Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: zero an axis "in program" ??

« on: July 28, 2013, 01:39:49 PM »

Beautiful, thats exactly what I was looking for, g92 will work perfectly. I figured there was something, but I am a little rusty these days.

Thanks

CB

2

General Mach Discussion / zero an axis "in program" ??

« on: July 28, 2013, 11:57:21 AM »

I am using Mach3 to run a 3D printer. the extruder is run off the A axis and is set up to be a linear axis. I'd like to set up the gcode so the controller automatically re- zero's the A axis at the end of a program so that if I forget to manually zero it, it does not try and back up 3000 millimeters of filament at the start of the next program. Is there an easy way to do this with simple G-code, or will this require a custom macro?

again, all I want is is for the software to zero the A axis at the end of a program.

Thanks for any help.

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Visualizer image is zoomed waaaayy out

« on: January 30, 2012, 02:56:27 PM »

Thanks for taking a look anyway, I figured it might have something to do with a soft limit or tool offset that made the controller think the working envelope is much bigger than it actually is to create a display that is zoomed way out to encompass it all. Will just keep fooling with it.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Visualizer image is zoomed waaaayy out

« on: January 30, 2012, 02:17:28 PM »

Here is my turn XML. let me know what you find. If I delete all of the preparatory commands at the beginning of the part program, it seems to improve things a good bit so I suspect it has something to do with one of them, but I am not certain which one or how it is interacting with the controller.

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General Mach Discussion / Visualizer image is zoomed waaaayy out

« on: January 30, 2012, 10:07:58 AM »

Hey guys
    This problem concerns the tool path visualizer in Mach Turn. for reasons I can't seem to figure out. When ever I use Dolphin CAM to generate a G-code, the visualizer image for the tool path is always zoomed way out leaving the tool path just as a tiny spec on the screen. If I zoom in on the screen as far as it will allow me, I can just make out the tool path. unfortunately this is not very useful for inspecting a program for correct tool paths as I cant properly zoom in on areas.
I do not have this problem if I write the program myself so I am not sure what it is in the Dolphin CAM code that is causing this.

Anyone care to take a look at an example.

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Gaining steps...maybe? with Servo Drive

« on: August 03, 2011, 01:23:19 PM »

Well, Thank you everyone for the help. Looks like I got it sorted. A new encoder and a line driver seems to have done the trick, not sure if it was noise or just a damged encoder, but I am back up and running.

CB

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: Gaining steps...maybe? with Servo Drive

« on: July 28, 2011, 02:38:58 PM »

As best as I understand from what Tommy at IHCNC is telling me. You can buy them with a ten pin out or a 5 pin out. The five pin out basically snaps right over the existing encoder pins (it has five pins) and then you plug the original  5 wire connector for the cable into it. so you basically have the same connections at the driver end as you originally had. He says he does it on all his machines.
    If you look on the Gecko site, They want you to "Solder a 1uF 25V capacitor between the +5V and GND pins on the encoder body" to use this style of encoder in the first place. This basically performs that task as well as acting as a line driver. It may be that is the only real function in this installation, but if it helps quiet things down and fixes my issue I am game to try it since his machines work and mine currently does not.
    I am afraid I am not savvy enough with electronics at the moment, so I feel a bit over my head here trying to fix this. I talked to Steve over at PMDX for a while too, He had a lot of good info for me and things I could try as well. Like putting an EMI filter on my VFD and Grounding the negative lead on my power supply to prevent a ground loop from occurring. going to tinker with all of that to see if any of it does some good.

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Gaining steps...maybe? with Servo Drive

« on: July 28, 2011, 01:17:02 PM »

Just talked to a guy who uses these line drivers and he is claiming he uses them with the older Gecko 320's to eliminate noise without any extra hardware. So I guess the proof will be in the pudding when they arrive.

CB

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: Gaining steps...maybe? with Servo Drive

« on: July 28, 2011, 11:19:20 AM »

http://usdigital.com/products/PC4-H5#purchasing

Here is the link to the line Driver. Guess I will have to follow up on that. I am pretty sure the new G320X's can handle differential signalling, But I am using the old 320's on this machine.

10

General Mach Discussion / Re: Gaining steps...maybe? with Servo Drive

« on: July 28, 2011, 09:56:14 AM »

Ok well I tried it that way too. No movement either. Is this to rule out noise on the step signal?

Just trying to look at this with fresh eyes this morning. I am using the US digital E2 series optical encoders. from talking to people I know they can be buggy and subject to noise issues. One of the first things I though was at issue is that the O ring in my Z axis encoder cover had disintegrated and left pieces of itself all over the encoder. I cleaned it off real good and put it back on which lessened the issue. So I thought maybe the encoder was still mucked up so I swapped it for my Y axis encoder which was in good working order to rule out a bad encoder. Still same problem as before plus it really doesnt explain why the error is moving only in one direction.

My question is this. I have since lost the spacer tool that you use to position the slotted disk the appropriate distance on the shaft. I still have pretty good eyes so I just eye balled it exactly in the slot of the reader head by sight. Do these things have really fickle focal lengths or something? could that be the issue if it is not absolutely perfectly aligned?

I have two new encoders coming in the mail (with alignment tool) to help rule out damaged encoders (take them off and put em back on a few times and things can get less than perfect) as the old encoder from the Z, now on the Y is still kind of buggy. Also after talking to ta couple of people I also purchased US digital's PC4 cable drivers to snap on the encoders. They are not specifically designed for noise or anything but the have a resistor on them that helps quiet down noise on the encoder (or so I have been told) anyway. Thats where I am today. machine still down and I have work to do and can not do a thing about it 

Still looking for things to try