Messages

61

Newfangled Solutions Mach3 Wizards / Re: Wizards drill one hole

« on: January 27, 2010, 11:32:28 AM »

This was one of the first things I hit with the Wizards too.  Kind of silly you can't do one hole easily!

Cheers,

BW

62

General Mach Discussion / Re: Negatating variables in G-code.

« on: January 27, 2010, 11:30:51 AM »

Lots of silliness in the g-code syntax.  Would be an easy thing to upgrade in Mach3, and if Fanuc does it (or even EMC), Mach3 should too.

With all that said, can't you find and fix them with a few search and replaces?

Doesn't seem like there are all that many cases.

    Search '[-' Replace '[0-'

Would cover the example given.  There are others that could be done with a canned search and replace, and probably some you just have to look at.

I'm curious which controls allow this if anyone knows?

Best,

BW

63

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: Video Edge Finder

« on: January 27, 2010, 11:26:03 AM »

Compensation for the video camera's axis alignment is something the software ought to do to make it easier.  You should be able to set the cross hairs on a feature.  Raise or lower the Z a determined amount, rezero the cross hairs by jogging, press a button, and be done.  The geometry is pretty darned simple and would be easily compensated by the software.

I'm supposed to be a beta tester for Tormach's upcoming video prober.  It has some real special software with it, and that software will also be available separately as I understand it.  I don't know if it will do the alignment compensation or not, but I'll be on the lookout and I'll write about the whole thing on www.cnccookbook.com when the beta test is done and they've made all their improvements.

I'm really looking forward to it.

Best,

BW

64

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Will MACH3 ever support 64-bit systems? Officially? FYI, it's 2010

« on: January 27, 2010, 11:22:27 AM »

Have the EMC people figured out 64-bit?

If so, you could probably figure out how to do Mach3 looking at their code given the origins lo' those many years ago.

I'm more in the camp of wanting to be done with parallel.  I want Smoothstepper or something to just work with no compromises relative to the parallel port.  Backlash comp and all the rest.  It's not clear how good a shape the Mach community would be in if a wand was waved and suddenly no parallel ports existed.

Cheers,

BW

65

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Strange Lockup- Solved

« on: January 27, 2010, 11:19:34 AM »

How odd!

Did the Gecko folks say why they thought this was? 

I'm wondering did the G540 somehow emit a lot of RFI that confused the USB port or the wireless mouse?

Just curious.

Best,

BW

66

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: rough cut prob

« on: January 27, 2010, 11:18:00 AM »

Hi, yup, the bit was blackened and had bits of plastic still on it.  I didn't save the bit, threw it away last night. 

You wanna kind of throw out those important clues up front to help the helpers!

LOL, I primarily stick to metal, but have to admit that was looking pretty gnawed.  Had to be something seriously off, and Gerry and the others were trying to get at it.  You want to keep a close eye on your cutters any time you have a little problem.  Should be nothing sticking to them and no discoloration.

Speaking of Onsrud, I'm getting ready to add wood to my G-Wizard feeds and speeds calculator.  Their feeds and speeds data is by far the best I've found so far.  Wood is basically pretty hard to track down.  Do you fellas have any other good sources of that data?

Cheers,

BW

67

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: >DXF translation

« on: January 23, 2010, 04:12:30 PM »

I'm good at the 'looking thing'  : )

Me too!  Not so much at the editing.  Wherever I can look rather than edit, I like to look.

Sort of like Peter Sellers in the movie, "Being There", LOL.

Cheers,

BW

68

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: >DXF translation

« on: January 23, 2010, 02:44:00 PM »

Times like this, I run back to my CAD program and do a quick rotate.  Failing that, I'd load the g-code into either Mach3 or my favorite editor with toolpath sim and look at it there after trying to edit the coordinates.  It should be pretty obvious if you've done the right thing!

Cheers,

BW

69

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 Customization/Macro Programming Documentation

« on: January 21, 2010, 03:23:28 PM »

Very nice work, Ray!

BW

70

General Mach Discussion / Re: Had to share this excellent clock :)

« on: January 21, 2010, 03:21:22 PM »

That's pretty cool.  He has several more on his other site:

www.beeks.eu

Cheers,

BW