Mach 3 Not Cutting The Size I Specifie

[bassdude]

hi all. im almost ready to start cutting my first real project but my first tests have failed me the size that the machine mills is not the size ive input ito the lazycam software everything is a little bigger than what it should be so i figure this comes down to calibration of the stepper motors. heres the question what info do i need to know about the machine to calibrate it to cut everything to the right size?

thanks in advance

[Hood]

Micro stepping of drive
Gearing if any between motor and screw
Pitch of screws
Imperial or metric setup.

Hood

[Tweakie.CNC]

If it's any help, Al's excellent little calculator is here http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,16315.0.html

Tweakie.

[bassdude]

ok here is some details from the manufacturer

screw pitch is 5mm, the micro step is 1/2 and 1/8


so what should i set my motors to?

all my work i do i use metric if that is needed to know

[Tweakie.CNC]

1/8 micro-step would be best.

Tweakie.

[bassdude]

1/8 micro-step would be best.

Tweakie.

and what box in motor tuning doese that number go? step pulse or dir pulse and what would go in the other box?

[Tweakie.CNC]

You need to set your stepper motor control to 1/8 step (link or DIP switch).
Enter figures in calculator then this gives your steps per unit (arrow shows where 8 micro-steps goes).

Tweakie.

 

[bassdude]

i use adobe illustrator and i export all my products to WMF files is that ok/Normal?

[Tweakie.CNC]

i use adobe illustrator and i export all my products to WMF files is that ok/Normal?

  Sorry buddy but you have lost me here, I am not certain what you are referring to. 

Tweakie.

[RICH]

i use adobe illustrator and i export all my products to WMF files is that ok/Normal?

Lazycam is dxf file inporter so you will need to convert the dwf to a dxf.  The dxf file contains all the vector info of the entities which  LC uses on inport to define the profile.
Yes there is a image module but there is no support on it's use and the LC manual only covers the mill module with some guidence on the lathe module ( which is replaced by LazyTurn). The magic wands , as i call them, which do raster to vector conversion, rarely provide satisfactory results.

RICH