Messages

281

General Mach Discussion / Re: video window won't work

« on: May 11, 2010, 03:17:50 AM »

Have you tried Klaus's video plugin?

Might be worth a try.

http://www.kd-dietz.de/index_eng.htm

Greg

282

General Mach Discussion / Re: Homing X & Y at the same time

« on: April 21, 2010, 10:00:36 PM »

Try  RefCombination ( 3 )

That will home X and Y simultaneously.

Greg

Ref;  http://www.machsupport.com/MachCustomizeWiki/index.php?title=Mach_specific_Subroutines/Functions_grouped_by_purpose

283

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th axis - GCode degrees vs distance

« on: March 09, 2010, 05:37:28 PM »

greolt. you said that a b c were always radial. LOL...

No I did not actually say that. Art did.

Sorry, I should have made it clearer that I was quoting Art. (the quote in blue above)

The part of that quote being relevant to the OP's question about units on a rotational axis and the point that I tried to make (not very well it seems) was,

 ".....other than that it has no purpose....."

Greg

284

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th axis - GCode degrees vs distance

« on: March 09, 2010, 02:46:51 PM »

Have a look at the Mach manual page 93 at the bottom.
No you can't say 1 degree is now 1 inch, unless that is calculated to equal that.
But A B C can be linear. That's what the book says?

Mach is used to control many varied machines.

Take for example, a hot wire foam cutter.  These typically have four axis, all of which are linear.

In the context of this thread, the 4th axis being discussed is a rotational axis, not linear.

Greg

285

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th axis - GCode degrees vs distance

« on: March 03, 2010, 02:44:23 AM »

Ahh........ that is the info from Art that I remembered reading but had forgotten the detail.

"The checkbox for linear/angular only tells an axis not to convert when switching from mm to inch, other than that it
has no purpose. A, B and C are always rotary axis.."

Thanks Rich

Greg

286

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th axis - GCode degrees vs distance

« on: March 02, 2010, 09:28:45 PM »

That wording can be easily misunderstood.  A good example of that is in this thread.

Unchecking the box does not suddenly allow Mach to know how many steps make a linear unit.

Cutting on a 10 unit diameter job, the steps per linear unit is very different than when cutting on a one unit diameter job.

Mach does have the ability to adjust the rotational axis feedrate to compensate for differing diameters.  It does not have the ability to alter steps per unit as diameter differs.

I say again....Angular units are the only ones that make any sense as a unit of measure for rotation.

Greg

287

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th axis - GCode degrees vs distance

« on: March 02, 2010, 08:39:47 PM »

1. Ok in Mach under general config you will see a box on the left that says unchecked for linear. Which means unchecked you use a linear measurement, checked is angular for input.

I don't believe this is correct.  I remember Art saying that that checkbox did only one thing (which I can't remember) but it was not to change units to linear.

For an rotational axis to be swapped between angular units and linear units, the controller would also need to know what is the diameter/circumference.

Angular units are the only ones that make any sense as a unit of measure for rotation.

Greg

288

General Mach Discussion / Re: Auto Tool Zero - Plate Thickness DRO(1151)?

« on: February 28, 2010, 04:37:25 AM »

Tweakie is quite right.

Once the value of "Plate Thickness" has been tuned for accurate results, it does not need further changing unless the plate is changed.

So it can be just as easy to hard code it in the script.

Greg

289

General Mach Discussion / Re: My ShuttleRu pendant

« on: February 28, 2010, 04:29:51 AM »

That looks pretty impressive.

Can you tell us more about it?

Does it have the electronics of a Shuttle Pro inside or is it all new?

It looks to have a modified Shuttle Pro plugin.

Greg

290

General Mach Discussion / Re: Auto Tool Zero - Plate Thickness DRO(1151)?

« on: February 28, 2010, 04:16:34 AM »

Richard

Here is a quick example for you.

I have simply squeezed a DRO below the "Auto Tool Zero" button.

See pic.  Screenset also posted if it will help.

Greg