Messages

1871

FAQs / Re: Help wanted. Chinese 3020 Motors make a grinding sound. Particularly on Xaxis +.

« on: October 29, 2013, 08:01:55 AM »

Not familar with the 3020.
I would assume that you have recommended settings that came with the machine for Mach3.
Grinding sound can be indicative of a number of things. The first that comes to mind is the drive amp settiing and also a bad  signal that is generated by the computer through the parrallel port.  

Rich

1872

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: KNIFE SHARPENER

« on: October 28, 2013, 09:22:42 AM »

Continuing on with the set here is a decorating kinfe and a paring knife with Damascus blade.

RICH

1873

General Mach Discussion / Re: when running part wanders to the right cutting comes back to zero off that amoun

« on: October 21, 2013, 06:09:07 PM »

Reduce your velocity and accel 50% and try again.

RICH

1874

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Custom Guitars

« on: October 19, 2013, 08:31:13 PM »

 Gary,
I plan on taking a tour of the Martin Guitar factory in very near future.
Should be very interesting from a construction point of view since I don't play the guitar.
Anything I should ask them ?

RICH

1875

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 lathe manual control?

« on: October 18, 2013, 11:46:18 PM »

My MPG's don't have indents and are setup up ( counts per unit & velocity settings ) to somewhat provide for "turning" feel as if using a manual handwheel.
IE; turn slow and get small movements and turn fast and get faster movement of the axis. I think one turn of the mpg is around 0.008", thus great for positioning. I have used them to do some machining, but it takes a "heightened awareness" of what you are doing, thus it's just not as natural as say a manual handle since control can be lost and also there is no "feel" of the actual machining.

FWIW,
RICH

1876

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 lathe manual control?

« on: October 17, 2013, 07:05:30 AM »

Are you meaning he can lock the axis to an angle via the controller or via a combined axis movement using code?
I would assume you could do the same in Mach via a macro and screen button. Someone else needs to verify. 

RICH

1877

General Mach Discussion / Re: Discombobulation

« on: October 17, 2013, 06:15:16 AM »

Does the variances above relate to  an accuracy tolerance that the machine is capable of?

maximum rate is around 1600 mm/minute. Should I be expect to get more (in free travel, no cutting), would I need more, or is this the limitation of the motors and drive system and or controller board?

Gary,

Your machine will only be as accurate as the mechanical components of your system and also the electronic  / electrical part of the system.
You need to understand that it's a SYSTEM and that different parts of the system are interelated which can affect movement and accuracy.
The smallest step  ( movement ) you can expect to achieve is called resolution defined as 1/steps per unit. That's  theoretical and the actual will will be less. Each system component must be capable of providing for the accuracy you desire.

There are two movements, namely rapid and another at feedrate. With a stepper system, the motor torque decreases as the speed of the motor increases. So when you tune your system you are actualy interested is reliable / repeatable movement  for both a rapid movement  and when machining. Acceleration and velocity are interelated and through testing you will find what your machine is capable of. If you don't like what you have then you need to change something.

You have assembled a SYSTEM from parts so you will have what you have. You did not design the system for some set of parameters.

RICH
 

1878

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: KNIFE SHARPENER

« on: October 14, 2013, 08:41:10 AM »

After purchasing ( finding would be a better word ) and reconditioning some 40 knifes for the relations I figured it was about time to start
my owne custom set of knifes.

Here's a pic of the 8" chefs knife. The set will all have mirror polished blades. It's all hand work to a 2000 grit finish and then the final buffing is done.
All handles will have brass Loveless bolts which were manualy made to date. Need to put the cnc lathe to use since I'll probably need 30 or more.
Presentation grade ( highly figured or burled ) matching Cocobolo will be used for the handles. No need for conditioning the wood, it machines nicely,
but, I found that I am somewhat sensitive to the wood when it's being machined and frankly never had to wear a mask when doing machine work.
I have tried a lot of finishes for the handles over time but these will be done with a clear glue as it realy stands up to abuse. Only problem is that's
it's a nasty application but the results are worth it. The knife has a 20 deg relief which is polished to 3000 grit and then stropped to razor sharpness.

Another paring knife was started using a Damascus  VG10 blade HRC 60-62 since i just wanted to have one knife with a 15 deg relief on it
and also see how it would hold up under use.

Pic of the chefs knife attached.

RICH

1879

Newfangled Solutions Mach3 Wizards / Re: NFS Turn Wizard

« on: October 04, 2013, 08:56:04 PM »

I'm so spoiled by ya'll's Wizards Dolphin makes my brain hurt.

No gain if you feel no pain.

RICH

1880

General Mach Discussion / Re: Looking for the Moron's guide to CnC

« on: October 04, 2013, 08:50:04 PM »

STUDY the Mach Manuals, then buy and STUDY the CNC Programing Handbook by Smid,then watch and STUDY every video on this site relating to CNC, also pick a CAD program and STUDY all available videos for it or the manuals, then go to Members Docs and read each one that is posted as that will give you an overview of software..........
For the electronics / electical part of CNC find a mentor that can help quide you to information sources.

For Design ......heck, been at it for 40 years and still stupid and humbled when  I enter anothers discipline!

As already noted.......not plug and play.....the learining never stops....BUT.....have fun at it!

RICH