Topics

61

General Mach Discussion / How do you Cut a Slide Rail?

« on: December 31, 2015, 06:19:57 PM »

Happy New Year to all

The sliding rails on the attached picture are about 2” longer than I wanted. I tried to cut off the extra length with a hacksaw but did not even make a mark on the round part.

Perhaps a reciprocating saw may do the job?

62

General Mach Discussion / Squaring Gantry with 2 Home Switches

« on: December 13, 2015, 07:37:58 PM »

One of the many good features of Mach3 is squaring the gantry when you have 2 motors moving the gantry on Y & A with 2 home switches on each axis

Does this feature also works if you only have one motor moving the gantry on Y with 2 home switches on each side?

If it does, how would you configure the Y to be slaved to what?

63

General Mach Discussion / Constant Velocity vs Exact Stop

« on: November 28, 2015, 07:12:33 PM »

On Mach3 Config / General Config / Set the Motion Mode, the choice is Constant Velocity or Exact Stop.

What is the recommended setting of this parameter for a cnc?

64

General Mach Discussion / Crimping DB-9 Pins, Sockets & Tool

« on: November 27, 2015, 04:16:26 PM »

Never had a good success soldering the DB-9 connectors for the G540 so this time I will try crimping. Some vendors sell these cables with the DB-9 attached but the shipping cost + Duties / taxes to Canada will make them too expensive. In addition I prefer to have my cables to the required length instead of having coils of extra cables hanging all over my cnc

Anyone knows where I can get all the parts including a half decent crimping tool?

65

General Mach Discussion / 4/8 Wires Stepper Motors

« on: November 26, 2015, 08:21:28 AM »

I’m ready to order the 3 stepper motors for my new hobby cnc (table = 26”x 40”, made with 3/8” aluminum plate, fixed gantry, Bosch Colt router, Gecko G540).

Is it better to get the motors with 4 or 8 leads?

66

General Mach Discussion / Moving Table Motor Location

« on: November 07, 2015, 11:20:18 PM »

The attached 2 pictures (both taken from the web) shows 2 moving cnc tables, one with the motor inside the base frame and one with the motor outside the base frame

Is there a reason to have the motor inside or outside the base frame?

67

General Mach Discussion / Bosch Colt with VS

« on: November 03, 2015, 10:59:34 PM »

I used before a Colt and I was very happy with it. For my new small fixed gantry CNC I may use one again but perhaps there are other routers similar to Colt or even better.

Kress FME looks like a good router but I don’t know why is so expensive

Any other one? Must be small like the Colt and with VS (to be used for engraving / light aluminum cuts)

68

General Mach Discussion / Fixed Gantry Table

« on: November 03, 2015, 09:38:07 AM »

On a fixed gantry CNC I noticed some fix the gantry to the end of the base and some they have it in the center of the base.

Perhaps there is a reason but to my opinion having the gantry fixed to the center of the base should be the best option since the table will not travel as much

Which location is the best?

69

General Mach Discussion / New CNC Design Stage

« on: November 02, 2015, 06:45:56 PM »

I started designing my new hobby CNC which will be made with 3/8” - 1/2" aluminum plate, cutting area about 24”x 26” and most likely 3 motors (one for each axis) with the Gecko G540.

Reading on this forum I noticed some folks are using UC300-USB or the Warp9td controllers. At this stage I can’t decide if I want to spend the extra $$$ or stick with the G540. Perhaps there is an advantage to go with USB but I don’t see it right now. Is it woth it?

I would also like this time to use proximity switches instead of limit switches mostly to learn about them. I don’t know if they serve the same purpose as the limit switches but reading on the web there are different types and I don’t know which ones to choose. Perhaps someone can give me more info?

Lastly I can’t decide yet what kind table top to use. I was thinking to go with aluminum T-Slots but I see most users cover it with a spoilboard to protect it. Any other ideas?

70

General Mach Discussion / Strange Toolpath

« on: February 28, 2014, 08:43:59 PM »

As per attached 2 images, my CAM program tells me that the toolpath is ok but when I import the code into Mach3 it has / cuts these circles around my part

What I do wrong?