Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 shuts W7 Down on Startup.

« on: December 29, 2022, 06:34:07 PM »

Well my old WinXP has eventually died so I had little option than to upgrade to something with a little more acumen and even though W7 is also obsolete it is fast enough for my needs.

The problem I'm having is that as soon as I have installed Mach3 ver 3.043 and opened it up it causes a system error and reboots the PC.

I'm thinking it could perhaps be the Parallel port driver. I'm still waiting for the new LPT Card to arrive by Royal Snail so at the minute it doesn't have one.   

Any ideas anyone?

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Some Advice please on new Spindle Motor and VFD

« on: January 24, 2016, 11:24:23 AM »

Yes, and it works really well. I had to change my Spindle Motor Break-Out Board (BOB) away form PWM to one which works with Step/Dir Control I'm not in my Man-Cave at the minute but I think it was made in the the UK. Someone on this forum recommended it as a very good alternative to the Chinese Cr@p I was trying to use. Extremely helpful people with excellent after sales service.

Once it was set up and supplied with a decent supply of motor coolant it works very well indeed.

If you cannot find out who the BOB "builder" was, get back to me and I go and get my notebooks out.

Good Luck

Keith

  

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 Configuration Help Needed - Maryland, USA - dip switch settings, pins etc

« on: April 22, 2015, 04:06:47 AM »

Here is a link to an excellent XML reader on this forum.

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,9561.0.html

Just a thought, but 7 is a flavour of Vista and may need the registry patches.

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 Configuration Help Needed - Maryland, USA - dip switch settings, pins etc

« on: April 22, 2015, 03:56:48 AM »

For my two penneth, I would try to recover the XML file from the now dead PC. Sometimes it is easier to do than it is even for a non technical person. With the XML file you can interogate it with an editor and establish the settings. If that is not possible, start at the beginning as a new system with a parallel port check tool (I have one it is called GetPortAddress, it should be in the Mach3 root directory) Then steadily work through it.

Hope this helps 

Keith

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Feeds and Speeds Milling Aluminium

« on: April 06, 2015, 08:43:50 AM »

Thank you all ever so much for all your help and advice - I know I can be a bit of a pain in the ASS at times especially with questions which have probably been asked a thousand times before, but as an old novice to CNC Milling I find I am learning all the time.

I have put off the job of trying to mill this crap grade aluminium until I first upgrade this rubbish Spindle Motor with something with a little bit of umph and controllability, and secondly when the two flute mills arrive and I can lay my hands on some decent 6061/63 T6 grade aluminium.

Once again thank you to all.

BTW Rich, I already have this Mill Chart - have a bit of a problem understanding it as my knowledge base is still a bit restricted but I am trying !!

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Some Advice please on new Spindle Motor and VFD

« on: April 06, 2015, 06:28:46 AM »

Thanks Lazy Bee, I know my German is a little rusty having lived in Duisburg for 4 years in the 1960's, but I don't seem to be able to find anything pertinent to my enquiry.

As a general caveat but a kind, well-meaning reference to your information it may be quite wise to advise the website owner or author to install the Google Translate application on the site, it is a free service.  I can imagine that there are probably quite a few people who would benefit from the information on this site, but are put off or misled by the language barrier.   

7

General Mach Discussion / Some Advice please on new Spindle Motor and VFD

« on: April 05, 2015, 05:24:44 PM »

I am now finding my CNC skills, learning and ability to make what I want is being hindered by my Spindle Motor setup which I never really managed to get running properly with the Mach3 PWM and ended up running my Mill Spindle with an external Pot hanging out of the controller.

Anyway, the limitations of having this thing revving its nuts off at 10,000 revs max, it’s time to move on only this time I want as much advice as possible before I throw more cash out the window.

I’m looking at a water cooled 800W Spindle Motor and a 1.5Kw VFD on FleaBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/0-8KW-WATER-COOLED-SPINDLE-MOTOR-1-5KW-VFD-MILL-GRIND-GERMANY-BEARING-VARIABLE-/250959558703?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3a6e5af82f

Some of the questions I have are:
1.   I don’t seem to be able to find any way to interface this into Mach3 other than a straightforward On/Off

2.   Looking at the termination panel image I think it looks like I could use a Charge Pump Circuit from the PWM output on Pin but I’m not too sure.

3.   Is it possible to control the Motor Speed with Mach3?

4.   Where does the water bit come into the equation, How does the water circulate?
 
5.   Do I need a circulating pump and a cooler setup?
 
6.   The run-out claim of 5 microns seems a bit farfetched – what can I expect the run-out to be?

 Has anyone bought one of these and what are the pitfalls?

Can anyone give me a thumbs up on this please.

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Convert a router bed to a 3D printer?

« on: April 05, 2015, 04:01:17 PM »

Hi, I have 2 3D Printers which I consider myself to be more knowledgeable with them than my CNC Mill.

3D Printers, although following the same motion principles as a CNC Mill is a different beastie’s altogether.

I stand to be corrected but although both 3D Printing and CNC Milling uses the same code family (Gerber G-Code) they are two completely different flavours.
You will need to control both Hotbed and Extruder temperatures infinitely. Temperature control is a critical element to the printing process.

For my money I would purchase a Controller Board from Fleabay (circa 40 quid) a heated Bed plate and a half decent Extruder. And using a GNU public licenced software package like ReplicatorG (Free !!) you should be on your way.  – Good Luck!

as an additional thought, there are plans and drawings dotting about on the web which will give you some insights into building a DIY Printer, some are a bit Heath-Robinson but one or two are quite well designed.

Keith

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: Feeds and Speeds Milling Aluminium

« on: April 04, 2015, 05:32:28 PM »

Thanks for the reply, really appreciated. I am busy trying to source some decent grade aluminium sheet.

I used to have some aircraft grade; I think it was called ‘Dural’ but as usual, I gave it away. That was brilliant to work with, cut like sheet steel not like this soft crappy stuff I have now. 

10

General Mach Discussion / Feeds and Speeds Milling Aluminium

« on: April 04, 2015, 08:05:52 AM »

I’m back again with my favourite stumbling hurdle. I had a very intricate job to Mill in 1.5mm Aluminium sheet. The job is quite small about 120mm x 60mm with quite a few holes and shapes.

I first tried using an 800 Feed Rate and 6,000 RPM with a 4 Flute 3mm End Mill, but it appeared to be labouring the Spindle Motor. I then changed the Feed to 400 and the Spindle Speed to 8,000 RPM.

It appeared to prefer the slower Feed Rate cutting 2/3 of the job but then it seemed to snarl-up  and then my End Mill shattered.

My questions are, am I using the wrong Feed Rate, Spindle Speed, Mill Tool  or is it because I am using too cheap a grade aluminium  

As always, any help would be appreciated.