Machsupport Forum

Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: Rich-TX on November 10, 2013, 04:42:12 PM

Title: Newbie set up question
Post by: Rich-TX on November 10, 2013, 04:42:12 PM
I just got Mach3 licensed got my ports configured and the motors tuned.  All axes responds well to manual control.   But when I try to run the roadrunner file recommended as a test in the videos I run into a problem.  The program seems to run to completion but it routes out the entire design in an area about 20mm sq.  I can’t image that this is the plan.  So I must have something misconfigured in Mach3.  The manual says I can scale a part but I don’t see where it tells me how.  I would appreciate any suggestions
Rich
Title: Re: Newbie set up question
Post by: RICH on November 10, 2013, 07:07:55 PM
You can add a scale factor to any of the axis by putting a number other than 1 in the scale box ( next to the axis DRO )
RICH
Title: Re: Newbie set up question
Post by: Rich-TX on November 10, 2013, 07:38:20 PM
Rich that worked thank you.  By using a scale factor of 10 in X & Y it routed out an image of about 4X3".  So I was able to determine that I could run and output code.  Something else I was wondering is how can I import a G code file and tell what the properties of the file are like units (inches or mm) or output size.
Rich
Title: Re: Newbie set up question
Post by: Tweakie.CNC on November 11, 2013, 01:42:28 AM
Quote
how can I import a G code file and tell what the properties of the file are like units (inches or mm) or output size.

Once you have loaded a GCode, open the 'Toolpath' screen and 'Program Limits' show the size.

Tweakie.
Title: Re: Newbie set up question
Post by: Hood on November 11, 2013, 02:59:56 AM
Going back to your original post, the roadrunner is written in inch units but it does not have  G20 at the start to tell Mach. Thus if you run on a machine set up in metric units it will run in metric units, this shows the importance of all of your code defining the set up parameters such as G20/G21, G90.1/G91.1, G61/G64  etc etc. Making sure your code has such a preamble can save a lot of unexpected things happening ;)

Hood