Messages

1101

General Mach Discussion / Re: Intermittent problem connecting Mach3 to board

« on: November 30, 2015, 06:46:11 AM »

The Rosewill RC-304 dual PP card is what I current use and would recommend it.

RICH

1102

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4/8 Wires Stepper Motors

« on: November 29, 2015, 08:01:57 AM »

FWIW,

We have used KL23H2100-03-4BM ( think they are 500 in oz and 3.0 A).
Have a look at the motor curve for comparison.

Hmmmm....as long as you can get the velocity and accel you want, having extra power fro the same $ is a plus.
Just my view ...........

RICH

1103

General Mach Discussion / Re: DriverTest evaluaton?

« on: November 29, 2015, 07:49:02 AM »

Good tip Gerry. Don't recall what models we tested and it also include laptops.
Don't even recall what mode they were in since it's been a long time since we did the testing.

RICH

1104

General Mach Discussion / Re: DriverTest evaluaton?

« on: November 29, 2015, 07:40:12 AM »

The DEll's we tested were all the same and required an external motion device. Tried adding a non stock PP card to the Dell but the scope
still showed ringing on the pulses  which created bad stepper pulsing. So I used a SS for a while with it, but they were limited at the time and didn't satisfy my needs. One can try to filter / clean up the pulse signal but not as easy as it sounds ( basically bad PC generated signal and it will carry on through the system). The Dell
pulse rates were bad ie; 25k kernel and they would vary down to as low as say 14.5K.

My solution was to make up a new PC for just CNC and the Driver test reported pulsing is +- 3 as compared to the selected Kernal speed and graph is straight lined.
Use a RoseWill dual PP card in the dedicated pc.

BTW, I added a DRO for the pulse rate to the  Diagnostics screen.

RICH

1105

General Mach Discussion / Re: Z-Axis Repeatability: Small Changes

« on: November 29, 2015, 07:24:43 AM »

Hmm....

0.01mm ( 0.0004") depth of cuts which requires a vey accurate SYSTEM which includes tuning and setup.
 
What kind of machine are you using?
Post your xml file.

If it were a "motor power" as someone suggested, it takes more power to dig deeper into my PCB material. Maybe it's when I lift the Z axis?

As Terry replied it could be the motor. For very small moves the motor  needs to be capable of delivering high acceleration and thus at 0.01mm
move it's almost instanteous.Thus you can loose steps which could be random or consistant.

You need to meticulously tune the steppers and then find your max
vel and accel that delivers repeatable results. Very seldom will the machine be able to move at it's resolution. Practicaly speaking "zero"
backlash is not to be had.

It gets very difficult to find those very small things that affect accuracy since many things can be the cause of it.
You should be able to say, with out doubt / absolutely, that it is not a speed problem.

First tune the steppers, do tests, to verify movements, etc. to know exactly what each component of the system is contributing or limited to.

BTW,
Resolution is 1/steps per unit...so for say 23000 steps per inch
resolution is 0.000043".

RICH

1106

General Mach Discussion / Re: DriverTest evaluaton?

« on: November 28, 2015, 07:38:23 PM »

Your driver test shows me that your PP is not that great or there is interference.

The reported pulses per Second should be Very Close to the selected Kernal speed ie; 25K & you have 23.984K. The closer the better.

You should not see that manny and heigth of pulses in the graph. Should  or could have a few /short/ sproadic and almost just a straight line.

That said, I think you signal out of the PP is crappy and you hear it via the clicking / ticking sounds. Probably noise on the signal and would need to look at the signal with a scope.

You can't clean up a bad signal when it's generated by the PC to the PP.
All of the Dell's I had were crappy for PP use.

My thoughts......

RICH

1107

General Mach Discussion / Re: Line text vs pockets How???

« on: November 27, 2015, 08:46:10 AM »

Tutorial #4. Content is what it is.
RICH

1108

General Mach Discussion / Re: X axis consistently off on one toolpath

« on: November 24, 2015, 07:14:54 PM »

Post the gcode and maybe someone will have a look.
If it's not hand coded then post the dxf file the gode was based on.

RICH

1109

General Mach Discussion / Re: Need some tunning advise

« on: November 21, 2015, 06:26:25 PM »

How to calc the steps per unit can be found in the Mach Manual, also in member docs there is a spread sheet that will do it for you, and there are few others in there  I believe.
But you can also use the Calibrate axis feature of Mach to do it for you.

Suggest you just start by reducing whatever your velocity and accel settings are in half to start and see how it goes. Raise the velocity  until you start to skip and then reduce by 30 %, then start increasing the accel value and reduce accordingly.

RICH

1110

General Mach Discussion / Re: I had stroke!

« on: November 20, 2015, 08:28:05 PM »

Seems like your showing good signs for recovery. Just keep working hard at recovering to the best that you can be.
You can do it, you will get stronger, remember you had a number of years to develop the patience and positive attitude
and now is the time to utilize it. The first step to achieving any goal is to envision it.

Wish you and your's the best,

RICH