Messages

1

Competitions / Re: ******Guess and win a G100 Grex******

« on: May 22, 2007, 11:50:41 AM »

I would like to note for the group that listing prime numbers is probably going to be incorrect.  Just a thought.

2,419,200

Size of material, number of flutes, number of passes, etc...

:-)

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Edge Finder Dia offsets wrong direction and Sherline Y axis measurements

« on: May 17, 2007, 09:47:29 PM »

I GOT IT!!!

I was actually clicking on the picture of the end-mill instead of the "Select" buttons.

My guess is that the end-mill photographs have to do with moving away from the origin, which is why X was increased and Y was decreased...

I think I get it now.

Thank you for spending time to read this and trying to help.  As a note, the negative entry for the diameter has no effect.  It appears that the software uses the absolute value of the edge finder diameter.

Again, Thank you,
Paul Fowler

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Edge Finder Dia offsets wrong direction and Sherline Y axis measurements

« on: May 17, 2007, 02:52:08 PM »

Interesting concept...

I don't know, I will try a negative diameter as soon as I get home in a few hours and let you know. 

:-)

Fowler

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Edge Finder Dia offsets wrong direction and Sherline Y axis measurements

« on: May 17, 2007, 12:34:04 PM »

Thank you, I think that helps.  If I read that post correctly, then my end mill is properly moving in the Y direction away from me and Sherline simply has their scale on their machine backwards from a CNC perspective. 

I am not screwed up, but Sherline is.  I still find that hard to believe. 

I am still not able to figure out why the edge finder dia offset is causing the Y axis to compensate towards me which would be a negative move in the Y direction.  I have been touching my "work" on the top, left side, and the side closest to me.  I do that because the origin (0,0,0) is hypothetically on the top (Z), left side(X), and side losest to me(Y).

Somewhere, as a newbie, I am wrong.  I just need someone to slap the side of my head or I simply need to experiment even more.

Fowler

5

General Mach Discussion / Edge Finder Dia offsets wrong direction and Sherline Y axis measurements

« on: May 17, 2007, 11:45:09 AM »

I apologize, but I have misconfigured my Mach3 and searches through the forums, etc are not helping.

On my Y axis, once I enter the Edge Finder Dia, move my tool to the side of the work, and select the edge, the offset from the tool is applied in the wrong direction.  My 0 gets moved farther away from the work.

My first thought was that I was selecting the wrong edge in the offsets screen, but both edges apply the offset in the same wrong direction, or am I becomming senile?  To fix this, I have been entering G01 Y1.25 and zero Y again.  It hasn't caused a problem except for annoyance.

A final question:  I am new to CNC milling but I would have expected the scale on my Y axis of the sherline mill to match Mach 3 machine coordinates for Y.  Instead, it is reversed.  As the end mill moves in the +Y direction (which as I look at the mill means the end mill is moving away from me) for Mach3, my Sherline mill scale moves in the -Y direction.  It is only an annoyance, but it means that I have to home my Y axis at 7" instead of 0".  Am I completely reversed somewhere?  Am I looking at my milling machine sideways or something?  I can't imagine I am doing this correctly.

My X axis is working as expected for both edge finder dia and the movement of the endmill in the X direction matching the scale on the X axis.

Thoughts?  And thank you,
Fowler

6

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

« on: May 17, 2007, 10:22:15 AM »

Hello all,

My name is Paul Fowler and I live in Albany, NY.  My primary occupation is "Senior Architect Consultant" for large IT shops.  I have been there and done that with regards to software and large software projects...

I have two little girls (ages 4 and 6) and a lovely wife and I have recently wanted to start actually developing things that I could touch and feel.  In particular, I want to make things (games) for my wife and family.  Why buy a board game when I can make a 3-D game which has input from the whole family?

So, I just purchased a sherline lathe and mill package (I know it generally makes hobby / smaller items), I setup Mach3, and I put together a fairly impressive package of free software related to 3D Scanning / Mesh correction / Drawing / CAD / CAM / File Conversions / Calculations / CNC Simulations / and of course, Mach 3.

I went to scrap yards and found good aluminum, purchased some good end-mills and engravers from harvey tools, and spent the last month experimenting with the Mill.  I am loving it and my wife is seemingly very impressed with the results.  I just made one little girl a neclace charm and the other a sign for her bed out of a jpeg that she drew...  Cool ?

I will be around these forums for a while.

Fowler