Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Drilling holes using Lazy cam

« on: May 21, 2009, 04:25:20 AM »

Guys,

Thanks for your help here, I'll give your ideas a try and report back.

Incidentally I'm using a very old version of Microstation CAD to export my DXF.

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Drilling holes using Lazy cam

« on: May 20, 2009, 04:11:16 AM »

Hi,

I'm new to Mach3 and LazyCAM and I have the same problem....

I want to export a LazyCAM file to Mach 3 that has 45 tiny holes to drill.  If I export the current code then the drill will try to follow the outline of the drill holes whereas all I want is to plunge and return.  It would be annoying to alter all 45 sections of g-code!

Does anyone have a suggestion?

Thanks
Richard.

3

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: May 12, 2009, 03:38:13 PM »

Hi, my name is Richard and I've just purchased a CNC router from Marchantdice.

It's taken three weeks of my [spare] time to set the machine up, I've no experience of CNC and I didn't realise there would be such a big learning curve.  It's a shame that there's not a shortened version of Mach that allows you to drive the CNC without all the frilly bits!  I'd like to draw a few lines on the screen and have the cutter follow that path but I need to learn G-code and LazyCAM first.

But I'm getting there!

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Homing Again (Newbie needs help!)

« on: May 12, 2009, 03:28:57 PM »

Thanks guys for all your help.

I looked up some previous posts and set the debounce interval to 1000, and that fixed the problem...it's something that could be added to a few of the video tutorials because it's a re-ocurring problem.

10/10 for support though!

5

General Mach Discussion / Homing Again (Newbie needs help!)

« on: May 06, 2009, 06:40:11 AM »

Hi All,

I'm a newbie just getting to grips with my MDL-2-TR CNC router from Marchantdice.

I've added limit switches to all of the axis and they're all working fine.

When I hit the 'ref all home' in Mach 3 it shuttles back to the negative home switch but stops there and activates the reset switch.

I actually want it it to automatically move off the home switch by several millimetres but it won't do this.

I have to go into the 'ports and pins' to deactivate the limits and then jog it off the limit switch.  Even the 'overide limits' button has no effect.

Here's some important settings:

Input Signals:
Signal    Enabled      Pin No.      Active Low
X++      Ticked          13              Ticked
X--        Ticked          13              Ticked
X Home Ticked          13              Ticked
Y++      Ticked          12              Ticked
Y--        Ticked          12              Ticked
Y Home Ticked          12              Ticked
Z++      Ticked          11              Ticked
Z--        Ticked          11              Ticked
Z Home Ticked          11              Ticked

Motor Home/soft Limits:
Axis     Reversed      Soft Max     Soft Min      Slow Zone    Home Off      Home Neg    Auto Zero     Speed
X         Unticked       178.00        0.00             1.00           -2                   Ticked        Ticked          10
Y         Unticked       215.00        0.00             1.00           -2                   Ticked        Ticked          10
Z         Ticked            0.00        -24.00            1.00           -2                  Unticked      Ticked          10

Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks.