Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Threading reboot

« on: March 24, 2016, 09:02:44 PM »

Nothing has worked so far so a fresh start.

1.  To get threading to work I need to get a stable readout of actual spindle speed into Mach3.  Is this correct?  Or does the input signal have to be of a certain form? (Absolutly no luck getting a stable readout using two different proximity sensors.)

2.  If I figure out how to do the slotted disk, optical readout approach to get spindle speed into Mach3 do I have to worry about noise from the VFD or other source corrupting the signal? Special wiring needed etc?

3.  Once I can get a stable spindle readout into Mach3 then the hardware part is finished and from there on it is pounding away at Mach3, OR do I need more index input signals? I am operating under the assumption that if I can get a stable read out of spindle speed all my hardware issues are behind me, agreed?

Thanks.

2

General Mach Discussion / Cable length

« on: March 12, 2016, 01:07:19 PM »

I have convinced myself that my computer problems, locks up, will not load, sometimes OK, are due to the computer being located in my garage which can be cold and damp here on the wet west coast.  Is it feasible to move the computer into the house and then run 20 ft. cables for mouse, keyboard, screen and controller, or will the length of the cables make the whole system unstable?  Computer and machine are used on an irregular basis and it can be a week between times the computer is on.

3

General Mach Discussion / Threading G76

« on: January 30, 2016, 04:04:03 PM »

So for G76 to work I have to have some way of sending a signal to Mach3 telling it how fast the spindle is turning, is that correct?  I thought that if I programed in the spindle speed, and then set my VFD to get that speed I would be good to go.  Right now I have a MachTach tachometer installed which gives me spindle speed but I am not sure if I can feed this info to Mach3.  If I am on the right track here what is a good simple way of getting RPM into Mach3? Thanks.

4

General Mach Discussion / G code

« on: February 14, 2015, 08:35:40 PM »

I have converted my lathe and have run some wizards with a minimum of problems and now want to try writing some Gcode.  I have the Smid book and using it tried to write a little program for facing using a G94 code.  I only ran it on the computer, but nothing would make it work.  Then I entered Smid's example right from the book for straight turning which uses a G90 code - again it traced a goofy path not making interative cuts.  When I looked at some of the wizards that came with Mach3 none of them seem to use these higher G codes.  So what G codes can be used in Mach3?  Do different programs use different G codes? 

Thanks.

5

General Mach Discussion / Spindle speed on my lathe

« on: December 09, 2014, 11:38:30 PM »

I am trying to get spindle speed to appear in the S True DRO in Mach3. For a sensor I am using an inductive proximity sensor which I think is type NPN (although I am not sure what that means).  With the controller I am using, the signal for this sensor goes into a Gecko board and then to pin 13 on the parallel port.  In Mach3, Pins and Ports, Input Signals, I have enabled Index, port #1, pin 13, and checked off active low.  Turning on the spindle and handholding the sensor I get no reading in Mach3, but the light is flashing at the base of the sensor indicating it is active.  The only thing I can think of is that no signal is getting through from the sensor but I am not sure how I would check this.

Of course it could be something different all togeather.

All suggestions, pointers and ideas appreciated.

6

General Mach Discussion / Creating wizards

« on: November 21, 2014, 04:25:25 PM »

I have my lathe converted and am working my way through the wizards in Mach3.  I am wondering how theses wizards are created.  I will soon try and write a G code program, say to make a pulley, but how would I create a wizard so I could just enter diameter, shaft size etc, rather than have to go through the program line by line to change a program that was created for a different size pulley?

Thanks, Dennis

7

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 Manual

« on: November 13, 2014, 11:07:26 PM »

Are there any manuals for Mach3 for a lathe out there other than the one on this site?  Something along the lines of " when we say X dro we mean the one on the left" for when there seem to be two X dro's on the screen at the same time.  I know, I know, I make a lot of beginners feel good.

8

General Mach Discussion / Lathe Wizard question

« on: November 12, 2014, 11:43:49 PM »

I am using Mach3 Lathe and getting ready to make my first cut.  Thought I would start out with the OD Facing wizard.

I set X Start to zero to face from the centre outward.  However the simulation always starts X beyond the centre line by the amount I have entered for Z Clearance.  This in radius mode.  If I am in diameter mode X starts beyond the centre line by twice the amount I have entered for Z Clearance.

I can get the wizard to work by entering values for X Start based on the above rules but I would like to understand why I cannot use zero for X Start.  Is this just the way the wizard works or am I missing something.

Dennis

9

General Mach Discussion / Problems with jog

« on: November 05, 2014, 05:30:51 PM »

I am converting my lathe to CNC and going through the configuring process.  The controller is from Camtronics and uses the Gecko 540 board.  So far things seem to be OK except the jog function does not work, jog increment works fine, jog does not respond.  I am not sure where to look to try and solve this problem.  I have certainly tried a lot of things that do not work.  When I first loaded Mach3, and no controller attached or configuration changes made, jog seemed to work in that when I pressed the arrow keys the X and Z readouts on the screen changed.

Where should I start looking to solve this problem?

Thanks, Dennis