Messages

51

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: What is up with my Grex/mach setup?

« on: March 10, 2007, 04:26:00 PM »

The problem is you have to do this thing 10 seconds of applying power to the Grex. You have to have everything open and waiting for the connect.

52

Mach3 and G-Rex / Communication Lost / Error 777

« on: March 10, 2007, 02:50:36 PM »

Downloaded the new firmware this morning and reinstalled.. Now mach finds the Grex but it does not hold the connection. It initializes it and starts working, the dro start changing then the G100 Status dialog pops up and the Status bar says Com Error, Communications Lost. In the G100 Status Box gives a ecode=777

This is direct connected with a crossover cable.

53

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: What is up with my Grex/mach setup?

« on: March 10, 2007, 02:25:51 AM »

It looks like the new firmware kills the ethernet. I think what you need to do is connect to it via USB again and reinstall the old firmware (in your mach3 folder) You will have to be quick about it and get into the firmware uploader before it tries to boot. Have the unit plugged and the browser ready with the addess typed in (192.168.0.2 if you used the instructions) and try to connect to it with the power off via USB it will pop up a dialog saying it cant connect and it will have a retry bytton counting down. Hook up the grex and immediately hit the button to connect. It should connect and quickly go to the browser window and hit return on the address. It should go into the firmware downloader.

54

Mach3 and G-Rex / Bugs in new firmware

« on: March 10, 2007, 02:16:51 AM »

Well, it looks like there is a bug in the new firmware that makes it unusable. It was just posted on the yahoo groups list. Where can I download the old plugin for mach that will let me use the old firmware?

55

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Finished control panel for my Supermax

« on: March 01, 2007, 11:56:36 AM »

The control cabinet is mounted to a swingarm off the column of the mill. Would post a current pic but I have the head in pieces. The R8 taper was sticking so I peeked up in there and saw all sorts of pitting so I sent the spindle in to Wells-Index for a regrind. Since the spindle is out I figure this would be a good time to go through the head so I have mostly disassembled it to get all of the crud out. I was looking pretty bad. Also a lot of the filler putty was bad so I have sanded it down and am going to repaint the lower part of the head.

Heres the original thread:

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=2057.0

56

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: First Post, First Machine, LOTS of questions

« on: February 27, 2007, 10:27:54 PM »

Honestly I would use the pixies. The motors and drivers are a tuned matched set. Save some money and the headache of rewiring. You will gain nothing by going with new motors. Then you have to spend time to tune them if you use new drivers.

Either that or a Galil card. That will give your analog out to the drivers.

The VFD should take a 0-10v in. I used a little card from http://www.cnc4pc.com that converts step/dir signal into a signal for the vfd. You should be able to use the analog output of the grex  for this as well. Or at least someday.

I just spent the $ today and ordered my Grex.

57

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: First Post, First Machine, LOTS of questions

« on: February 27, 2007, 03:16:01 PM »

I have had good luck with the pixies (http://www.skyko.com). They convert step/dir to analog out using the encoder on the motor for feedback.

58

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Finished control panel for my Supermax

« on: February 27, 2007, 03:11:26 PM »

I got the control panel pretty much finished for my supermax mill. Features are cycle stop/start buttons. Buttons to activate tuning on pixies and reset. E-Stop, Optical Drive, Media Reader w/USB, Hole for pendant connection, 4th axis connection, Mouse wheel and buttons, 15" LCD with ELO Intellitouch touch screen 1/4" thick glass, meter for showing spindle current draw. Made from 5052 Aluminum .080 thick and powder coated.

The touch screen works great. Have a wireless mouse attached but almost never use it. The only bad thing is the ELO method of right clicking sucks, so I used the guts out of an old mouse to add a scroll wheel and extra mouse buttons. Great for scrolling through gcode!

59

Tangent Corner / Re: CNC telescope mirror grinder.

« on: February 26, 2007, 06:06:52 PM »

Spherical mirrors for telescopes are not all that hard to make and can be made at home. By hand even! No cnc required. The mirrors are lapped using carborundum or diamond compounds. It can be done faster using a couple of gear motors though. After the mirror is ground you coat it with aluminum using evaporative deposition in a vacuum chamber. Scientific American has had articles in the Amateur Scientist section n the past on these subjects.

The reason they dont want you touching or cleaning the mirror is because the mirror is a first surface mirror where the aluminum reflective layer is deposited on top of the glass not under like a normal mirror. These surfaces are usually not hard coted so even cleaning can scratch or smudge the surface.

60

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Supermax VCM-16VS retrofit

« on: January 04, 2007, 01:22:27 AM »

Some more pics of building the chip tray