Messages

4571

Newfangled Solutions Mach3 Wizards / Re: Cut Circle Wizard - Approach Arc Starting Position

« on: June 11, 2010, 08:04:17 AM »

Glad you got it figured out.
RICH

4572

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

« on: June 10, 2010, 09:33:00 PM »

Certainly have something to show off. Keep posting as you go along.
Are you going to CC them?   

RICH

4573

General Mach Discussion / Re: At the end of my Rope!!!

« on: June 10, 2010, 11:03:13 AM »

Here is a driver test comparison of two pc's. The Dell / Intel has on-board graphics. The Asus pc is as follows:

- Asus motherboard - M2N68-AM SE2
- 2 GIG Ram
- AMD  64X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+ 2.7 Ghz
- Asus graphics Card - EN9600GSO
- Rosewill PCI pp card - RC302

DELL driver test:
Note the pulses per second, the non straight line , if you move the mouse during the test you will get a lot of spikes.
The output signal from it has ringing ( actualy two signals out of phase as can be seen on an o'scope and the motors
sound like someone is hitting them with a mallet. Max i can run the lathe at is 8 IPM! There is no cure that i have ever
found other than using a SS. I will say that is a great pc for everything else i use it for.

ASUS driver test:
The pulses per second are always near / closer to Kernel speed, straight line no interference from programs, keyboard, mouse
etc. When running Mach the Pulse freq will only vary from the 24996 by +-1 as compared to the Dell which can go down to
14000 and really fluctuate. The pc is cnc dedicated to cnc ( no antivirus, internet, or some of the other crap on the pc). The AMD is
 just a different model than yours. The graphics card is certainly not top of the line and the pp card is an el-cheapo!
I can run my lathe at 120 IPM ( that's over 10x compared to the Dell). It just has a nice clean  signal going to the drivers.

So when you changed the motherboard you have a very different condition compared to the other pc. I will not recomend
some specific pc, i only report info on mine and you decide for yourself. 

The deal i had with the company that did mine was that they..... GUARANTEED  ... that a pc would be put together at  min cost to me
that would satisfy my need, such that, if any component required to be replaced i would only pay for cost difference of the component
and nothing else ( pays to work with a local outfit!). Had no problems at all out from the first build. 

Hope this is of value for you,

RICH

4574

General Mach Discussion / Re: At the end of my Rope!!!

« on: June 09, 2010, 04:38:14 PM »

If all worked fine before i would think, as you are thinking, it should be working just fine again with your original settings / xml file.
You have changed your motherboard and i am wondering how good the pp signal output is from it. Are you using the original PP card and
graphics card ( the graphics card could be the culprit). Sorry no definitive answer.....

What does the Driver test look like?

RICH

4575

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Edit g code help

« on: June 09, 2010, 02:04:47 PM »

I have never had that problem.
What version of Mach are you using?
Are you using the standard screen?

RICH

4576

Newfangled Solutions Mach3 Wizards / Re: Cut Circle Wizard - Approach Arc Starting Position

« on: June 09, 2010, 09:48:45 AM »

How about using a G68  to rotate?

RICH

4577

General Mach Discussion / Re: Tool radius not less than arc radius

« on: June 07, 2010, 03:18:22 PM »

I believe this only applies when using G41/G42.
and also relates to the lead in or out thus tool diameter should be smaller like Phil said.

In the context of the program generating the code, I would think it would error, but don't think that is
the case with LazyCam. ( to lazy to find the info in the manual....    )

RICH

4578

General Mach Discussion / Re: What Steps/ Units Settings for Z-axis (Quill) of CNC Retrofitted Radial Machine?

« on: June 07, 2010, 03:04:07 PM »

You don't want to skip steps for rapid moves or during actual cutting. If through eperience on many files you find that you can rapid
at 10 IPM and nothing goes wrong, then maybe try 20. if you skip then try 12 and see what happens. I don't know if 10 is near say the limit
for your machine ( there are programs that can be used to evaluate the adequacy of the system for a given rapid ). It's more than just the velocity
as accel / decel is important also. You just want some headroom / be at a combination of velocity / accel setting that you can be confident with.
If your at the edge of settings, say your machine is not lubricated well, then addtional additional stepper torque will be required at that setting and
thus you could skip, so you reduce the settings.

Now when you start cutting metal, additional torque is required, so you know you want to be below what the confortable rapid is. 
There is a big difference between Al, steel, cast iron, etc. SO maybe you find that all is well with Al but you need to adjust for the harder to machine metals.


Best point to be made to you is, the axis settings should be such that the axis can be run at with max POWER (  =SPEED x TORQUE) relative to the stepper motor curve.
Of course consider F and spindle speed ......etc when doing something.

---------------------
Carefull with the backlash, with small diameter end mills you can break them in a heart beat. Rule of thumb is max depth of cut  less than 1/2 dia of mill.
BC works fine for me for whatever i have done. The "heavy cutter" folks  can chime in with their experience on any problems.
 

My 50-50-50 rule which you may want to consider.
50% - The max velocity is 50% of where your steppers will start to skip
50% - Set the shuttle Wheel setting in configuration to .0050  to .050 ( .5 too slow )
50% - Backlash speed
This is a good starting point and refine upward, but always leave say 30% headroom

RICH

4579

General Mach Discussion / Re: What Steps/ Units Settings for Z-axis (Quill) of CNC Retrofitted Radial Machine?

« on: June 07, 2010, 10:11:51 AM »

Looks good, the backlash seems to be working ok on the Z otherwise you would have dug into the paper with the pen and tracking ok in the
x & y.
What F did you run it at?
Did you try cv and exact stop?
After running the program did you bring the Z down and see if it returned to the starting point? If it ran well at say one F, just double the feedrate and
 run it again since you returned  to the starting point, see if it tracks the same line and returns to the center starting point. At some F she will skip
and then you will know the max velocity you can run at. Then limit it to say 50 or 60 % of ( the 50 to 40 % reduction allows for torque required for cutting).

Then you can use a end mill to do some cutting in some scrap piece experimenting with some cut depths.

After playing around you will have some level of confidence on the F /  max velocity you should be using along with anticipated accuracy.

---------------------
Your original program had short straight line segments instead of the arcs.That can create a problem for YOU depending on the accel values
and mode you are running ( cv or exact stop ).
Let me comment that in your program you clean out the bulk of the material in the first area and then finish the first vane of the impeller , then
 the others go on to profile the vanes only. Do as you wish, but, i would have cleared out all the bulk and then profiled the impellers.

Like said before, wood is different than cutting metal, so fool around to gain experince with YOUR machine.

"SPEED WILL COME UNBIDDEN ONCE ACCURACY IS ATTAINED" 

RICH

4580

General Mach Discussion / Re: Probe Wizard

« on: June 06, 2010, 04:17:31 PM »

Yep, same here, i know i didn't pay that much. Still sitting in the box........
waiting until someone says that the probing in Mach is truely safe before i break it......
RICH