Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Jerking with short segment G-code

« on: June 23, 2011, 10:28:41 PM »

Greetings All,

Sorry to revisit this after a long time but we are having the same problem. I gather from the last post that you are suggesting that for
the short steps the system stops the X and Y axes, turns the A axis ( knife ) and then starts again.  This sounds reasonable except that
I have seen our machine do a 90 degree turn without hesitating ( at high feed rate ). This was a mistake in the G-code but Mach3 handled
it without a problem.  It seems to me there is much more to this.

Could it be possible the small steps are messing with the tangential angle calculations?  I imagine if the resolution of the calculations is poor the
angles calculated could fluctuate a lot. I haven't seen the knif swing wildly back and forth so maybe this isn't the case.

Unfortunately I am trying to diagnose this from a distance as the machine is at my brother's workshop 1700km away.

The system is a cutting table with stepper motors driven through a smoothstepper.  Mach 3 is running in 2.5D mode with tangential steering of the
knife. The Z axis is wired to the spindle on/off output and is driven by pneumatics.

Can anyone offer any insight into this?

Cheers,
mike

2

LazyCam (Beta) / Opening LC in plasma mode

« on: June 23, 2010, 01:42:22 AM »

Hello,

I am using LazyCAM to convert DXF's in plasma mode. I make some mods in LC and save
the project as a .lcam file. If I exit LC and come back to it when I open the .lcam project
is defaults to mill mode. I can work around this by opening dxf in plasma, closing then
opening .lcam file but it is a pain.

Any comments/advice?

mike

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: April 26, 2010, 02:04:02 AM »

Hello All,

Just signed up to the forum. I am using Mach3 with a SmoothStepper retrofit to a 1.5m by 2.6m router where we have replaced
the spindle motor with a steerable knife. Couldn't get the original controller to do what we needed (2.5D plus knife steering) so
tried another system which wasn't up to it. Now very hopeful with a little guidance we can get it to go with this setup.
The application is to cut pre-impregnated carbon fibre 'cloth'.

Cheers,
mike