Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach4 pre alpha testing

« on: March 06, 2012, 02:43:15 PM »

Brian, I have run some code of mine that is around a 27 meg vcarve file from Aspire. It loaded and ran fine, the program would not exit after loading my file, the only way to get it to stop was thru the task manager.  I am not sure if this is the type of feedback you want or not.  Everything else worked fine.

Tom

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Could this be done with Mach

« on: September 13, 2011, 07:43:14 PM »

I have put this on the back burner for now. Hopefully sometime in the near future I can start building the lathe. But I may try and buy a copy lathe and then convert that. I am keeping a look out for a centuaro T5E I feel that would be the easiest to convert

Tom

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Could this be done with Mach

« on: August 22, 2011, 08:22:45 PM »

Ian, it may have seemed like I ignored your post, I did not. I have been still playing with mastercam. I created the 2 surfaces and created the curves based on the intersections, then made all of the curves into small straight lines. I the tool pathed it and output the file. I looked at the g-code and it seems to look OK but no real way to tell until I would run it on an actual machine.

So your idea seems to work. But if I can output 2 separate tool paths and have 2 systems running Mach and have the 1st system start the 2ND based on a DRO or even a switch of some sort I could achieve the end result without the extra work needed to produce the 3d geometry. I am just thinking out loud. Just trying to use the the KIS rule.

Tom

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Could this be done with Mach

« on: August 21, 2011, 05:50:54 PM »

Ian, I am glad that you can figure it out, but unless you are willing to give step by step instructions, I don't feel as if I can accomplish this. For you to say that I wasted your time is not fair. You gave an explanation that you fully understand, but that doesn't mean that everyone has the same skill set as you. This was something that I wanted to look into so I asked a question and got answers. For that I am greatfull.  Would you rather me keep asking questions that you would feel are elementary or would you rather me admit to my short comings thank everyone for their replies and move on. I could easily keep asking questions to the point that you got frustrated with me for not getting it. So again I thank everyone for their posts on this subject. Sorry if my skill level is not up to the prerequisites for posting a question on this forum.

Tom

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Could this be done with Mach

« on: August 21, 2011, 03:25:29 PM »

I started playing with outputting 2 tool paths and taking them into excel, when I paste the code together in the same file it looks to me that the "roughing tool path" at some point along the x axis will be using a G1 move but the Finish Tool path may have a G2 or G3. Can a single line of code have both a G1 and a G3 on the same line? I would think not.

I am thinking it my be easier to run the Finish tool path on a different computer at the same time. That leads me to my next question. Is there a way that I can have one session mach enable an output at a specific X axis DRO and have it start the program on the other session of Mach when that DRO is reached?

This project may be a little over my head so I may have to give up on it, but I hope not. I would not be opposed to paying someone to help figure it out.

Thanks for all of the advice so far.

Tom

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Could this be done with Mach

« on: August 21, 2011, 09:26:14 AM »

Ian, that is it. Now my next question is how did you combine the 2 tool path drawings into 1. I understand rotating 90 degrees but I cant figure out how you combined them. Could you post a dxf of the combined drawing.

Thank you again,
Tom

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: Could this be done with Mach

« on: August 20, 2011, 10:02:35 PM »

I also am starting to see the light.  So I would somehow need to modify my post processor to make this happen. That is where I will come to a screeching halt. I can stumble around in the post config files but this is probably beyond my capabilities. If there is anyone willing to help me with this let me know. I have Mastercam X2, Bobcad 23 & 24, also Vectric Aspire.

Thanks
Tom

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Could this be done with Mach

« on: August 20, 2011, 08:56:06 PM »

Thanks guys for the help. Ian, could you post what the g-code wold look like for that drawing? Gerry, I am sort of following what you are saying but I am not sure what you mean by " parse through the paths, and put the Y and Z values into arrays.".  But it seems to me that even with the 3 axis's I don't understand how the y and z moves can happen at different points along the x axis. I am trying to figure out what the g-code would even look like. Do you think you could do a couple lines of code showing how it would be.

Thanks again for the help
Tom

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: Could this be done with Mach

« on: August 20, 2011, 01:45:44 PM »

Thanks for the replys, the problem with running 2 tool paths is that with a wood lathe the work piece has to run through a steady rest, so after the 1st cut there will be no stock left on the work piece to be supported by the steady rest and the finish pass will produce a lot of chatter and the finished work will need way too much sanding. Hopefully someone else may have am idea on how to make this work.

Tom

10

General Mach Discussion / Re: Could this be done with Mach

« on: August 20, 2011, 12:44:44 PM »

Thanks DaOne, do you have any suggestions on how I would set up a post, or how I would "graft" the tool paths together, would I have to manually do it? Lets say the delay is 1 second between tools.

Tom