Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Retract Z on feed hold or stop

« on: June 29, 2023, 06:36:04 PM »

When I use 'feed hold', 'stop' or 'reset', the machining stops right where it is and turns off the spindle... this is all good except I would like it to also retract the spindle height to a safe distance from the part... maybe 2in/50mm
I cannot find any setting to do this and if there is a problem such as needing to tighten stock clamps or even just cleaning away chips or lubing the bit, it really should immediately retract.... only exception would be E-stop, which is working fine.
Is there an option to cause a Z-Axis retraction on 'feed hold' or 'stop' in Mach3?

2

General Mach Discussion / MPG movement erratic

« on: May 25, 2023, 06:40:17 AM »

I'm having trouble with the CNC movement using my new MPG.

I recently connected the mpg (seen in first pic)
To this controller (second pic)
Wiring (as seen in 3rd pic)
I used the settings seen in "MPG Mach3 Settings.txt" attached

It works for the most part....
When I hit TAB and switch to MPG:
In Velocity mode, I get good smooth movement when the MPG multiplier is set to X1...
But when I switch to X10 or X100, (I have to hold down the side button on the MPG), the movement is so horrifically brutal, its like the acceleration/velocity in the motor tuning is completely ignored and sounds like a hammer is hitting the gantry (as if its trying to move way beyond the motor speed limits).
How do I fix this?

When I switch mode to Step:
X10 and X100 work perfectly, but it will not let me select X1... I have to click on 'cycle jog step' manually to get to X1

I have set 'jog increments in cycle mode' in 'general config' to 1/10/100 for the first three.
Ideally what I would like is for the MPG velocity mode to have the options of 1/10/100 to move things out of the way quickly when a job is finished....
And when setting up a job, using the MPG in step mode, X1 = 0.01, X10 = 0.1, X100 = 1.0

3

General Mach Discussion / GCode not working properly in Mach3

« on: August 04, 2022, 11:26:25 AM »

I'm having trouble with Mach3 and G-Code.
The computer I use for design has Mach3 installed on it and the results from this code shows just fine.
But when I load it on the PC that is actually connected to the CNC, one circle is HUGE!
its line 57 on the attached G-Code file:
G2 X74.3 Y34.353 I-26.675 J9.747

Units are in MM
that gcode line is supposed to make a 2in circle (50.8mm)
But on the CNC pc it tried to draw like a 2-foot circle!

Is there a setting I may have differently between the two?

4

General Mach Discussion / Spindle wont work! HELP

« on: July 22, 2022, 02:24:10 PM »

I am converting from NCStudio to a new breakout card, but I cannot get the spindle to work.
The XYZ and A motors all work great... but the spindle does nothing.
this is the card: https://www.ebay.com/itm/174725161345

I changed the Sunfar E300 VFD setting F0.0 from 4 to 1 (from 'ext terminal' to '0-10v input')
Card is being powered by 24v

Spindle VFD Wiring:
AVI on card to AI on VFD
10v on card to 10v on VFD
ACM on card to CM on VFD

Mach3 Settings:
config -> ports&pins -> spindle setup:
Disable spindle relays = unchecked
clockwise M3 output# = 1
use spindle motor output = checked
pwm control = checked

config -> ports&pins -> motor output:
spindle = enabled
step pin = 1
dir pin = 0
step port = 1
dir port = 1

config -> ports&pins -> output signals:
Output #1 = enabled, port# = 3, pin# = 1
Output #2 = enabled, port# = 3, pin# = 2
Output #3 = enabled, port# = 3, pin# = 3
Output #4 = enabled, port# = 3, pin# = 4

Not sure what I'm doing wrong, please help!

5

General Mach Discussion / Precise jogging and speed help

« on: July 08, 2022, 09:31:24 PM »

I'm learning Mach3 and could use help with jogging.
I have figured out using TAB brings up the MPG and allows general movements, but I'm having trouble with moving a very specific amount.

So if jog set to continuous, it moves at the speed I set (3,000mm/m)... but if I change it from continuous to step, it just crawls at 0.1 per second.... painfully slow. I cannot figure out how to speed that up.

Next issue is I cannot find a way to type in coordinates where I want the machine to move to.
If I have a specific location I want to move to, it seems I have to jog to it instead of simply being able to type in a X or Y axis value.
Is there a simple way to make the machine move to a specific axis position value?

6

General Mach Discussion / How to hookup spindle?

« on: July 08, 2022, 09:23:06 PM »

I am trying to figure out how to get the spindle going with my breakout board and running properly in Mach3.
The board is a KLDB25.
The spindle is a SunFar E300.

What is the best way to physically connect and also how to setup in Mach3?
Thanks!

7

General Mach Discussion / Swap Axis Direction

« on: July 08, 2022, 02:18:40 AM »

I am converting my machine from NCstudio to Mach3 so that I may use a 4th axis.
So far everything is going great, I have all 4 motors working and I believe tuned properly.
However some of the Axis are backwards... My X-axis is going the wrong way!

How do I flip the direction?

-------------------------------------

Second issue Is I am not sure how to setup the spindle.
It was setup in NCstudio for 3-pins (high, medium, low) rather than PWM.
The three settings are pre-programmed in the spindle to 5k, 10k & 20k rpm.
So in NCstudio, if the GCode calls for 8krpm, it would automatically go to 10k rpm.

How do I set these three pins in mach3?