Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / External noise causeing mach 3 to estop

« on: June 10, 2023, 01:49:55 PM »

Hello all,

I have a new issue and id like to hear your thoughts. Every time I press the motor stop button on my mill it causes mach3 to go into estop mode. there is no connection what so ever between the mill spindle and mach3, in fact, if I use my shop vac and then turn it off while in the middle of a cut, it will throw mach3 into estop mode! Apparrently the new motion card is getting spikes every time a power switch is turned off! Has anyone tried using a usb isolator to prevent this from happeneing?

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can someone give me a hand?

« on: June 10, 2023, 01:41:52 PM »

UPDATE:

My undersized pockets issues are fixed. I replaced the motion card with a new one which solved my runaway jogging issues. I chnged my gcode to take less aggrssive cuts and slowed down my feed rates and that got me within 0.002" tollerance. Apperently the fast heavy cuts was causeing too much deflection possibly. I also greased my ways and ball screws with PTFE Super Lube and it made a big difference belive it or not. I was using bar/chain lube and it didnt seem to work at all. I kept feeling vibration in the table at a certian spot when jogging. After lubing the ball scews and all the ways, its as smooth as silk the full length of travel.

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: MPG movement erratic

« on: June 01, 2023, 06:15:23 AM »

I had that same card and mine gave me issues. I'm not saying your card is bad but I don't trust that type. My guess is something on that board is f' ing up your output signals or... you have a defective handheld unit. Doubtful its mach software and the motors seem to work fine without the mpg. Its something between mach3 and your motors.  Is my guess. Might need to bite the bullet and invest in another card to try to narrow down your problem. That's what I ended up doing.

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can someone give me a hand?

« on: May 31, 2023, 07:32:15 PM »

Thanks for the gcode. I tried the code you provided and I noticed it used both conventional as well as climb to cut the pocket. Well unfortunately the results were the same. It's still off by approx .008" at this point, which IS better than I was getting before with 0.100" undersize. It turns out it's not the code. I bought a new motion card, and the first thing I noticed with the new card was the the "thumping" I was getting every full rotation of the stepper motor, that is now gone. No more thumping. Second issue I had with the old card, was "runaway jogging" of the motors. Mach3 would jog to infinity until I removed the usb cable. For now that seems to have gone away also. Fingers crossed.

I have only calibrated the x/y using a ruler. I may be able to shave down that .008" shortcoming to .003" if I calibrate the x/y using a dial indicator.

Again, thanks for your help. Running this test help verify its not code related.

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can someone give me a hand?

« on: May 30, 2023, 09:23:14 AM »

Yes I have ball screws, and yes I have backlash turned on for 0.001" which I wouldn't think would be enough to yield a 0.1" undersized pocket. I even tried yesterday to lower my steps per rev from 1600 down to 200 to see what would happen and still, I get the same undersized round pockets. The strange thing is that when rechecking the motor calibration, it travels 9" spot on in both directions for the x and 4" in both directions for the y. Only when I'm cutting a round or square pocket do I get this annoying abnormality.

I ordered another controller card expected to be delivered today to see if maybe there is something off with the motion card. Because in addition to this issue, there were several times when I was jogging and mach3 got stuck in jog mode and would send pulses until the motors crashed. The Mach3 DRO was still continuing to send pulses even after the motors faulted. The only way to stop this runaway jogging was to unplug the motion card USB cable. Crazy huh?

Thanks for your response. It is very much appreciated.

6

General Mach Discussion / Can someone give me a hand?

« on: May 29, 2023, 05:27:07 PM »

Can someone run my simple gcode to see if they can get a 1 inch round pocket within +/- 0.002"?
I can't get anything better than 0.980"

I used the mach3-inch post processor to generate this gcode.

Tool used was a flat endmill 0.25"

If someone can try this out on some scrap and let me know the results that would be very helpful and great. Thanks.

Code: [Select]

G00 G49 G40.1 G17 G80 G50 G90
G20
(2 1/2 Axis Pocketing)
M6 T1
M03 S2400
G00 Z0.1250
X-0.0089 Y-0.0607
G01 Z0.0500  F25.0
Z0.0250  F10.0
X-0.0239 Y-0.0577 Z0.0223  F2.7
X-0.0442 Y-0.0442 Z0.0180
X-0.0577 Y-0.0239 Z0.0137
X-0.0625 Y0.0000 Z0.0094
X-0.0577 Y0.0239 Z0.0051
X-0.0442 Y0.0442 Z0.0008
X-0.0239 Y0.0577 Z-0.0035
X0.0000 Y0.0625 Z-0.0078
X0.0239 Y0.0577 Z-0.0121
X0.0442 Y0.0442 Z-0.0164
X0.0577 Y0.0239 Z-0.0207
X0.0625 Y0.0000 Z-0.0250
G17
G02X-0.0625I-0.0625J0.0000 F15.0
X0.0625I0.0625J0.0000
G01 X0.1250
G03X-0.1250I-0.1250J0.0000
X0.1250I0.1250J0.0000
G01 X0.1875
G02X-0.1875I-0.1875J0.0000
X0.1875I0.1875J0.0000
G01 X0.2500
G03X-0.2500I-0.2500J0.0000
X0.2500I0.2500J0.0000
G01 X0.3125
G02X-0.3125I-0.3125J0.0000
X0.3125I0.3125J0.0000
G01 X0.3750
G03X-0.3750I-0.3750J0.0000
X0.3750I0.3750J0.0000
G01 X0.3529 Y-0.0383 Z0.0192  F2.7
Z0.0442  F25.0
G00 Z0.1250
M5 M9
M30

7

General Mach Discussion / motors are calibrated yet mach3 not cutting 1" x 1" pocket

« on: May 27, 2023, 09:44:51 AM »

I have PM25mv with Arizona cnc conversion kit
im using windows 10
i7 laptop
mach3 demo latest version
stepperonline 566 ozin closed loop stepper 4.0 driver for x and y
stepperonline 1699 ozin closed loop stepper 4.0 driver for the z
amazon no name brand usb controller

Hello guys, I need all the help I can get.

My issue:

I calibrated the x and y to travel 5" and its spot on in both directions for both x and y. When I cut a round pocket it is Undersized by 0.120" I tried calibrating the motors to give me 1" accurate holes, but when I retest the motor calibration and instruct it to move 5", it travels to far, like 5.25" bad controller board? a setting? the Z axis is the only one that is accurate.

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motion controllers - Take me to school

« on: September 09, 2017, 05:58:28 PM »

Hi Mike,
whether you use ordinary steppers, closed loop steppers or servos is not that important, any of these devices can do the job.

If ger21 is correct that your lead screws are 1/4 diameter then the speed at which you can rotate them before resonance is limited,
additionally they will flex torsionally for a loss of accuracy and if you up the torque the problem gets worse.

Look at your machine and see if you cant replace those lead screws with, ideally ground ball screws (really really expensive),or
rolled screws. Ebay has zillions of them, go for 16mm ones if you can get them to fit. They typically have a pitch of 4,5 or 6mm
so to spin them at 1000 rpm means rapids of 4m, 5m or 6m per minute, very useful.

If it proves impossible to replace your existing lead screws then significantly increasing the speed of your machine will be limited.
Under those circumstances better specified but otherwise standard steppers with decent drivers and a 68V+ power supply would easily
provide an increase in speed up to the resonance limit of the machine whilst conserving you budget. You could certainly achieve similar
results with servos say, they would cost a lot more and you will still only be able to turn up the wick to the limit imposed by the
mechanics of your machine not the capability of the servos.

Craig

Thanks very much for the information. Yes, I never intended to go full bore with the servos because of the limitations of the machine. I only wanted to be able to have quiet motors that can swiftly do rapids (within limitations of the machine of course) without loosing steps. I think after all the input from everyone, steppers are going to be the best option in this case. I guess I will just have to endure the "wrrreeeeerrrr" noise and settle for steppers. I really don't want to go so far as to replace ball screws. Id would then consider a different machine in that case which already has ball screws like the X2 or something like that. it was my thinking that if I am going to spend close to a grand in new steppers, driver boards, and a BOB, it was worth looking into servos for a bit more money and take advantage of more speed and quiet operation. Apparently the design of my machine simply will not allow any justifiable benefit from using servos. So I have decided to do nothing and just keep my mill the way it is. For everyone who was patient enough to put up with me, I really appreciate the knowledge that was shared.

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motion controllers - Take me to school

« on: September 09, 2017, 05:21:23 PM »

"Whats your opinion on closed loop steppers?"

Teacher responds:

That is a very good question Grasshopper, but, since you didn't do the homework ( reply #36) like all the other students did, go sit in the corner of the cave with your candle and envision $400 + for one ball screw, the whipping of the existing screw at 30 ipm, not being able to hold tolerances because the existing wimpy screw may have  antibacklash nuts that need constant adjustment.

Now go sit in the corner and think about it all....and remember Grasshopper:

You can have anything off the shelf your heart desires but once you choose it
you must pay for it. Some times that which one envisioins may not be a complete truth. 

 
RICH

But but but.... Ok, ill go sit in the corner.

10

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motion controllers - Take me to school

« on: September 09, 2017, 12:45:10 PM »

Hey guys,

The "threaded" lead screws are 1/4-20.........

Check out  how expensive good small accurate ball screws are!

So I echo #5 from my post:
Is the current machine ( basic and all components) acceptable to do 1. to 4. above as is, with with steppers, with servos?

But #5 is useless without defining the first four steps.

RICH 

Ding Ding! Schools in! I'm at my desk teacher Richy!

Shoots hand up in the air:

"Whats your opinion on closed loop steppers?"