Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: Zero Cool on April 30, 2011, 07:48:47 PM
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are there any places to download test designs for Mach that are under 500 lines?? I have my mill running the roadrunner program and it looks good so far but it would be nice to have some test designs that will run complete. maybe some kind of pattern or something??
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Hi Zero Cool,
I think that is a really good suggestion.
I will have a look through some of my stuff to see if I can find anything. Perhaps other members could do the same.
Tweakie.
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Boy is 500 lines a small file when using a cam program on a messy drawing.
Here is one I cleaned up to make it under the 500 line limit.
A little something to make the Missus happy with all the time you spend in the shop
It is a nice heart drawing that can be cut with a 45 or 60 degree engraving bit. You could also cut it with a small endmill just use a shallower depth of cut. I have cut the original file with a ball end mill in a scrap piece or pine and it came out nice.
What I find cool with something like this is that you can use the Mach3 scale function and cut these in different sizes without changing the file size.
DISCLAIMER.
I have not actually cut this file yet. I am not a machinist but I play one on the Internet. I would suggest cutting air a few times to be certain that it will run on your machine.
Mike
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Thanks i will try the heart design. I wonder how many lines a Smiley face would take? one round circle, 2 smaller circles and a curved line??
At the moment I am not ready to cut. what i did was cut a stub of a pencil down and drilled out the back side of it and spring loaded it on a dremel bit. that way i can mount it in my machine in place of a cutting bit (with the spindle off). I tape a piece of paper to the mill table. and have it DRAW the design. it's pretty crude but it works well enough to see that the machine is actually moving the way it should and that it runs within the machines limits etc.
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Oh yeah P.S. FYI for those that are wondering WHY 500 lines. the free/Demo version of mach will only run 500 lines. which is enough to get a machine working and try out the software etc.
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Glad to help.
Lots of people test their machines with a pencil/sharpie to make sure it works before breaking, I mean machine something.
Mike
P.S. How about a pic of the final drawing???
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yeah sure! I can take a video of it! In the meantime here is a vid of it cutting 500 lines of the roadrunner program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f07RIgyjpIc
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So you can see what he created.
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COOL!
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I wonder how many lines a Smiley face would take? one round circle, 2 smaller circles and a curved line??
Not manny if the code generates G2 or G3. Draw the profile using arc's in CAD. It will greatly reduce the number of lines in the code.
IE; Manny etch a sketch programs break the arc into line segments thus creating a lot of movements or lines of code.
RICH
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Rich is correct on the number of lines.
When I did the heart the .dxf that I got it from it was drawn as many line segments.
I went in and changed a lot of the curves to pure arcs.
When I then went into my cam program (Deskcnc) It was able to cut them as G02s and G03s. It went from about 2500 lines down to the ~490 it no takes. Big difference.
Mike
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Zero Cool,
Maybe it's time to purchase Mach instead of trying to work around the line limit. ;)
RICH
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Smiley Face with a little extra
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Rich i ABSOLUTELY will be purchasing mach! however im not ready yet. My mill is an old industrial X-Y arm that i am rebuilding into a mill. At the moment i don't know if it has the resolution or accuracy to even work! if you look at the video you can see it is crudely mounted to an old tabletop! LOL! it needs a LOT of work yet!
I have built a new motor controller and I am still working the bugs out of it and learning how to use mach. i am not a machinist. I am an electronics tech so ALL of this is new to me. getting the mill to even move was a big step and then trying to figure out the machine co-ordinates and work offset took me watching the video 3-4 times and playing with the mill a bit and i am still having some troubles but once i got to stay within the lines and not hit the limit switches i was pretty excited. I wanted to see what it was actually doing. but with only 500 lines of the roadrunner it doesn't really look like anything. just some squiggles on the paper. SO i thought i would ask if there was a simple design that i could run for test.
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For testing you can just do a rectangle, square. and a circle. The link below shows my plotter pen and it will draw out the profile quite accurately.
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,16012.msg108047.html#msg108047
Have Fun,
RICH
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I wonder how many lines a Smiley face would take? one round circle, 2 smaller circles and a curved line??
I just threw these together. They are 1" diameter, centered at X0 Y0. Cutting .01" deep. Just scale the X and Y to the size you want, and cut.
For what it's worth, the 500 line limit was more than enough for me to make enough money with Mach3 to pay for itself in two weeks. If you're cutting real parts, and not engraving pictures, you can do a LOT with 500 lines.
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For what it's worth, the 500 line limit was more than enough for me to make enough money with Mach3 to pay for itself in two weeks.
I agree 100% I would be surprised if more than 2% of the code I have is over 500 lines. That is because I do mainly 2.5D machining to make parts, bad CAM and Engraving or full 3D milling use a lot more lines up.
The roadrunner is deliberately made of short segmented moves to test a machine rather than being a practical piece of code.
Hood
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It was just so exciting to get the machine to ACTUALLY do something! To move under its own control and not me pushing buttons to make it move! I didn't want to stop playing with it. I ran the 500 lines 3-4 times just to watch it move LOL! I love the sounds the stepper motors make! Zee Zuuu ZOOOOOO hahhaha
i am not at the point yet of figuring out how to get CAD into Gcode. but i am learning and it has been fun!
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Use some of the wizards to cut pockets, sufrace material etc, it will give you a good idea how your machine is working and will have code will few lines.
Hood
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I was able to run the heart and smiley face patterns today! worked great! here is a vid running the smiley face. I also figured out how to change the end of the code to rewind and re run the gcode file continuously! i was able to run the mill for 30 minutes non stop and check to see how hot the motors and the motor controller heatsink and power supply get...which was not at all! so that was another successful test today! i will run it for a couple hours next time and then take temps with an IR thermometer. but everything was cool to the touch today!
here is the vid of the smiley face
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_cNLcc8AEs
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here is the heart design. it was a little small. i figured out how to change the scale after this run and re ran it. i should have taped that run but the file worked great!
Thank you everyone for the help! i am feeling MUCH better about my progress with this machine now!
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These 500 line test programs have really helped me a lot! I figured out how to edit G-code and have a program rewind and re-run endlessly and this has helped me do some stress testing of my motors and controllers. I was able to run the mill in a loop for an hour and verify that everything stayed cool. I was also able to play with the program a bit and learn what the feedrate buttons do. and experiment with my PWM spindle controller etc etc. they just have been a very big help!
I would like to suggest that the smiley face and heart designs be posted somewhere so they are easy to find for everyone. The smiley face is great for testing symmetry as you can clearly see if your circles are round and if the ends line up etc. very simple design but lots of points for examination. the heart design is very nice and very intricate. a great 2nd program!!!
THANK YOU to all that contributed and helped! I am making huge progress with my machine.
Zc