Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: jjmueller on May 15, 2013, 10:51:18 PM
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Ok, so I have a 5 x 5 table, with the Nema 23 motors rack and pinion, having lots of problems getting the motors to run right and also how to set the limits in the Mach 3. Very new at this, getting very frustrated. Would love so help. Call me to walk me threw would greatly help a lot. Or, I can always call you, please help. I am taking it out on my poor wife and divorce is lurking. ;)
Or, willing to pay for gas and travel if someone lives in the Adams, Nebraska area.
Thanks
Jerry
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Jerry,
PLease have a look at the Mach Manual and also look in Member's Doc's for relative info to your question.
- Post your xml file
- Provide information on your drives, power supply, and motors.
Some one will then be able to help you.
RICH
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what is the xml file Sorry just that new
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The XML is your Mach configuration file. It is located in the main Mach3 folder and will have the name of the profile you are using. For example, if you are using the standard Mill profile it will be called Mach3Mill.xml.
You will need to rename it for the forum to accept it. Copy it to your desktop and rename it, something like YOUR_NAME.xml then use the additional options button on the reply page to browse to it and attach it to your reply. The forum will only accept a file name that has never been submitted before.
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Iam having problems setting home and the soft limits. Ihave watched vidoes on set up and homing and limits. When they jog then say to hit the home switch what is the home switch or is it just the ref all to home, my screen seems to be a little dif then the videos. Then when i set the soft limits it seems to do nothing soft limit will not light up and the table will run into the hard stops on the table. How does the mach now where it is in the first place or does the soft limits come from the home location out. Iwas told that i did not need actual limit switchs and just us the soft limts. Sorry for all the questions the table manufacture is no help
lightning cnc table, mach3 2.0 sheet cam and lazy cam Gecko G540 4axis with a hypertherm powermax 85 plasma
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Hi Jerry,
It is a bit cheeky coming here and asking for assistance when you are clearly using a Pirate Licence. >:D
None of us here condone the use of pirated software in any form so my best advice is to purchase the Mach3 license http://www.machsupport.com/purchase.php before continuing. ;)
Tweakie.
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Provide information on your drives, power supply, and motors.
Specific information on each. Please save us the time of searching for information.
Post that info AFTER you get the license issue resolved.
Until then,
RICH
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Sorry i had no idea this was. This what was provided by Lightning cnc, not a surprise though the more i deal with these jokers. I guess i made a bad choice.Can you can you please tell me how could tell this. Iwould like to show this to the jokers just one more thing i can go after them on. Once again SORRY i have no intentions to do this Thanks for the help so far
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If you paid for the machine via credit card then call your credit card company and dispute the charge. If they provided you with a bogus license and bogus equipment I don't think you would have an issue getting at least part of your money returned. You can also file a complaint with their local Better Business Bureau, if you were provided with a pirated license you can even file a complaint with the FBI: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/white_collar/ipr/ipr .
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Jerry, please provide us a link to where you bought the machine.
Brett
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www.lightningcnc.com
These are the guys I bought the table from, came with computer and all with the Mach 3 that was to be licensed. I have sense today, wiped there copy off the computer and bought a licensed copy from makecnc.com
Waiting for the license to come via email, but went to artsoft and downloaded the Mach 3 again and will have the license by tomorrow. Sorry guys for all the mess, I had no idea the copy they put on the computer was pirated.
They wont even reply to any of my emails or phone calls. Guess that what I get for buying from these guys, they are also selling there there tables on eBay saying the Mach 3 is licensed.
Jerry
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Thanks for the info Jerry.
I wonder if Les @ SheetCam and Vectric's Cut2D are also taking a hit.
::)
Russ
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Hi Jerry,
Just a note to say thank you for your prompt attention to the licensing issue, I just wish more people were like you.
Now we just need to sort out the problem you are having with your motors not running correctly and setting the limits etc.
Tweakie.
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license came this morning, had a talk with Paul from makecnc, will be buying my sheetcam threw him also, now I will have to go into Mach and set my motors up and try to figure out how to set up my limits.
Thanks
Jerry
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Thanks for being honest Jerry, I realize you took a hit in all of this as well. The more we can expose those taking advantage of good folks like you the better the chances are that they will eventually have to fold up their phony business and go home. Its pretty sad. If I had to include a cracked copy of very affordable software with my machine to sell it..... I would think of doing something other than building machines. What a pack of tossers. The smart thing would be for them to load the demo and have the machine running good, in demo mode and leave it up to the buyer to buy a licenses. I bet the customers would much rather have a machine that actually runs realizing they have to spend another $175 than a machine that still needs to be set up and still spend another $175. I would file complaints with the BBB, credit card company, Paypal, any that I could. If I bought the pc preloaded, I would not trust it either. I wouldn't doubt they have preloaded spy ware so they can take further advantage of their customers/victims.
Brett
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I'm thinking this site should be added to the "Hall of Shame" thread?
Dave
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I might in the next couple of days asking for a little help in setting up the setting on my machine and also some help with wiring in my THC. I have not even gotten to that yet, with all this trouble with the Mach 3 and the guys selling pirated software with there machines.
Thanks guys, I hope this helps anyone else out there looking for a machine and comes across there adds. DONT BUY FROM THEM.... If I could do it all over again I would, but now to return and get a refund would be like pulling teeth. And I think I can personally do my own Mods on the unit and get it running the way I want it to.
Thanks again everyone.
Jerry
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Ok, have been down trying to set limits and all, my one problem is I cant get the table display to show the table. When I move it around it looks like a 3D box. What is wrong here???? Please help, I have no idea what is wrong now. And the program I load into the table display is what off the map. Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong???
Thanks
Jerry
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Ok, after all the yelling at my poor wife, and cant seem to get this Mach 3 software right, I am looking to PAY someone to come and set the software up to run on my table. Can or is anyone willing to come to the Lincoln, Nebraska area and get this table up and running for me??? Shoot me a price, or feel free to call me, the software and tutors are not helping one bit for me, I guess I am just a stupid welder, this software is kicking me in the butt. Will pay gas, motel, meals, really about anything right now if someone would just help me set the software up for my able.
402-806-7255.
Thanks
Jerry
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Hi everyone, this is Sharon, Jerrys wife, I just wanted to give a shout out to Rich for his phone call the other night, with the little help you gave Jerry he was able to get the motors up and running very good, and my stomach is now actually settling down a bit.
Thanks Rick for your help.
Also, we have the motors running real well, but the one problem we are having is the display window. We can load a GCode into the Mach 3 but cant get the limits set right, so when it hit run the pattern we would be cutting actually runs off the table. Can someone help with this? The tool display and display window is confusing us, figuring out how to home it correctly. And Rich, the little you told Jerry the other night, that made a lot of difference with him. He was actually able to understand it all. Thank you soooo much Rich.
One Happy(er) Wife
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Sharon,
He was asked to give you a big hug and take you out to nice dinner and not talk about his machine.
I hope he didn't forget that part. >:D
Also Lightning CNC has not responded back to a few questions i requested from their customer service.
Don't envision that they will respond.
RICH
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No, they have not answered there phone or email from us either, and there Gecko board had a bad axis, so I ended up buying a new one. Oh well, guess that's what comes from buying from a unknown company.
I wish there was a way to worn people on ebay.
Thanks for all your help, Brett I guess it going to call tomorrow night to walk him threw the limits set up, he seems to get that more then the manual, I have actually looked threw the manual and I cant even understand it, so getting all the help from you guy really is helping.
He has actually been very calm the last couple of nights after talking with you. LOL So, my stomach is actually feeling loads better.lol
Thanks again.
Sharon
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This may be of help.
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,11409.msg72346.html#msg72346
RICH
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Hi Jerry,
It is a bit cheeky coming here and asking for assistance when you are clearly using a Pirate Licence. >:D
None of us here condone the use of pirated software in any form so my best advice is to purchase the Mach3 license http://www.machsupport.com/purchase.php before continuing. ;)
Tweakie.
Hi Tweakie,
What do you look for in the XLM to indicate it is a Pirate Licence? Just curious. Last User?
Thanks Tony
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Hi Tony,
Basically, when you open Mach3 the title bar will show "Mach3 CNC Licensed To: <your name>". If it shows something other than your name or the unique serial number which you purchased then it is a pirate license.
Hope this helps.
Tweakie.
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Thanks Tweakie,
When I remove my Mach1Lic.dat from Mach3 and run jmueller.XML all I get is "Mach3 CNC Demo" in the title bar. Wouldn't you have to have his Mach1Lic.dat to know if it was pirated? Somehow I thought you read his XML to conclude his was pirated.
His lastUser = MaoA˜A ¯Ðtonar . I'm guessing that was read from his license.
I don't need to know any more I was just curious.
Tony
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When I talked to Paul at makecnc, my license does not have a name like jmueller, it has the MaoA Dtonar, was told by paul you pay extra for your name as th serial license.
We downloaded from ArtSoft and then bought the license then the license came and just insert the license into the Mach3 folder. There is no # or name with my license and I bought direct from Paul at makecnc.
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How can you tell if the product is a pirate version?
I just bought a 5x10 from Lightning CNC and Im starting to wonder if my software is pirated as well.
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Look above in the the other guys posts. But, what we have learned is that Lightning CNC is a scam. Alot of there software is pirated. We actually had to buy a licensed copy of Sheetcam and also Mach 3.
Plus the table we had to do ALOT of mods to it to get it running right. Getting is Solid and squared up right. Let me know, I can always try to help a little, from what we have done to ours. We have now put a floating head unit on it and making it more solid.
Thanks
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Mine seems to be legit. Im going to call them tomorrow and have them provide me with my license info so I know for sure.
The hand torch adapter is USELESS, we had to fabricate our own since there is no hardware provided and it doesnt even remotely hold a torch. When asked how I use it they told me to zip tie the torch to it...WTF!!!
The frame is spray painted red and its a horrible paint job at best. I mean reallly really bad.
What concerns me the most is the 12 year old computer they included with the "kit" which had all the software pre-installed and kept crashing when trying to use it. After using it for 1 day, the system went into a blue screen of death and I havent been able to start it since.
Overall, the table seems fairly sturdy until you wiggle the z axis and it moves backwards over an INCH!! The gantry also has lots of side to side flex.
What do you mean by free-floating gantry? Anything I can do to improve the setup? We welded in the side slat holders but other than that..not sure what else can be done.
If they cant come up with licensing info tomorrow, Ill buy a legit copy and find a better computer. Small price to pay.
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You will either find the registered name/serial, depending on version , at the top of your main screen in Mach or from the Help, About menu.
Even if it looks genuine it may not be, the only way to know for sure is either send me a PM with the registered name and I will find out or contact Scott directly at license@machsupport.com and ask him.
Hood
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No not a floating gantry, a floating head, the thc was a joke, so we went and spent another 1000.00 on a floating head, so it goes down and detects the height. SOOOO much better. Watch out for Lightning CNC. Once we got our table we have had no more contact with them. NONE. They wont answer our calls. We had to make threats to get anyone to answer.
For what we got come to find out we could have built one a whole lot better. But, now we are just using what we have and will expand from there.
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I just confirmed with Scott that my licenses are infact legit! Woohoo,
jjmueller,
My experience with lightning has been 90% positive so far. I feel that for the $4400 that I paid for their 5x10 table, I received a GREAT bargain!
The machine works very well with my Powermax 45, its very stable, and the cuts are better than expected.
I do need a THC, but now that you mention a floating head, I will look into that...any links?
The only problem I had with Lightning was they shipped my order missing a bunch of critical parts, after I told them, they sent somebody out to personally deliver the missing parts the very next day and all has been well since.
The software I received is all licensed and everything is as advertised. The one complaint that I do have is the hand torch mount is a POS, I made my own in 30 minutes and threw theirs out...They charged me $50 for it so I could care less really.
-Geoff
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/121119761714?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
This is the floating head we bought.
and then
www.candcnc.com for the High control unit. Love both these guys. They are wonderful to work with and help you 100% and have no problems answering questions at all.
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What is the benefit of the floating head and what does it do?
Looks just like the one on my unit.
-Geoff
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Apparently, My Lightning CNC table came with a "floating head".....
(http://www.vegascarts.com/floatinghead.jpg)
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The floating head establishes a reference between the work surface and the torch face so you'll know the torch is at the right height for firing. The Z slide drives the torch and floating head down. When the torch contacts the work and the slide is still going down the floating head "floats" up on its ways until a switch is made between the float slide and the Z slide.The switch operation stops the Z movement and establishes a position for the height controller to work with. Somewhere on you head you should find a switch or sensor with wires going back to the controller. Different controllers use different algorithms to set the torch height. Some of the blanks the user may have to fill in are the firing distance between the torch and the work and how far the floating head "floats" before the switch is made.
Tony
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I purchased a 5 x 5 Lightning CNC Plasma table. After building a special room for the table I am ready to do the setup. I built a water table also. I need to 1st confirm if the software is pirated. If it is I will purchase a legit copy.
The table is setup and leveled.
I am completely new to the Mach 3 software or any CNC software as far as that goes.
I have a Miller Spectrum 875 plasma machine to use on the table. The plasma cutter is not wired into the mach3 board yet.
I would appreciate any and all help I can get from other Mach 3 users.
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Have a look also on Plasmaspider.com you may get more generalised plasma help there.
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I think the best help anyone new can receive is a link to our FAQs page and the Mach3 Mill Install and Config. Guide. These 2 resources have a lot of good information. You might think you will not need to know a lot of it........ until you need to know it. The guide has Mill in the title but it is relative to plasma as well. There is also a section dedicated to plasma.
http://www.machsupport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Mach3Mill_Install_Config.pdf
http://www.machsupport.com/help-learning/f-a-q/
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Hello Jjmueller and Jerry. It seems like there are more than one of us out there where the software is kicking our butts. I have been trying for months to set up the mach3 software for a plasma table. I am new to the life and I seem to be so lost. I had the motors running but now they just stopped. I was so close, only thing I had left was to set up my limits but now I seem to be back at square one:(.
I have not changed my ports for when they were working before. My THC for port 2 seems to be working. The DRO moves on the screen but the table display shows nothing, the soft limits button will not light up. I know its something in the settings but I am lost...any help would be fantastic.