Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: tulsah on July 06, 2008, 10:32:57 AM
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I am new to Mach 3 and CNC world in general, but have made out fairly well up until now. I am commissioning a homebuilt router and have run into several issues that I believe are software related. For my present purposes, my CAM package consists of Vectric V-Carve Pro and Cut-3D.
The first issue that I had was when cutting a simple part, consisting of a profile cut through 3/4" material. I noticed that the sides of the part were not straight all the way through the material - there was a definite taper on several sides of the part. This happens every time I try to cut the part, but it is not consistent as to which sides come out tapered.
Moving on, I decided to install a spoil board to the top of the table and remove 0.125" to true the surface to the spindle. For this, I used a pocketing toolpath, zero at a corner of the table and I was on my way. The code executes well for a short period of time, and then either the x or y axis would physically stop, but Mach would keep going. By the time I can react and stop the program, the zero position has shifted by as much as 6". I moved on and tried to cut a simple surface from code generated in Cut-3D. This resulted in a similar problem as before in that the machine would physically stop moving. In this case though, I found that Mach had completely locked up or crashed and it had to be forced to quit. This happened 3 times before I gave up and decided to seek help.
I have tried several things, including nearly crippling the velocity and acceleration settings (thought I might be losing steps), disabled CV mode and I have tried to set it for Sherline 1/2 pulse mode. As I stated, this seems like a software issue to me, but I am a t a loss for what to try or check next. Any and all help is most appreciated.
-tulsah
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Tulsah, Is this a dedicated PC or are their antiviruse programs and other applications on it?
Do you notice a change in the sound of the machine when it stops moveing?
Steppers or servos?
Brett
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Tulsah, if you're using winXP, have you used the optimze document for Mach 3 to turn everything off so that Windows doesn't interfere with the program?
Can you tell us more about your PC setup and hardware?
EDIT, sorry for asking the same questions as Brett (above), I'm a lot slower than him.............. about 2 minutes...- :P
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It is hard to tell if the sound changes when it freezes on account of the router running - I suppose I will have to try it dry to be sure. The machine is running with 960 oz-in steppers with 5mm pitch ballscrews.
The PC is a new Dell laptop with plenty of horsepower and Win XP Pro with SP3, but it is not dedicated for the router. This laptop also serves as my general everyday use pc. Before I tried yesterday's cuts, I did disable all of the antivirus and firewall software, but it made no difference. I have not tried the optimization steps.
I should also note that my router runs with a SmoothStepper (driver 2.006c), and the CNC4PC C23 BOB. Thought I should mention this in case the SS driver could be part of the problem???
Thanks,
-tulsah
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While I don't run a SS, if I do not use the optimization setup, my laptop will not run my machine at all. Have a look here, it may just be the problem:
http://www.machsupport.com/downloads/XP_Optimization.txt
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Thanks for the advice. My next question is how far do you take the optimization? In reading the file, it seems that there are degrees of optimization - some aspects of which have different effects on the laptop for uses other than Mach 3. Please advise. Thanks.
-tulsah
While I don't run a SS, if I do not use the optimization setup, my laptop will not run my machine at all. Have a look here, it may just be the problem:
http://www.machsupport.com/downloads/XP_Optimization.txt
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I can tell you exactly what I do as I use my PC for my machine and webuse. You can switch back and forth between Standard PC and ACPI PC modes. When switching to Standard PC mode (procedure shown below:), after the computer restarts, I then go into Task Manager and click on the Process tab and then click on the USER Name menu (You) and turn off everything except:
- explorer.exe
- tfswctrl.exe
Leave all the Local Service, Network Service and System settings alone.
Set Computer to Standard PC NOT ACPI PC
1. Right Click My Computer and select Properties
2. Click Hardware tab.
3. Click Device Manager Button in the middle.
4. Double click "Computer".
5. Right click on Standard ACPI PC and choose Update Driver.
6. Choose "Install the software from a Specific Location (Advanced)"
7. Click Next.
8. Choose "Don't search. I will choose driver to install."
9. Click Next.
10. Choose "Standard PC" from the listing.
11. Click Next.
12. Click OK.
Restart and turn off the process' running explained above and you should be good to go.
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Please understand this works for ME and may not suite everyone. I take no responsibility for your system - ;)
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Optimisation shouldnt really be needed if using a SmoothStepper.
When an axis stops moving have a look at the SmoothStepper info page, cant remember its exact name but you get it from the Operator menu. Have a look and see if there are any errors flagged in there.
Hood
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Are you referring to the SmoothStepper Data Monitoring screen accessed through the Plugin Control Menu?
-tulsah
Optimisation shouldnt really be needed if using a SmoothStepper.
When an axis stops moving have a look at the SmoothStepper info page, cant remember its exact name but you get it from the Operator menu. Have a look and see if there are any errors flagged in there.
Hood
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At home ,so dont have a SS here to hook up and look but that sounds like the one I am meaning :D
Hood
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I just tried a dry run and watched the SS diagnostics page at the same time. Everything starts well and runs fine for about 10 minutes. During this time, the only flags that are checked are:
rvc_fifo_en and
velocity_fifo_fill_mode
After approx 10 minutes of run, there is a jerk in one of the x or y axis and a corresponding thumping sound and then the following flag appears checked:
Velocity FIFO Ran Dry
Does any of this help or identify where my problem might be? Thanks.
-tulsah
At home ,so dont have a SS here to hook up and look but that sounds like the one I am meaning :D
Hood
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What do you have the top box frequency set to in the SS Setup page? (again sorry cant remember what its called ;( )
Hood
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I just changed it from 4kHz to 1kHz, and am re-running the program. It is farther along than ever, with no sign of the odd behaviour. Could this have been the root of all of my problems? What about the max step frequency settings for each axis - I currently have them set at 1MHz?
-tulsah
What do you have the top box frequency set to in the SS Setup page? (again sorry cant remember what its called ;( )
Hood
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That is more than likely your problem, it depends on your computer, mine can run no problem at 4KHz but Greg said 2KHz would be a safer bet.
For the Axis you want to set it to what each axis is, ie if you have in your motor tuning a step per unit of 20,000 and max velocity of 100 then that would be 2,000,000 pulses per min, divide by 60 to get per second and thats 33KHz so 64KHz would be needed as its the next above.
Hood
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Fantastic, hopefully this takes care of it. Do you think though that this setting is responsible for the tapered sides in my multi-pass parts, or is there another gremlin yet to be discovered? Thanks for everyone's help.
-tulsah
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Fantastic, hopefully this takes care of it. Do you think though that this setting is responsible for the tapered sides in my multi-pass parts, or is there another gremlin yet to be discovered? Thanks for everyone's help.
-tulsah
I would think it is, think you have been loosing steps because the FIFO ran dry, that means that axis doesnt go so far so on the next round its a bit out, one side would come out with a straight edge as it gets fully cut but the other would be stepped.
Hood
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Thanks again to everyone. I'll report soon on the result - success or otherwise.
-tulsah