My name is Dan, I live in Austin TX, and I have an X3 cnc'd with gecko 203Vs and running mach 3 of course . Have had a small aftermarket parts business for a few years now but I am starting to move into the direction of cnc made stuff instead of manual labor.

Currently in the process of adding a 4th axis to my mill that will be stepper controlled as well as run from the motor for turning operations. From there I will add in the joystick, and hoping to add in some video equipment as well.

I am new to Mach as I ran turbo cnc on my last mill, so I am interested in learning a ton on the forum..

Thanks!
Dan

Hi

My name is Edmond, I live in Cape Town, South Africa.I have been a CNC Router Operator and Programmer for the last 5 years.I have recently started building a small CNC Router for hobby use with the idea of eventually being able to start a small business at home on the sideline, the machine is almost done.Thanks for the warm welcome.

Kind Regards
Edmond

Hi All,  my name is Eric, and I am a true machining beginner.  I actually pay the bills working as a cop, so CNC is a hobby.  I have recently converted a Harbor Freight Mini Mill to CNC.  I had a few questions about tuning the motors, and figuring the motor revs with a timing belt and tooth pulleys.  I was able to get the formulas correct with forum help, so now its time to focus on the CAD/CAM part.  I have TurboCad professional, but know little about creating toolpaths and getting a drawing into Mach3.  From what I see, BobCad seems like the best route, but its cost is astronomical.  Any suggestions on inexpensive CAD/CAM options to try and learn on would be helpful...

PPDLt

Aternoon Folks,

New guy to the forum, and Mach3, but I've been doing the cnc building thing for a while.
Currently have 4 working routers running TCNC, Emc2 (closed loop), and I've just set one up with the trial version of Mach for digitizing.
What got me looking closer at Mach was a posting on the CNC Zone about Art's laser scanning adventures, and if they pan out I'll have to bite the bullet and actually pay for a control software.

I'm a firm believer in supporting a company/individual who develops affordable gizmo's to feed my hobbies..

Been working industrial maintenance since leaving college in 91, and currently have a lot of time on my hands with having to go on disability. So to keep from going insane from boredom I'm trying to learn VBA to customize Mach.

Check back in ohh..2-3 years and I may understand what the VBA for Dummies book is trying to tell me.

Iain

Hello everyone,
I have worked in the furniture and wood machining industry in Ontario, Canada since I was legally allowed to work.  I'm originally from Poland and came to Canada when I was 9 years old.  Started from the bottom and worked my way up to operating and in the last 8 years programming CNC routers.  My education is in the CAD/CAM field in both metal machining and woodworking. 

A few years ago I started to become interested in purchasing a machine to work from home.  My first hobby machine was a Maxnc mill which I quickly realized was not made to take the punishment I imposed upon it.  This lead me to look for a more robust machine I could buy and rebuild.  My second machine was an old Technoisel full step stepper controlled machine that was missing the control software and cards necessary to run it.  I was already familiar with Mach2 from spending time reading many CNC hobby forums.  I converted the Techno machine to run on Mach,  but eventually I realized that a full step prehistoric control was not going to work.  I then purchased Servo motors and 4-axis control from Camtronics and have been very happy with my setup since. 

My only contribution to the Mach community has been the ellipse macro I posted for Mach users.  You can view videos of my converted Techno machine and some videos of the machines I program in my day jobs below.  Yes, fortunately i have more than one job, but I actually really enjoy what I do so the more the better.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=enytned1

Incredible software and support, certainly gives us peasants a chance in these turbulent manufacturing times.

Thanks,
Alek

Hi All !

My name is Cobus if been repairing machine tools for the last 25 years. I live in JHB in South Africa. I never wanted to own a cnc machine But is in the process of trying to fit new controls to a lathe and mill.I do repair cnc machines and most of them
with Fanuc Controls.That Is were I learned Ladder logic.Mach Looks like A good package and at a fair price.Fanuc controls is to expensive and very expensive to maintain.I will ask for some help As vb scripting is new and i do  want to run the turret on the lathe and the tool changer on the mill. the first machine is the lathe with gecko stepper drives and a inverter for the spindle control.I did try Desk Cnc but was not Happy with it.Mach Has a lot of functions that seems to fit my way of doing stuff.

Hobby Wise I fly RC planes and use the equipment to make spares and motors for my hobby.

Enjoy your day

Hi
My name is clive I live in the UK.
I have various hobbies that normally involve making things, these items range from furniture. guitars, Hi Fi and recently machining items from metal on my relatively simple X2 mill and lathe.
At present I am converting my slightly non standard X2 mill (nothing standard fits) to cnc. Therefore I have had to design and make all the parts, this includes machining my own ballscrews (with a bit/lot of help). The ballscrews however were not turned on my lathe they were turned at work, my part was to remove the tough outer skin then my colleague finished them off on our cnc lathe (super finish).
If anyone is interested I will post some pictures of the assemblies (only one part to finish machining and then some plating).

Clive

Hi all-

I have two Bridgeport Series 1 mills, 1 BOSS 5 and 1 BOSS 6.  I'd like to convert both of them from the steppers out.  I'm here for advice, guidance, etc.

I learned BASIC back when they were still inventing it.  I used to be fluent in things like BASIC, Fortran, Algol and have experience writing in dBase/FoxBase, etc.  Unfortunately, nothing used today.  I majored in ME and minored in EE.  I have quite a bit of design, implementation, and production experience.  I have written hundreds of Gcode pgms for our production on the above two machines.  I design in AutoCAD 2002 and would love to streamline the bridge between the drawing board and machine.

Since my BOSS 6 machine is still running (sort of), I'd probably start on the BOSS 5.  My BOSS 6 machine has a Haas stepper rotary table (8RT) as a "semi" 4th axis.  I'd like to be able to control it as well via new software/hardware as a "true" 4th axis.  Possible?

Anyhow, that's a little about me and why I'm here.  I'd appreciate any guidance one might give.  Thanks.

Rob

Howdy,

My name is Wayne and I am brand new here and using CNC equipment. I work in etched and engraved glass, marble and granite and decided to try working in wood. I purchased a CNC router which came with Mach3 and have just started setting it up. I just loaded the software and began going thru the tutorials. Already I'm in trouble. When I hit the "driver test" line go all over he place. the tutorial says to get an optimization text file?? and that will walk me through it. I have two questions, first do I need to be hooked up to the CNC router when trying this test? If not, where do I find this file? any/all help is appreciated. I look forward to picking yalls brains and becoming dangerous at making sawdust.....

Hey Wayne, you don't need to be hooked to the machine to run a driver test. The optimazation file is at the top of this page, downloads tab. It is a set of instructions.

Brett