Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Tool changer motor overheating

« on: April 23, 2015, 07:26:06 PM »

Hi guys,

First off, I screwed up. When things started to turn brown I had set active low on outputs 2 and 5 to off. So I'm not
sure why anything was working at all. I reset those outputs to active low, and the tool post would start to move, but
never complete the change. I cannot explain it, it's very frustrating.

That said, I played with the dwell values, and now have the G4 values after the "ActivateSignal" for 2 and 5 set to P1.

The tool changer is now working as it should. With the stethoscope I can hear the motor continue to run for about
half a second after the tool post locks down, then it goes silent.

Sterling and Terry, your thoughts have been invaluable in helping me to track this problem down. I'm quite disappointed
in the support Syil gave me.

I'll be heeding your advice and looking to replace the G4's with Sleeps. Oh, Sterling, "G4 Dwells in ms" is not ticked.

I don't know if it's dark logic, black magic or bad juju, but it was driving me nuts.

Thanks again for your help and thoughts, if you have any further ideas please don't hesitate to put them forward.

Best regards
Mark

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Tool changer motor overheating

« on: April 22, 2015, 07:42:34 AM »

Hi Sterling,

Yes, it does. I had run a part as a test of the Smoothstepper and only noticed the hot motor when
I went to brush some swarf away, after the part had run.

I've done a bit more research and I'm going to play with the G4 pauses to see if they need tweaking,
that will have to wait until after work tomorrow though.

Regards
Mark

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Tool changer motor overheating

« on: April 22, 2015, 05:45:22 AM »

Hi Sterling,

Thanks for taking a look.

The macro was supplied by Syil, the manufacturer, so far their suggestions
have been to remove the Smoothstepper, or talk to Jeff at Soigeneris. I've
written to Jeff and he suggested removing the part that looks like corruption.
This didn't work.

Here's my (limited) understanding of the way the macro works.

Outputs 3 and 4 are used to determine the location of each tool on the tool changer.

Case 1 off-off
Case 2 on-off
Case 3 off-on
Case 4 on-on

I have to assume output 2 runs the tool changer motor forward. This raised the tool post,
then rotates it on a ratchet to just past the selected tool position. Output 5 reverses
the motor, rotating the tool post back against a pawl, then the tool post lowers to it's
locked position.

Outputs 5 and 2 are then supposed to turn off.

My testing seems to indicate the motor is continuing to run. While it doesn't have enough
power to break anything, it is generating a large amount of heat.

As I suggested earlier, it looks like the deactivatesignal(output5)and deactivatesignal(output2)
lines are being missed.

Jeff also suggested that noise may be causing some problems. I tried a few small values in the
Smoothstepper config, without success. I then tried 100, a value I'm led to believe is way more
than should be required for the Smoothstepper, also without success.

If you have any suggestions I'm willing to try just about anything.

Again, thanks for your time.


Best regards
Mark

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Tool changer motor overheating

« on: April 21, 2015, 05:27:51 AM »

Hi Hood,

Thanks for you thoughts.

It looks like the motor is DC , and drives forward, raising the tool post and rotating it past a pawl, The
motor then reverses, catches the pawl, and locks the tool post down.

I know I didn't go anywhere near any dip switches when I installed the smooth stepper.

I suspect these lines in the M6Start macro are being missed somehow...

deactivatesignal(output5)
deactivatesignal(output2)

I have attached the macro file if you wanna have a look. The bit that looks like corruption was in the file when
I received it, and had worked file while using the parallel port. Removing it didn't fix the issue.


Best regards
Mark

P.S. I had to add the "_Mark", as I got a  message saying the file name already existed

5

General Mach Discussion / Tool changer motor overheating

« on: April 19, 2015, 02:01:38 AM »

Hi there,


I have a Syil AEX250 CNC lathe that I have been running for a couple of years now with only
minor, easily fixed, issues.

Running Mach3 R3.043.066, licensed. The computer CPU is 3.40Ghz, with 2Gb ram.

Yesterday I installed an Ethernet Smooth Stepper, and jumped through all the hoops to get that
up and running, I'm very happy with it so far.

1 problem I have not been able to fix is the tool changer motor now overheats. Yesterday, when I
discovered the problem, I measured the motor case at 98 degrees C. Until yesterday the motor never
even got warm.

Today I was able to listen to the motor with a probe stethoscope, I found that there was no noise from
the motor until I made the first tool change, after that the motor continued to hum and began to heat up.

I went into "ports & Pins", "Input Signals" and turned off Active Low on Input #1, which is set to port 1 pin 15.
When this was applied the motor stopped humming. Turning on Active Low and doing another tool change
caused the motor to continue to hum after the tool change was complete.

Jeff, from Soigeneris, has suggested that the motor is not being turned off after the rotation and lock down
of the tool post. My testing above would seem to confirm this.

I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction to solve this problem. If posting any files will help please
let me know which ones you need.


Best regards
Mark

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 setup and threading help needed please

« on: February 17, 2013, 07:32:29 PM »

Many thanks for your help Hood.

Going back to 057 has solved the problem, and my test threads are not
too bad for my first attempts.

Thanks again

Best regards
Mark

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 setup and threading help needed please

« on: February 17, 2013, 04:50:17 AM »

It sure is frustrating. There are no other error messages at all.

I'll give 057 a go tomorrow morning and see how I get on.

Thanks mate
Mark

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 setup and threading help needed please

« on: February 17, 2013, 04:00:33 AM »

Thanks again Hood.

I've measured the spindle with a tach, it is within a rev or 2 of the "true" rpm, so in
this case it's very close to 89-90rpm.

I haven't turned diagnostics on, but after doing a little more research earlier I found
the thread diagnostics on the diag screen. I watched the trigger and threading LED's.
In all my tests the "wait for trigger" lit up until the index pulse was seen, then it went out
and the "threading" LED illuminated. After that nothing happened.

I'm quite happy to try an earlier version. With so many available for download which one
would you recommend?

Thanks again.
Mark

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 setup and threading help needed please

« on: February 16, 2013, 09:38:10 PM »

Thanks for that Hood, and thanks for looking at my config.

I've tried "0" and "1" for index debounce, it has had no effect with regard to my threading problems. I have
increased the velocity of the Z axis to near it's maximum speed, thinking that might be the problem. It hasn't
helped either.

I looked at the axis velocity after checking the lasterror file, and found this...

Sun - 13:17:39 --- Threading Calc:  Vel (IPM): 134.0278 Actual Calc Pitch: 1.5000 Spindle: 89.3519
Sun - 13:17:39 --- Last Reported Thread run values.....
Sun - 13:17:39 ---Spindle Lock: 0 , Total Ints: 0, Total Spindle Ints: 0, Error: 0, Adder: 0 LastRot: 0
LastRot: 0

I have set everything I can find to mm, so not sure where to go now.

I have attached the (slightly modified) file generated by the wizard. If anyone can see what's going wrong
I'd appreciate it.

Best regards
Mark

10

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 setup and threading help needed please

« on: February 15, 2013, 10:02:23 PM »

Hi there,

I have a Syil AEX 250 CNC lathe that I'm trying to get up and running with mach3.

I've managed to overcome most of the early problems, mainly caused by a lack of
support from the manufacturer, as well as the retailer. The fact that the .xml file
they supplied had quite a few errors in it didn't help at all.

At lower speeds, around 500rpm, the true spindle speed is pretty accurate, which I
believe is required for threading. Higher speeds, above around 1200, it's not quite so
good, but I don't intend to thread at those speeds anyway.

I've tried using the wizard to generate code for threading, and the code runs fine
until it hits the G76, then axis and DRO movement stops. I've also tried typing
"G32 Z-25 F1.5" in the MDI, with the same result above.

I'm a little suspicious of the index settings, and the sensor itself, although the speed
detection seems to be ok. The diagnostic screen shows pulses, all of them if I turn
the spindle by hand, but seems to miss some when turning at speed.

I've attached my .xml file should anyone want to have a look, and if anything needs
changing I'd appreciate the info.

Mach3 version is R3.043.066, licensed. The computer CPU is 3.40Ghz, with 2Gb ram.

Thanks in advance for any advice.


Best regards
Mark