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Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: (CHAD) the Grex Answer Man
« on: January 22, 2007, 12:22:06 PM »
I purchased the mill October of 2005 for $2400.00 from http://www.industrialhobbies.com/.
I used it and became comfortable with its operation (also bracing for the financial shock of purchasing the conversion kit). During that time I stripped the mill down, and per Industrial Hobbies (Aaron Moss) recommendation, I lapped all the ways using successively finer lapping compound to remove the roughness (the mill is Chinese).
I purchased the conversion kit November 2006. The kit included replacement ball screws and nuts. The only thing remaining of the original mill is the chassis, column, slides, table, and gear head.
I have the X and Y axis ball screws installed. The retrofitted Z-axis slide returns from Industrial Hobbies tomorrow. Aaron modifies the original lead screw mount to accept a ballnut and cleaning brush. I should have that axis completed within the week.
There was no choice about replacing the lead screws. Lash in the existing screws was several thousands of an inch. The ball screws/ball nuts that I have in hand have no measurable lash.(at least not with the tools that I have). The X and Y axes have dual preloaded ball nuts, the Z-axis is a double circuit.
I went on the web looking at your Enco mill. Its a clean looking machine. Have you built a table for it? What type of drive system does it have?
In keeping with the theme of this thread, here are comments related to the G-Rex and Mach3
I've been practicing with Mach3/G100 plugin and the G-Rex trying to break one or both. The ethenet connection is fast and convenient.
I've taken to poking at the G-Rex with the two computers that I have on the network to see if I can trip it up. So far the G-Rex nor Mach3 have made a mistake in control. G-Rex control is easily passed back and forth between the computers by merely going to the plugin screen and restarting.
G-Rex documentation is lacking, so I've started some of my own. It's in Microsoft Word format. I plagiarize the Gecko documentation some, but I've added findings and some assumptions based on my experiments. I'd like to get inputs from other users and distill it to a useful manual aimed at Mach3.
I used it and became comfortable with its operation (also bracing for the financial shock of purchasing the conversion kit). During that time I stripped the mill down, and per Industrial Hobbies (Aaron Moss) recommendation, I lapped all the ways using successively finer lapping compound to remove the roughness (the mill is Chinese).
I purchased the conversion kit November 2006. The kit included replacement ball screws and nuts. The only thing remaining of the original mill is the chassis, column, slides, table, and gear head.
I have the X and Y axis ball screws installed. The retrofitted Z-axis slide returns from Industrial Hobbies tomorrow. Aaron modifies the original lead screw mount to accept a ballnut and cleaning brush. I should have that axis completed within the week.
There was no choice about replacing the lead screws. Lash in the existing screws was several thousands of an inch. The ball screws/ball nuts that I have in hand have no measurable lash.(at least not with the tools that I have). The X and Y axes have dual preloaded ball nuts, the Z-axis is a double circuit.
I went on the web looking at your Enco mill. Its a clean looking machine. Have you built a table for it? What type of drive system does it have?
In keeping with the theme of this thread, here are comments related to the G-Rex and Mach3
I've been practicing with Mach3/G100 plugin and the G-Rex trying to break one or both. The ethenet connection is fast and convenient.
I've taken to poking at the G-Rex with the two computers that I have on the network to see if I can trip it up. So far the G-Rex nor Mach3 have made a mistake in control. G-Rex control is easily passed back and forth between the computers by merely going to the plugin screen and restarting.
G-Rex documentation is lacking, so I've started some of my own. It's in Microsoft Word format. I plagiarize the Gecko documentation some, but I've added findings and some assumptions based on my experiments. I'd like to get inputs from other users and distill it to a useful manual aimed at Mach3.