calling globals within macros, bad Idea?

wayneosdias

I re-position servos within a macro via a saved global var;

M280 P1 S{global.Servo2_180}

The command runs correctly in the console, but running the command from a macro and things run amuck. In macro the servo moves to the correct position initially, but a few g commands later the servo changes erratically. Initially I thought I generated a bad tool path as I mapped the tool path manually. After checking and confirming the routine is correct I thought the machines collective power draw was pulling the servo signal down and corrupting the postition. But then I just replaced the global value for a constant and the problem is gone.

M280 P1 S130                  ;Works, stable entire routine
M280 P1 S{global.Servo2_180}  ;Works initially, but becomes unstable.

same value, but not a var but a const. Problem solved. The only time the global.Servo2_180 is manipulated is in a macro that is called by BtnCmd and is declared/initiated in config.g

Any ideas on this?

OwenD

@wayneosdias
Is it possible that you're changing the value of the global while there are still unfinished moves queued?
Can you share the macro that is setting the global value?

wayneosdias

@OwenD heres the macro, this works w the globals changed out for consts. I initiate the global in config and modify them via a dedicated calibration macro that is only called once after homing the machine and never when running a job/routine.

;USB_H2_Dispense
;Get head out of way
G54 
G0 U46 V46
;Set offset to H2 for the Case
G58
M280 P1 S70;{global.Servo2_90}
;1st Point of USB
G0 X3.8 Y13.5
G0 V1
;trigger on
G4 P200
G1 V5 F200
;trigger off
G0 X10.5 Y20.7
G0 V1
;Trigger on
G4 P200
G1 X3.8 Y13.5 F600
G1 X10.5 Y20.7 V1.5 
G1 X3.8 Y13.5 V2.5
G1 X10.5 Y20.7 V3.5
G1 X3.8 Y13.5 V4.5
G1 X10.5 Y20.7 V5
;Trigger off
G0 V10
M280 P1 S130;{global.Servo2_180}
G0 X50 Y14
G0 V1
;trigger on
G4 P200
G1 V5 F200
;trigger off
G0 X44.3 Y22
G0 V1.5
;trigger on
G1 X50 Y14 F600
G1 X43.3 Y22 V1.5 
G1 X50 Y14 V2.5
G1 X43.3 Y22 V3.5
G1 X50 Y14 V4.5
G1 X43.3 Y22 V5
;trigger off
G0 V10
M280 P1 S100;{global.Servo2_135}
G0 X35.5 Y11.5
G0 V2
;trigger on
G1 X18.5 Y11.5 F600
G1 X35.5 Y11.5 V2.5
G1 X18.5 Y11.5 V3.5
G1 X35.5 Y11.5 V4.5
G1 X18.5 Y11.5 V5
;trigger off
G54
G0 U46 V46

OwenD

@wayneosdias
Nothing jumps out at me.
What happens if you enable debug level logging?
M929
I'm not sure if the result will be the command after the global is calculated or not, but it might offer something.

wayneosdias

@OwenD
Thanks Owen, looks like I have a renegade var lurking somewhere. I renamed several globals accross different macros. I try and find it and correct.

2023-01-25 14:32:13 [info] Event logging started at level warn
2023-01-25 14:32:13 [info] Running: Duet 3 Mini5plus WiFi: 3.4.5 (2022-11-30 19:41:16)
2023-01-25 14:40:23 [warn] Error: in file macro line 36 column 15: meta command: variable 'Servo1' already exists
2023-01-25 14:41:05 [info] Event logging stopped

OwenD

@wayneosdias

You're probably trying to use

global xyz = 123
When it should be
set global.xyz = 123

For safety you can use

if !exists(global.xyz)
  global xyz = 123
else
   set global.xyz = 123

wayneosdias

@OwenD
No thats not it, whenever I write to a global I always use 'set'. I scrubbed the bad variable, but Im still having the issue when using the global var. Heres how Im setting the vars, again in only one place and only during the homeing process;

if param.A=0
 if global.Servo1Cnts>global.Servo1CntsCal
  set global.Servo1Offsets=global.Servo1Cnts-global.Servo1CntsCal
  set global.Servo1_180=120+global.Servo1Offsets 
  set global.Servo1_135=90+global.Servo1Offsets
  set global.Servo1_90=60+global.Servo1Offsets
 else 
  set global.Servo1Offsets=global.Servo1CntsCal-global.Servo1Cnts
  set global.Servo1_180=120-global.Servo1Offsets 
  set global.Servo1_135=90-global.Servo1Offsets
  set global.Servo1_90=60-global.Servo1Offsets
else
 if global.Servo2Cnts>global.Servo2CntsCal
  set global.Servo2Offsets=global.Servo2Cnts-global.Servo2CntsCal
  set global.Servo2_180=120+global.Servo2Offsets 
  set global.Servo2_135=90+global.Servo2Offsets
  set global.Servo2_90=60+global.Servo2Offsets
 else 
  set global.Servo2Offsets =global.Servo2CntsCal-global.Servo2Cnts
  set global.Servo2_180=120-global.Servo2Offsets 
  set global.Servo2_135=90-global.Servo2Offsets
  set global.Servo2_90=60-global.Servo2Offsets

Later in macros I use the global as

M280 P1 S{global.Servo2_180}  ;

Whats more is the issue isnt aberrant like I thought at first. When I use a global for M280 it executes M280 3-4 steps early. The move/postion the servo moves to isnt erratic, it moves the next position, everytime. It's like the motion planner executes the command as it prefetches and sticks it into the queue. Again only with the globals, not w a constant.

Its weird.

OwenD

@wayneosdias
On your previous post it appeared you used "warn" level debugging
What does

M929 P"myLog.txt" S3 ;

; do your thing

M929 S0

Reveal?

I'd expect to see the commands in order of processing

wayneosdias

@OwenD
M929 P"eventlogGlobal.txt" S3 ;
Here the response using constants

2023-01-25 17:22:07 [info] Event logging started at level debug
2023-01-25 17:22:07 [info] Running: Duet 3 Mini5plus WiFi: 3.4.5 (2022-11-30 19:41:16)

Here the response using after changing to globals globals

2023-01-25 17:22:07 [info] Running: Duet 3 Mini5plus WiFi: 3.4.5 (2022-11-30 19:41:16)
2023-01-25 17:26:53 [info] Event logging stopped
2023-01-25 17:26:53 [info] Event logging started at level debug
2023-01-25 17:26:53 [info] Running: Duet 3 Mini5plus WiFi: 3.4.5 (2022-11-30 19:41:16)```

wayneosdias

@wayneosdias
sorry let me redo w the commands inline w the macro and not in the console
this is all I see in the eventlog

2023-01-25 14:41:05 [info] Event logging started at level warn
2023-01-25 14:41:05 [info] Running: Duet 3 Mini5plus WiFi: 3.4.5 (2022-11-30 19:41:16)
2023-01-25 15:00:51 [info] Event logging stopped
2023-01-25 17:22:07 [info] Event logging started at level debug
2023-01-25 17:22:07 [info] Running: Duet 3 Mini5plus WiFi: 3.4.5 (2022-11-30 19:41:16)
2023-01-25 17:26:53 [info] Event logging stopped
2023-01-25 17:26:53 [info] Event logging started at level debug
2023-01-25 17:26:53 [info] Running: Duet 3 Mini5plus WiFi: 3.4.5 (2022-11-30 19:41:16)
2023-01-25 17:32:11 [info] Event logging stopped
2023-01-25 17:32:11 [info] Event logging started at level debug
2023-01-25 17:32:11 [info] Running: Duet 3 Mini5plus WiFi: 3.4.5 (2022-11-30 19:41:16)
2023-01-25 17:32:40 [info] Event logging stopped

OwenD

@wayneosdias
Are you running just the macro that sets the globals, or the movement one as well?
I was expecting to see G1 commands ETS in the log, but I could be wrong. Haven't tried logging for a while.

wayneosdias

@OwenD Heres what Im running is exactly what Im running

M929 P"eventlogGlobal.txt" S3 ;
;USB_H2_Dispense
;Get head out of way
G54 
G0 U46 V46
;Set offset to H2 for the Case
G58
M280 P1 S{global.Servo2_90};70;
;1st Point of USB
G0 X3.8 Y13.5
G0 V1
;trigger on
G4 P200
G1 V5 F200
;trigger off
G0 X10.5 Y20.7
G0 V1
;Trigger on
G4 P200
G1 X3.8 Y13.5 F600
G1 X10.5 Y20.7 V1.5 
G1 X3.8 Y13.5 V2.5
G1 X10.5 Y20.7 V3.5
G1 X3.8 Y13.5 V4.5
G1 X10.5 Y20.7 V5
;Trigger off
G0 V10
M280 P1 S{global.Servo2_180};130;
G0 X50 Y14
G0 V1
;trigger on
G4 P200
G1 V5 F200
;trigger off
G0 X44.3 Y22
G0 V1.5
;trigger on
G1 X50 Y14 F600
G1 X43.3 Y22 V1.5 
G1 X50 Y14 V2.5
G1 X43.3 Y22 V3.5
G1 X50 Y14 V4.5
G1 X43.3 Y22 V5
;trigger off
G0 V10
M280 P1 S{global.Servo2_135};100;
G0 X35.5 Y11.5
G0 V2
;trigger on
G1 X18.5 Y11.5 F600
G1 X35.5 Y11.5 V2.5
G1 X18.5 Y11.5 V3.5
G1 X35.5 Y11.5 V4.5
G1 X18.5 Y11.5 V5
;trigger off
G54
G0 U46 V46 
M929 S0 ;

Im executing it via

M98 P"/macros/USB_H2_Dispense"

In the console

OwenD

@wayneosdias
Ok.
I thought debug level gave more than that.
I wasted your time on that one sorry.
The only time I've had the codes appear to execute out of order was when there were errors
Have you got the latest firmware build for the mini 5?
There was an error with an incorrect file a little while back if you didn't use the zip bundle

Outside that I'm a bit stumped.

wayneosdias

@wayneosdias
Heres what Im doing https://youtu.be/FzovkhonvkI
In the vid is correct movment using constants, changing the constants to globals as the above posted macro the 2nd and 3rd rotation trigger 3 movements early. I can take another video, but it wont have tray loaded because it crashes...

wayneosdias

@OwenD
No I think youre right. I have and HC6 in a pick and place machine and debug reports everything... Im not sure why the mini 5 is not...

dc42

@wayneosdias said in calling globals within macros, bad Idea?:

When I use a global for M280 it executes M280 3-4 steps early.

When you don't use a global in the M280 command, the command is put in the deferred command queue and executed after all previous movement commands have completed. When you use a global in the M280 command, it isn't put in the deferred command queue, because the variables you refer to may not be available in that context, and in any case they might change before the command is executed. So the M280 command is executed immediately.

If you put a M400 command before the M280 command, it will wait for motion to complete before the M280 command is executed.

wayneosdias

@dc42 Yes, M400 resolves the issue. Thank you

OwenD

@dc42 said in calling globals within macros, bad Idea?:

@wayneosdias said in calling globals within macros, bad Idea?:

When I use a global for M280 it executes M280 3-4 steps early.

When you use a global in the M280 command, it isn't put in the deferred command queue, because the variables you refer to may not be available in that context, and in any case they might change before the command is executed. So the M280 command is executed immediately.

@dc42
That's very interesting.
Are there other command in particular that would behave this way if a global variable was used as one of the parameters?

dc42

@OwenD yes some other commands such as M106 M42 M300 and M150 will behave in this way.

wayneosdias

@dc42 Hmm, So what is best pratice for the following end use;

I have 2 Servos and 4 selonoid(2ch pos/vac pneumatic control);

;Servos
M950 S0 C"io1.out" ;"Servo1"
M950 S1 C"io3.out" ;"Servo2"
M950 P2 C"out1"    ;"Valve_Mstr"
M950 P3 C"out2"    ;"Valve_Ch_Slct"
M950 P3 C"out3"    ;"Valve_Ch1_Vac"
M950 P3 C"out4"    ;"Valve_Ch2_Vac"

Im empirically generating my own tool paths and attempting to trigger timed valve sequences and things gets very confusing/later unreadable using the following syntax;

G1 Xmove Ymove
M280 P0 S100; Spin servo1 90deg
M42 P2 S1; +Pressurize Ch1.
G4 P200 ; Dwell stabilize.
G1 Xmove Ymove
M42 P4 S1; Retract
G4 P200 ; Dwell stabilize.
M42 P2 S0; Depressurize.

Since I cant find a way to use/call tool names in gcode created via M563 Im creating globals for literals to replace tool indexes and using in a const manner.

global Servo1=0
global Servo2=1
global Valve_Mstr=2
global Valve_Ch_Slct=3
global Valve_Ch1_Vac=4
global Valve_Ch2_Vac=5

Which is much make macro more readable as;

G1 Xmove Ymove
M280 P{global.Servo1} S{global.Servo1_90}; Spin servo1 90deg
M42 P{global.Valve_Mstr} S1; +Pressurize.
G4 P200 ; Dwell stabilize.
G1 Xmove Ymove
M42 P{global.Valve_Ch_Slct} S1; Retract
G4 P200 ; Dwell stabilize.
M42 P{global.Valve_Ch1_Vac} S; Depressurize.

But doing the above every M280 or M42 will require a M400 command preceeding it? Am I going about this completely wrong? What is best practice to accomplish this?