ve spent a few hours in Microsoft trying to get answers other than install new drivers and restart. (which rarely works) I’m curious if other interfaces are less problematic. Ugs when it worked was buggy but useable. Going to give port assigning a go…
I’ve tried 4 that I know work without any issues, and hey the obvious is usually the last thing you try because it’s so obvious. Looking at doing a fresh reinstall of windows. Which should keep me out of harm’s way for a week or so. Thanks for your input ! It is appreciated