Messages

1

Feature Requests / Re: HOME should zero the Z axis before the X&Y axis

« on: March 27, 2011, 10:04:56 AM »

Yes, I can confirm that you *do* "HEAR" it!  <grin>

I buy my bits by the 10-pack!

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Z Bar and Scale In The Tool Path Windows

« on: February 18, 2011, 03:25:02 PM »

In my setup there is a small horizontal red line that is overlaid on the vertical scale.

The scale is always 10 divisions as far as I have seen.

The tick-mark moves up and down depending on the z axis settings and sometimes for some z axis values it moves completely off of the screen.

3

General Mach Discussion / Z Bar and Scale In The Tool Path Windows

« on: February 18, 2011, 02:51:05 PM »

I can't find any documentation regarding the parameters for the little Z Bar scale and tick-mark on the right side of the Tool Path window. Can someone either point me at the docs or explain how that works and what it means?

I appears that the Tool Icon moving down  &  up is just whatever the total Z Axis movement is, then scaled to fit the window.

I see that the tick-mark also seems to be placed at various vertical positions against the 10 position scale but I can't figure out how that relates or what it's indicating.

Thanks for any help!

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 under Win7 toolpath display interfere with motor running

« on: February 18, 2011, 11:42:52 AM »

I have recently noticed that if I move my Mouse Pointer around the screen while the machine is running,  I hear "disturbances" in the stepper motor sounds. I expect that it is some sort of interrupt causing this as the Pointer crosses the various buttons on the screen. Running Windows XP . . .

5

Feature Requests / Re: HOME should zero the Z axis before the X&Y axis

« on: February 16, 2011, 12:45:13 PM »

Sounds good. I believe that I *did* have Safe-Z turned on, however perhaps not understanding *what* Safe-Z is meant for, I had it set to not go LOWER than the table. I thought that I was using it to keep the cutter from carving up my nice cast iron but now I understand that it is to set where the Z Axis will go when the stop or Go To Zero buttons are pressed.

Thanks ever so much!

Works just as I envisioned!

6

Feature Requests / HOME should zero the Z axis before the X&Y axis

« on: February 15, 2011, 09:12:57 PM »

I think it might be a good thing to have the Z Axis zero (home) before the X&Y axis move when the Go To Zero button is pressed. It is possible to use the G28.1Z0 followed by G28.1X0Y0 but it would be more convenient if the Go To Zero behaved similarly so the Z tool doesn't try to rip through the work on the way home.

7

Feature Requests / Re: REF ALL HOME - on start-up MACH3

« on: February 15, 2011, 09:08:00 PM »

Regarding the G28.1 you *might* want to write it as

G28.1Z0
G28.1Z0Y0

That way it will retract the Z up to zero *before* trying to move the X & Y axes.