Topics

361

Tangent Corner / amazing.

« on: June 22, 2011, 06:37:19 AM »

I am not sure just how long this would last before wear got the better of it but I have never seen this method of driving an axis before.

Tweakie.

362

Tangent Corner / The Silly season has started.

« on: June 19, 2011, 09:13:50 AM »

The silly season has started at work where the foreign visitors and groups get show around.
I hate being put on exhibit so a few of these dotted around should, perhaps, give the management the message. 

This is Traffolite engraving laminate with a Clarendon 4 line typeface using a 90 degree engraving point and a depth of 0.3mm.

Tweakie.

363

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Autodesk 123D - Free 3D Design Software

« on: June 13, 2011, 12:14:43 PM »

On a tip from DanZ the beta of this is available for free download at http://www.123dapp.com/

Also available are a number of free 3D models.

Tweakie.

364

Tangent Corner / Ooops !

« on: May 24, 2011, 08:29:26 AM »

No prizes, but who can suggest the best caption for this photo which I took this morning ?  ( bugger has already been used ).

Tweakie.

365

Tangent Corner / 3D scanner.

« on: May 22, 2011, 11:02:32 AM »

A 3D scanner solution for under $150 ?

Check this out  http://www.vectric.org/labs/index.php/laboratory/item/get-kinected-to-your-cnc

Tweakie.

366

Tangent Corner / Going Off on One (again).

« on: May 11, 2011, 01:12:35 PM »

Going off on one.

Although we have all, probably, used pirate software at some time or another (and I must hold my hand up to using a time limited trial beyond it’s 30 day limit by winding the clock back) I really do despise software piracy and condemn it’s use.
It appears that there has been an increase in the number of pirate copies of Mach recently and since the release of a Mach licence file generator the illegal copies are impossible to distinguish from ones that are genuine. Perhaps version 4 will address this issue but that would almost certainly be underestimating the cunning of the crackers.
Vectric, who produce an excellent range of software have now been targeted by the cracking teams making their flagship Aspire v3 the most widely ripped off software currently in the CNC world. Unable to get a perfect working model from the demo version a cracking team advertised for contributors and within a few weeks obtained enough $$ to purchase the full version of the software. The complete cracked version appeared a few weeks later.
When I see new members of both this forum and the Zone who are unable to set up their own machines but are using Aspire v3 then I wonder – Did they really pay $2,000 for it.

Sorry to moan but I just felt it coming on.

Tweakie.

367

Tangent Corner / Interesting ?

« on: March 28, 2011, 11:10:21 AM »

This is an interesting eBay item perhaps.
Says it need no driver to operate from the USB with Mach3 - Is this a load of old **** or what ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-axis-CNC-USB-Card-Mach3-200KHz-windows2000-xp-vista-/260759887366?pt=UK_BOI_Industrial_Automation_Control_ET&hash=item3cb6801e06#ht_8263wt_1139

Tweakie.

368

Tangent Corner / A Fine Mess to get into.

« on: March 22, 2011, 04:17:44 AM »

Just the other day I, inadvertently, ran a Trojan (not as hard to do as one may think) which managed to download to A.N.Other the various site passwords which were stored in my browser. This was a real stupid situation to get into and it was only discovered once I had been banned from visiting one site.

Using an online scanner the Trojan was found in less than ½ hour but it took me almost all of the rest of the day to change my passwords at the various forums and sites I visit.

In retrospect, it pays not to have your browser remember passwords and it is not a bad thing to change passwords on a regular basis.

As T.J. once said “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance”.

Tweakie.

369

General Mach Discussion / Maximise the speed of your steppers ?

« on: March 02, 2011, 10:51:48 AM »

If like me you use steppers then with this simple little device you could possibly double the reliable rapids (G0 moves) on your machine. Obviously it is not intended to offer any improvement to the G1 feedrates because steppers loose torque as speed increases and a reasonable torque is always required for cutting etc.

I recently spent an hour or so reading and re-reading this thread on the zone http://www.cnczone.com/forums/stepper_motors_drives/32284-my_take_stepper_damper-23.html and although convinced I just had to prove it to myself. Guess what, in the trial, it easily doubled the feed rate before my stepper stalled. This device has been patented so it’s only suitable for personal use but it is so easy to make you really just have to try it.

There is no point in going into the details of its operation here because it is fully described on the Zone - it perhaps looks similar to a flywheel but if it doesn’t rattle then it doesn’t work. Physics sometimes reveals itself in strange and mysterious ways.

Tweakie.

370

Tangent Corner / Gear-Ring

« on: February 06, 2011, 06:06:42 AM »

Would make an interesting project perhaps.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=939qJdnGLM8&feature=player_embedded

I bet Chris could make one. 

Tweakie.