Messages

561

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle index slot dimension question..

« on: December 28, 2015, 03:36:22 PM »

The best approach is to make the slot 50 % of the circumference.   

(;-) TP

562

General Mach Discussion / Re: Custom plasma probing code?

« on: December 28, 2015, 11:54:09 AM »

Good Job Dave, If you ever get interested I have been working with a UCCNC unit(UC300) it has a LOT of native I/O(5 ports full plus an analog port) including analog in and out. It is already is a good Plasma controller . I hope that it gets even better in the near future (;-)

Cand CNC does have good basic hardware they just went WAY overboard and made a lot of it over complicated for the average user. And they went way overboard on manuals.

(;-) TP

563

General Mach Discussion / Re: What is my current feedrate?

« on: December 28, 2015, 11:48:23 AM »

Hi Stirling he is using a Candcnc unit and they use a lot of mach3 Gcode functions to program their THC. Are you back ?? off Holiday

Les always put a F1 feedrate in there becasue at one time Mach3 could startup with a Zero feedrate . It is just a preventive measure that was never removed from the post.

And rememeber these post were created by Candcnc for the most part. Dave is just starting to work out his OWN system for Plasma cutting.

I think you will find that the G28.1 has it's own preset feedrate which is a % of rapid .

Also because the CandCNC units use signal multiplexing it can cause problems controlling pins from a macro . ( Been there)

(;-) TP

564

General Mach Discussion / Re: Limit switch issues

« on: December 27, 2015, 11:00:51 PM »

NO you will NOT just shut down and restart large power station generators .  LARGE generators do NOT tolerate load shifting very well. Remember you HAVE to maint frequency precisely . Picking up and dropping off load can damage large generators so they nomally do NOT like power spikes or load drops. It is easy to collaspe the entire LOCAL grid if you suddenly drop a large generator off line or try to pickup a large load all at one time.

Some companies even use LARGE resistor banks to use as load banks and maintain load on teh generators under light demand periods YEP just burning up Money heating the air. But for the most part they have no other options but risk collasping teh local grid which has at times collasped a regional grid.

That is why they make peaker generator stations now to help balance loads under unique demand periods of heavy loads and light loads. These generators are normally Natural Gas fired turbines and small generators and can be brought online and offline as needed to balance loads BUT they are very expensive to run compared to power plant units.  So peaker power is very expensive to buy or produce.

(;-) TP

565

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Z Down Feed Rate DRO

« on: December 27, 2015, 10:23:55 PM »

With the available number of 3 ports could you not consolidate some inputs to gain extras ?


Internally Mach3 only understands Tool# not Slot # there are no hooks to use a swap table setup directly. IF you have a tool changer you are limited to only use the Tool# as slot #

Slot1 = Tool#1
Slot2 = Tool#2
Etc.

In other controllers the tool table is linked to a slot# so you simply assign a slot# to a tool # in the tool table  and it then assigns the slot# to a tool#.

I am not sure you could pull that off in Mach3 without a plugin.

The way I have done it in the past is to create a swap table on a new page then you assign tools to slots and then press a button and teh script would then auto insert teh proper tool # info into mach3 tool table by tool #.  The ATC was reserved the number of slots in teh ATC and all the other tools were added in above that number so they were always available to call into play from teh ATC setup page.

Just a thought, (;-) TP

566

General Mach Discussion / Re: Custom plasma probing code?

« on: December 27, 2015, 09:48:04 PM »

For the most part you can look in the screen editor to see IF you have used OEMDROs 1000 -1255 as these are tied to #vars 15000 - 15255 internally.  Also you will figure out soon enough that you cannot reference from a macro #vars 15000 - 15255 with GetVar or setvar.  Art stopped allowing you to access them at about 13000 from CB. BUT you still can use Code" #15000 = XX" to set those VARs from a macro if you need to.

Soon enough you are going to figure out that you can do most of the CandCNC stuff without all the CandCNC stuff and even a bit MORE they don't want you to know. (;-) 

(;-) TP

567

General Mach Discussion / Re: Limit switch issues

« on: December 27, 2015, 09:20:45 PM »

What you need to understand about commercial power generation is you have to generate 24 hrs a day 7 days a week whether they need it or not. It is called demand that demand has to be available. Also generators HAVE to run at rated speed to maintan Freq .  so there is NO throttling them down off peak.  Being on grid you buy blocks of power on the hour to match YOUR demand size. IF you do not need 100 MW at 1 oclock in the morning you do not BUY 100 mw for that hour. You do NOT have that option on self generation. You wont even get close as local generation.  

Hydro is nice but it has pitfalls as well.  Size is teh biggest consideration with hydro.  You also have to account for line losses where you get ZERO return on a large amount of power you produce or buy for that matter.

You would still HAVE to buy standby blocks of peaker power in the event of a component failure on the hydro side grid.

IF you try to isolate your self and do a total Self Gen then their may NOT be any available demain power for you reserved on the grid IF you needed it as backup.

I have never seen a local self gen able to meet Grid power pricing in the real 24/7 world where demand has to be met 24/7.

Back to CNC Unless you TELL it where home is it has no idea UNLESS you are using absolute encoders that maintain their position values 24/7 by battery backups that maintain teh encoders power.

AND what you are refering to as home is probable work home not machine home rememeber those are 2 different things do not get them confused.

As to resetting with an L notch you are NOT resetting 0,0 as per say but you are simply establishing a reference point that is tied to 0,0 . It may be at X24 Y10 or X0Y24 or anywhere.

When you touch off the side of the bit you do not Zero teh DRO only set it to what it read as normal setup was.

ONLY if you used the notch as X0Y0 would you have to apply an offset. When you touch off on X then with a .250 bit you set teh Dro as -.125 and  Y it would be Y-.125  that way the center of the tool would be at X0.000 Y0.000  .

Clear as mud yes ? Once you get it locked into your CNC brain then it will make perfect sense. Until then it is just mumbo jumbo.

The way around all this is to ONLY use a machine that was preengineered and Configured to use Accurate switchs or Absolute encoders and Always use a CAM and always establish the Part 0,0 from Cam.  But with that you LOOSE most of  the flexibilty that CNC offers to you.

Now you get to work (fixture) offsets G54-G59 and larger. These are preset features so you can establish multiple Work home(0,0,0) anywhere on teh table and can call teh offsets into play by just calling teh G# such as IF I set up G55 to X10 Y10  and I was in G54 mode . When I called the G55 then the machine switchs the work home(0,0,0) to the amount of offset I configured for G55 X+10 and Y+10 and THAT position becomes the new work home(0,0,0).  THat way you can setup many fixtures locations on the table and simply call then on demand.. You can also use this on teh same part to apply a feature to multiple areas on teh part using the same exact gcode for each feature. Say I was doing a cabinet dorr that had 4 panels that each panel had teh same design. I would only need the actual Gcode for 1 feature then use work offsets to be able to cut those features in each of the 4 panels. NOW you can build libaries of features and call them on demand. Yu no longe have to bild each door as a total unique parts that you have to Draw and Cam each time.

AND that is just the start it gets even better as you learn more of CNC's unique features. BUT you do have to LEARN IT it will not pop into your head in the middle of the night.   Some people are capable of  learning it faster than others or are more determined to do so (;-).

The total process can be extremely complicated and rightfully so as the process is extremely powerfull . Therefore NO for the most part it can not nor should not be DUMBED down one bit.  YOU have to step up to the plate and learn it IF you want to master it.

Just a thought,

(;-) TP

568

General Mach Discussion / Re: Limit switch issues

« on: December 27, 2015, 04:39:04 PM »

Power outages can be handed a variety of ways . The simple way it to use a UPS backup and have Mach3 setup to respond to an outage by stop machining move to a known location and shut down. Then when the ouage is ove simply set the reference again and restart.

Generators CAN be made whisper quiet as well . BUT that would not be cost effective to run a generator for 12 hours of machining on a what if senario.

As to your comment about your locality MAKING their own electricity instead of buying it off the grid. There is NO WAY you could do that as cheap as buying it. NOT EVEN CLOSE . I worked in that industry for years.

(;-) TP

569

General Mach Discussion / Re: Limit switch issues

« on: December 27, 2015, 04:27:06 PM »

Mike what may be mixing you up is the fact that there are 2 sets of coordinates in play with CNC work. You have machine coordinates and Work(user) coordinates. The machine coords are what the machine uses to establish a point in 3d space as a reference. It can be 0,0,0 or ANY point . Once stabliched teh machine then simply counts units to move where you ask it to move.  Refhome is teh point the machine goes to and establishes the reference. You can use switches or do this manually. You can still do this manually as accurately as any switch. The switches are just conveinant. Once you reference the machine it uses THOSE coordinates until you shut mach3 down. Then mach3 will loose all reference to the table.

The work side is another completely independant set of coords that YOU the operator use to setup work and reference to for machining parts.  Why are they called offsets ? because they are ALL an offset from the original refhome position that the machine uses for reference. The word offset can be either in NOUN form or a VERB. You can "offset" a position or you can use an "offset".

To be able to reset after a work stop ( outage ) all you have to do is Reset teh Work 0,0,0 to what it was originally on the table. To use the centerpoint of the tool is very hard to do. Using the side of the tool is very easy and very accurate. But yo have to realize you are setting it up as an offset so teh centerpoint of the tool will be established.

When you first setup the material i would machine a simple  L corner somewhere on teh material that runs up and down and left and right to the table motion. That will give you a reference point for X and Y axis. Record those positions somewhere in case you need them to set back up after a work stop. To reset the table simply move the tool over and touch off the tool to that spot in X and Y then set the dro for each axis to that value. NOW your machine is set back up to the exact point on the material (part). THAT is just one way of doing it there ARE many ways it can be done.

Another would be to use accurate home switches and Work offsets to setup the part then if needed you can simply refhome and go to the correct offset.

However you do it just pick a method and stick with it. ONCE you have figured it out you can restart a dozen times and it will machine correctly each time.

(;-) TP

570

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Html dialog openin html file in background?

« on: December 27, 2015, 01:35:51 AM »

Have you given any thought as to using the built in function to display an HTML ??

HtmlDialog( GetMainFolder()+"Mach3MillGcode.htm" )