Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Looking for help with setting Z axis downward travel limit

« on: March 18, 2013, 08:08:48 PM »

Thanks TP!

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Looking for help with setting Z axis downward travel limit

« on: March 17, 2013, 10:39:34 AM »

Thanks for the input guys!

Brett, thanks for your patience with my lack of knowledge. I watched the tutorial on Homing last night and learned two things...first is that my table has not been set up properly, and secondly, to do so is simply beyond my current capabilities! I do plan to mess with it again today.

Tweakie, thanks for suggesting this option. Considering my statement above, it may be the way to go.

TP, this looks to me like my best simple option to achieve what I want to do. Would you, or someone explain the steps required?

Thanks to all. I have another question but I'll wait until I get my z axis issue sorted out.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Bob

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Looking for help with setting Z axis downward travel limit

« on: March 16, 2013, 03:42:46 PM »

I think where I'm losing you is referncing the machine...I don't understand what to do to accomplish that.

Bob

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Looking for help with setting Z axis downward travel limit

« on: March 16, 2013, 03:17:22 PM »

Hey Brett,

No luck so far. Before I started with your instructions, I took a photo (attached) of the screen and activated the soft limit switch. It stopped travel up to a limit and stopped but not down. When I tried to enter a z value I get a message saying Machine out of limits for soft limit activation.
I must be missing something and thought the photo might help in identifying my problem.

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Looking for help with setting Z axis downward travel limit

« on: March 14, 2013, 10:54:03 AM »

Thanks Brett...I'll give it a go.

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Looking for help with setting Z axis downward travel limit

« on: March 14, 2013, 10:19:18 AM »

I do have a home switch on the z axis Brett. I set the position of z to various points depending on the piece I am cutting. I hit the Goto switch after each cut. What I am trying to prevent is operator error and what I want to do to set a limit that under any circumstance, won't allow the the spindle to travel down to the point where it will not allow the bit to damage the bed of the machine or for the spindle to travel downward to the point where the bearing block moves beyond the rail causing loss of bearings.

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: Looking for help with setting Z axis downward travel limit

« on: March 13, 2013, 09:11:02 PM »

I don't think so Brett, although I'm a novice and it may be that I'm wrong.

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General Mach Discussion / Looking for help with setting Z axis downward travel limit

« on: March 13, 2013, 08:01:21 PM »

I recently replaced the ball screw on the Z axis of my CNC router. The new one is about 2 inches longer than the original. Now my spindle can move downward to the point the bearing block will run off the rail.
I want to set Mach3 to prevent that. Any help is always appreciated.

9

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: October 28, 2012, 12:48:01 PM »

thank you tweakie!

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Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: October 28, 2012, 11:18:02 AM »

Hi,
I am a retired business person who found I had too much time on my hands. As I have always loved woodworking I found and purchased a small woodworking business that included a cnc router. As I have to be self taught, more or less, because of the person I bought from has passed away, I am hopeful that this site will be of use if needed.
Included with the business was my machine, preloaded with Mach3, toolpaths etc. My biggest fear is that someday my computer will crash and I'll be left with no mach3. I can easily purchase another version but I won't know how to get things up and running again, and hope there may be someone, or a service that can help.