Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: grubby65 on July 10, 2019, 11:56:59 AM
-
I have recently completed the CNC router which was in the WoodSmith magazine. I am new to the CNC world, so please be patient with me. I have the all the motors wired and the all three axis move. I have tuned the motors (velocity, accelration, etc.). Now, I'm kind of stuck. What would be the next items I need to set-up before I actually try cutting something? I am not using limit switches at this time, I was planning on using soft limits until I get a little more familiar with things. Does anyone know of a tutorial than provides the chain of events you need to go through?
-
Hi,
I am not using limit switches at this time, I was planning on using soft limits until I get a little more familiar with things.
Soft Limits are only effective if your machine is 'homed' or 'referenced' to the exact same location at the start of each Mach session.
That usually requires home switches. My experience is that Home switches are extremely useful, even more so than limit
switches. Most people combine limit and home switches which for various reasons I do not like, but as I say most people do exactly that.
My suggestion would be to have three home switches. Its common to put them one at each end of an axis so they can also be used
to indicate one limit for each axis. But if you are using them as home switches alone they don't have to be at the end. They can
be somewhere in the middle and may make mounting and wiring them a lot simpler.
Craig
-
I have recently completed the CNC router which was in the WoodSmith magazine. I am new to the CNC world, so please be patient with me. I have the all the motors wired and the all three axis move. I have tuned the motors (velocity, accelration, etc.). Now, I'm kind of stuck. What would be the next items I need to set-up before I actually try cutting something? I am not using limit switches at this time, I was planning on using soft limits until I get a little more familiar with things. Does anyone know of a tutorial than provides the chain of events you need to go through?
the next step would be to have control over the spindle (or you turn it manualy on/off ?)
for the first cut i allways do a simple circle, Sounds easy, but a circle tell's you everything about your machine.
why will be the next question?
-on a circle you will see, if you have, backslash by watching the four quadrants (you will see steps a 12 o clock, 3 o clock, 6 o clock or 9 o clock)
-checking the Diameter of a circle with a gauge on a couple of angles, will tell you everything about your X/Y geometry, because
if X and Y are not 100% in angle you will get different Diameters.
to get a simple perfect circle can be a hard road.
-
Do I need to set up the coordinate system first before I start cutting? Like a said Newbie. I will be starting the spindle by hand.
-
not realy sure what you mean with Setup coordinate System.
normaly you Zero X/Y to a lower left Corner of the raw part you whant to cut,
and Zero Z to the top of your surface, and then you can start to do simple cut's.
-
OK, I was getting hung up on the soft limits and coordinate system on Mach3. So, basically anchor a piece of wood on the table, load up the G Code, take the tool over to a reference corner of the part and let it go? I might have been making this too complicated.