Messages

5111

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Mach3 plus xylotex wiring

« on: February 18, 2010, 07:27:20 PM »

A lot of times unloaded motors on a bench may not run due to resonance. And the Xylotex is already known to suffer from resonance pretty badly. My Xylotex poered router was almost unusable due to resonance, until I added dampers.

According to the Xylotex website, if you're board is version 4.02 or lower, the VREF should NEVER exceed 3.6V. If it's 4.03 or newer, the VREF should NEVER exceed 2.0V. You also need a cooling fan when running near the board's max current ratings. But your VREF is set too high. Set it to deliver 2.0 amps to the motors and see if it works better? Also, try putting a load on the motor.

5112

General Mach Discussion / Re: Double Checking my Math

« on: February 14, 2010, 09:05:18 PM »

Yes, that's correct.

5113

General Mach Discussion / Re: What machines run Mach?

« on: February 14, 2010, 08:37:57 AM »

I doubt you'll find anyone willing to pay you to learn the job. Most of these high end software packages like you to pay them to learn to use there software. Typically 3-5 day sessions, at their facility. Not cheap, and depending on your abilities, you may not get a lot out of the training. Two guys in our shop got a week of training, and I learned to do things they didn't know on my first day, due to my experience in the industry.

You best chance to learn the high end packages would be to work for a company just getting into the high end CNC woodworking machinery, and being the guy responsible for the machine and software.

In today's economy, however, having the skills is no guarantee of finding employment. Most companies have one or two people that do the job that I do, so you'll only find an opening if someone leaves a position. I was fortunate enough to find a shop that need my skills, and didn't really have someone currently doing it.

5114

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Few Tool questions

« on: February 14, 2010, 07:41:54 AM »

Are the 3 spindles all on the same Z axis, with the individual spindles raised/lowered pneumatically? If so, then you can write a toolchange macro to turn outputs on/off to switch between spindles, and set up work offsets for the locations. You could use G54 for T1, G55 for T2, G56 for T3.

If each spindle is it's own axis, then use the swap axis command in your macro, but still use the offsets.

5115

General Mach Discussion / Re: Newer Monitor, OLD PC

« on: February 14, 2010, 07:37:07 AM »

Actually, you probably need to set your resolution higher. I'm guessing you were running at 800x600, and a lot of smaller LCD's native resolution is 1024x768. I use Dell GX150 PIII's with an LCD. If you're using the onboard video, you may need to add a card.

5116

General Mach Discussion / Re: What machines run Mach?

« on: February 14, 2010, 07:33:33 AM »

 

I do all my toolpathing in Vectric VCarve, even my 2d stuff (we do mostly vcarving anyway).  Is this relegated to pretty small shops as well?

If you're talking woodworking shops, I don't think you'll see FeatureCAM or GibsCAM. There is MasterCAM Router and AlphaCAM for woodworking. Most shops with high end machines will be running a $10K to $20K cabinet software package. These will fully automate the production process, allowing you to go from design to optimised or nested panels, ready to run on your machines, with a few mouse clicks. I've used cabinet software that, once you had entered all your cabinets, could output a job of 500 cabinets, with no two alike, in under 5 minutes. This would give you a .dxf file of every part, each .dxf would be automatically converted to g-code with no user involvment, barcoded labels for each part, printed reports and BOM's. Gcode could be nested for routing from full sheets, or panel optimized for saw cutting.

V-Carve Pro is a great, and very capable package. But, there are a lot of much more expensive packages that can convert .dxf files automatically. This can save hundreds of hours of labor per year, which more than pays for itself.

How long would it take you to open 300 cabinet part .dxf files in V-Carve Pro, nest them, and create g-code? With the software I've used, I can do it in less than a minute.

What it really comes down to, is the type of machines the shops use, and the type of work they do. I started a new job a month ago in a cabinet/millwork shop. I consider it a small shop, with about 6 guys in the cabinet portion of the shop. We have AlphaCAM, for programming and nesting, but it wasn't being utilized properly.Within another month or two, I'll be saving them hundreds of hours of programming time a year. software is a tool, and it's all about using the right tools for the job.

5117

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Mirror of your code

« on: February 13, 2010, 05:34:16 PM »

try scaling the axis by -1

5118

General Mach Discussion / Re: What machines run Mach?

« on: February 11, 2010, 11:10:02 PM »

If you're talking routers, most if not all of the high end ones ($80K and up) run their own control software. While Mach does run a large number of lower priced large routers, imo, those types of machines are usually used in very small shops.

As Ed said, if you know Mach3 pretty well, you should be able to learn other controls pretty quickly.

5119

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach memory cache annoyance

« on: February 10, 2010, 04:51:06 PM »

If you add a line of g-code to the end of the file, you must hit enter after the line or it won't show up in Mach3. Mach3 needs to see the carriage return.

5120

General Mach Discussion / Re: New to CNCing and Mach3

« on: February 09, 2010, 09:36:26 PM »

Your right (as usual). Thanks.