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Mach 4 Axis Calibration solution
« on: July 09, 2015, 08:15:09 AM »
Hi Guys
I am a long time Mach3 User but since upgrading to mach4 I noticed a little feature missing that I found quite handy and that was the Axis Calibration, Anyway I have done up My own axis calibration Found in the link below, This will help those who want to fine tune the steps on there machines.

For those who have already got there machine moving and just want to fine tune you can go straight to "Steps Optimizer" without having to fill in the rest of the information, There is a video there that explains how it works

http://www.cncmachineplans.com/steps-calculator/

Hope this help
Regards
Chris
Re: Mach 4 Axis Calibration solution
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2015, 02:33:56 PM »
That is really cool! Thanx!  If you care to share the formula for the steps optimizer, I'll program it into a wizard and post if for everyone to use...whatcha think? And of course, your website and contribution will be credited in the code and in the File / About menu of the window. This would be a good project for me and added value to the community in addition to your post.

--josh
Re: Mach 4 Axis Calibration solution
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2015, 06:07:42 PM »
Hi Screwie Louie
Sure thing, Just send me an email to sales@cncmachineplans.com and we can work it out

Cheers
Chris

Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: Mach 4 Axis Calibration solution
« Reply #3 on: July 10, 2015, 04:18:11 AM »
Excellent work Chris.

Well done guys for the active teamwork - I look forward to seeing the outcome.

Tweakie.
PEACE
Re: Mach 4 Axis Calibration solution
« Reply #4 on: July 10, 2015, 05:51:19 AM »
Chris this idea might work for you if you know how to edit your screen sets, lot less coding and its handy, thanks for the idea and the cool tool you made.

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,27162.msg211532.html#msg211532

Offline Chaoticone

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Re: Mach 4 Axis Calibration solution
« Reply #5 on: July 10, 2015, 06:39:10 AM »
I love the calculator and the video Chris. I despise the button in Mach3 though. There is no way to account for lost steps. The people that know all that is needed to take advantage of it do not need the button. The people that could benefit the most from it do not know the other half of the story (velocity and acceleration) and it often sends them on a wild goose chase. It is really hard and time consuming to explain to someone their steps per are off even though they have clicked that magic button. I am all for calculators that help with the math. Above all, anyone configuring Mach3, 4 or any other controller needs to understand the math. Many view the set steps per button a good excuse to avoid learning the math.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Brett
;D If you could see the things I have in my head, you would be laughing too. ;D

My guard dog is not what you need to worry about!

Offline dude1

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Re: Mach 4 Axis Calibration solution
« Reply #6 on: July 10, 2015, 07:05:21 AM »
your bang on brett step per mean bugger all if your going to fast or the acc is to high or low

best way to do it calibrate, test over a 100 movements in what ever axis then slow down try again
Re: Mach 4 Axis Calibration solution
« Reply #7 on: July 11, 2015, 09:16:32 PM »
Thanks everyone for there positive feedback, its nice to hear and also be able to help.

Chaoticone, I agree about the button to, people just generally want to automate the process and not have a full understanding so therefore it makes it harder to diagnose future issues,

With regards to the acceleration and velocitiy, do you have a guideline that you follow? For example should acceleration be 50% of of the velocity? etc etc or a certain % of the velocity as a guideline. I have generally just played it by ear and gone for something thats not taking off like lightning then jerking to a halt.

Thanks
Chris

Offline Chaoticone

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Re: Mach 4 Axis Calibration solution
« Reply #8 on: July 11, 2015, 11:30:24 PM »
Thanks everyone for there positive feedback, its nice to hear and also be able to help.

Chaoticone, I agree about the button to, people just generally want to automate the process and not have a full understanding so therefore it makes it harder to diagnose future issues,

With regards to the acceleration and velocitiy, do you have a guideline that you follow? For example should acceleration be 50% of of the velocity? etc etc or a certain % of the velocity as a guideline. I have generally just played it by ear and gone for something thats not taking off like lightning then jerking to a halt.

Thanks
Chris

Yeah, it can be one of those throwing the baby out with the bathwater kind of things.

I do not usually design the machines so yeah, usually limited to working with what you have to get the best you can out of it. A high acceleration value is often given less credit than it deserves I think. The higher the acceleration the closer you can run to a true path in CV mode. Lots of times it will help more with cycle times than a higher velocity would. All depends on the machine and the job but other things are usually the limiting factor on how fast a machine can actually do the job (tool load for example). But, plasma's have no tool load and most would benefit from higher accelerations but they have to be rigid enough to pull it off. Lasers are the same but I say accel. is even more critical.

If your designing a machine the only way that I know to size the motors is to do the math using spread sheets, some of the online motion calculators, motor sizers etc. With steppers you should have 100% safety factor and the acceleration for machines is the same as cars........... the better the acceleration the better I like it. The beating and banging doesn't bother me if the machine is designed to handle it. Backlash is a no no for sure though.
;D If you could see the things I have in my head, you would be laughing too. ;D

My guard dog is not what you need to worry about!
Re: Mach 4 Axis Calibration solution
« Reply #9 on: July 13, 2015, 01:17:01 AM »
Working it...shall I continue?
« Last Edit: July 13, 2015, 01:30:57 AM by Screwie Louie »