Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: j2mariashop on January 10, 2013, 08:07:07 AM
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I was trying to cut threads in 6061 on my 2011 Patriot and needed to take the velocity up in the Mach 3 motor tuning tab. The default setting is approximately 10 ipm but that limited spindle rpm to around 175, too low for clean threads. I took it to 50 ipm for the X and Z lathe axes and ran a sub-routine that moved each axis 50 times one inch up and then returned it one inch down. After zeroing out my Jenix and the Mach 3 screen DROs, at the end of 50 runs, the Jenix was off by 0.0004 on each of the Z and X axes confirming that I was not losing any steps. My spindle speed for threading can now get to 800 rpm. My acceleration is approximately 10 i/sec/sec on the Xand Z axes
I was curious what settings others used? I now worry that I need to add home and limit switches as the saddle now moves quite fast. Has anyone added them to their Shopmasters?
Joe
ps: I'm new here and originally tried to post this under the Shopmaster forum but could not find a "new post" button. Apologies if I posted to the wrong forum!
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I was curious what settings others used?
Have a look at Threading On the Lathe write up which can be found in Members Doc's.
Contains a lot of info on threading. Doesn't matter what others use since it varies depending on your system and what
your cutting.
RICH
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Rich
Actually that subroutine that I used to test if I was losing steps at the higher speed was from the "Threading on the Lathe" write-up. You're right - it is machine specific. However, the setting I ended up with is around 5x the default setting in the manual and this was what got me wondering if I was straining the stepper motors beyond their rating. However, the sub-routine showed that after 50 up-and-down axis moves I was not losing any steps, so I guess I'll keep the higher velocity settings.
Thanks
Joe
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For threading you want to leave 3 to 5x the pitch so the Z has time to accelerated.
If you use the threading wizard it will check that your velocity settings are appropriate for the defined spindle rpm.
Note that you need enough HP / torque to make the thread cuts and one may want to vary the spindle rpm
accordingly. All in the write up!
RICH