Messages

1

Finished Plugins for Download / Re: A new Huanyang VFD plugin

« on: August 26, 2015, 03:03:18 PM »

Thanx NosmoKing

However when I click on the link you provided it just opens up a page of Siemens documentation, long long list of them, which one is the one that you are referring to?

Thanx again

I have in the mean time installed galvanized steel plate conduits where I could and ran all the signal carrying screened wires in these as far as it is physically possible, also intend to try the same with all the power cabling but in separate channeling.

Can one actually overdo noise filtering? Reason I am asking is that I saw some YouTube clip where the bloke illustrates the effect of ferrite clips on the signal and I am just concerned that by adding to much of them or looping wires through them too many times that I might hamper the frequency range and or strength and thus not delivering the required Hz to the spindle and you know what that means, the stuff that makes all electronics work, starts coming out, ....... yes SMOKE!!!!

2

Finished Plugins for Download / Re: A new Huanyang VFD plugin

« on: August 24, 2015, 08:09:44 AM »

PS whilst on the subject, do i understand earthing and grounding correct to say:

1. I need to ground my CNC frame (aluminum in construction) to the case were my stepper drivers/controllers, power supply, relays etc is?
2. Ground my spindle's body with an additional ground wire to the VFD's Earth?
3. ground the shielding of the spindle's wires at the VFD's ground and not ground that at the spindle?
4. What about my DC common wires? Wires that are 5v 12v and 48v respectively coming from my BOB, stepper drivers/controllers, the 2 channel relays etc etc, do I ground these to the frame of the metal case where they are residing and to the metal casing of the PC some distance away and to the Earth ground of the incoming 220v AC?

I have brought all my DC commons to the 3 "COM" slots on the multi output power supply not sure if a ground wire from the CNC frame should be connected to these or to the following where I have brought the shielding of almost all the shielded cable to a separate common "bus bar" that is only grounded to the metal casing of the controller etc box?


nuts .......................... i tell you

3

Finished Plugins for Download / Re: A new Huanyang VFD plugin

« on: August 24, 2015, 07:55:56 AM »

THX NosmoKing

Sorted the issue by installing the downloaded VC++, UI (User Input) fault by default 

Anyhow, only realised that I skipped that when i started reading the comments on Sebastien's website.

I do have a serious problem thou (suspect it might be noise or my remedies for that) as the spindle speed is fine when running it without the spindle actually connected, both Mach DRO and VFD displays are sync'ed, Mach slightly slower and slightly more variable than the VFD's readin, but that's fine. However when I connect the spindle and hit "spindle cw" on Mach, it slowly creeps up to the minimum revs (7200) but does not even reach that before becomming very hot and triggering what can be best described as a current overload as it trips the multi-outlet plug's overlaod protecion switch.

I will 1st try and have a proper look at the configs of the VFD's PD's and the appliction of the ferrite clips I have all-over the show, including the grounding and earthing of everything as mentioned on so many places on the net. I do suspect it might be the latter as, when i do start the spindle (with or without it being physically connected) my keyboard stops functioning and becomes unrecognizable by the PC, sometimes the mouse also seems to lose connection, but as soon as I hit the "spindle cw" button on my Mach screen, all returns to normal wrt to the keyboard, well most of the times, as at times i need to 1st do "reset" and then pressing it again, reconnects the keyboard communication.


Very frustrating to say the least, and sort of at a point (just over a year down the line now) of giving up now, really !

4

Finished Plugins for Download / Re: A new Huanyang VFD plugin

« on: August 20, 2015, 03:40:19 AM »

I suppose i "Thumbs UP" would be in order for the work Sebastien has done for these specific spindles, however, i version I could download ver. 1.7.1 does not even get loaded by Mach 3 ver 3.063 something (it's the latest one).

I follwoed the instructions on his site to the letter, however, after pasting the .dll file into Mach's Plugin folder, i start Mach3 up and immediately get an error message stating "Defective plug-in found......" then at the next click of the mouse i get a second error message virtually stating the same with the addition at the end ".... ignoreing plugin" and then Mach starts up.

I have tried contacting Sebastien on his mail addy, tried downloading previous versions, even downloaded fresh copies, saved them on different flash-drives in various stages of compression, unzipped, zipped etc etc etc but the message stays the same.

I gather it's not a Mach issue unless, the VFD pluging was not updated to fucntion with the latest version of Mach3, so the question is, does anybody have a fucntional copy of the pluging that would be kind enough to forward it to me via email?

If so please send me a PM, if not and you know of a different download location with a file that might not be "defective" please direct me?

Thanx so much in advance!!!

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: A HUGE THANK YOU is in order !!!

« on: June 16, 2015, 04:23:33 PM »

Perhaps soon I should post some pics of the fruits of "their" labour, putty I did not keep a photo diary of the evolutionary stages of my machine, that would have showed al the advice and the help they gave me! Nonetheless, the finished product should, hopefully, be enough to be a pat on back for them!

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: A HUGE THANK YOU is in order !!!

« on: June 16, 2015, 04:21:03 PM »

Pleasure, I just felt that it truly was required to thank them, again they've showed a lot of patience with a total noob and did not fix the problems per say, but stirred my grey matter enough and as mentioned gave me nudges where needed (always) in the right direction. 

I am on various forums for most of my obsessions, yes I have quite a few, and what I have always found is that guys like Hood and Tweakie are the core of great learning from those in the know and are paramount to any successful forum. I make it a point to thank these kind of people, cause even though they don't know me from a bar of soap, they were very willing to assist and help and for that, my humble gratitude has to be expressed towards them!

Thanx again guys!

7

General Mach Discussion / A HUGE THANK YOU is in order !!!

« on: June 15, 2015, 04:39:36 PM »

Just wanna thank 2 gentlemen here on this forum.

Now I can go on and on about the friendly direction and at least a bump (wasn't kicked) in the right direction. These two blokes in particular helped me more than they realize and finally tonight for the first time in almost two years (since I started building my machine) can I say "IT's WORKING" and working great!! yes I still might need to tweak some small thingy here and there, i.e. flooding not directed at the tip of the mill-bit, but it's no biggy and perhaps just fine tune my  spindle speed/rev counter but other than that the rest is all done.

Got a cross-hair laser, accurate to within .0015 mm
Got "BIG TEX's" tool setter blue screen, what a piece of ART that is, works like you will not believe, just SUPER, no hassles, no overrun's, no breaking bits, no stressing about tool changes and so forth and so forth, Thanx BIG Tex !!

Now, the initial two Gents I want to thank is HOOD and TWEAKIE!!

THANX Guys, thanx for all the advise, the nudges in the right direction the patience you guys showed a Noob like me, you saved me from ending up in some asylum !!!

Thumbs up to the both of you, keep at it, even though it seems your advice and assistance is not appreciated at times, know this I APPRECIATE IT more than I can say.

SO THANK YOU VERY VERY SINCERELY AND VERY VERY MUCH !!!!!

LGF

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: abnormal condition exact stop vs cu mode

« on: April 23, 2015, 12:37:00 PM »

Guys

Kay so most of the issues on my machine was sorted, but because it's named "Evo1.Infinity" she' now slightly dead. Yes I had to fiddle with it. Here's what happened:

I got a VB script from the net for use with the "auto tool zero" button. Loaded (via edit button script) it on Tuesday eve, as soon as the spindle was to move down for the "auto set" in the config, there was this almighty blue flame. Kay so the wires for the flood pump 12v, had a short on the case frame that houses my cnc controllers, powersupplies etc etc, sorted that but seemingly this also flashed the Bios of the PC on which Mach was installed which resulted in a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). So I had  to replace the hard drive, and rebuilt the PC (software wise). This afternoon I started the whole system up, worked fine, no issues. Then I go and load the VB script into the auto tool button and alas the axies all just went quiet with the condition normal (green) turned into the yellow abnormal condition.

I have read all the old posts, even on other forums and cannot get it sorted.

The difference is the condition abnormal button on my screen is static and does not flicker at all. I have tried all the advice from clicking set to normal, through to checking and rechecking all the settings, in the config (all the areas) disabled the probe switch physically as well as in the settings, however I don't think this is the problem, as when I do the auto set, it works fine, setting the port and pin and even "active low" if I had forgotten to do so.

I even opened the button script editor again and saved an empty file for the "auto tool zero" button, no change.  One thing I have to mention is that I just recently bought my license and also did the latest install of 3......66 of mach3. Again no problems whatsoever since I did this, however all started going South with the editing of the Script for the "auto tool zero" button. Could my PC have picked up a virus from the net that might have been in the VB script file or perhaps in the attempt to get some of the hardware drivers installed, that's causing this? As this is really the only cause I can muster from my broken brain now.

If there is any other recourse other than C4, please assist?

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: CamBam export g code into Mach3

« on: November 04, 2014, 04:04:21 AM »

Rich

Thanx again for your patience with me. Please be assured that I understand the functions of the different parts of soft and hardware very comprehensively, what I am struggling with is the troubleshooting of missing info (G-code) after I have gone through the required software.

i.e. I have sorted the issue where some parts of the drawings have been ommited in Mach after a CamBam process, now however even thou I am getting the full part, the G-code stops at a certain part and thus only cuts a portion of the depth. No the Mach I have is licensed, so nolimitations on the number of lines (g-code), what happens is this:

I get the feedrate,
The X, Y and Z positioning,
Tool change request,
Z depth setting, say start depth is 0.25mm,
X and Y then goes through their movement (code)
Z then plunges to the incremental depth, say another 0.25mm
and continues with the X and Y code,
At 4.5mm depth I get an 1/8 of the part (lines) cut and then the movement stops, HOWEVER,
the X and Y code still continues for pages and pages of lines down on the g-code screen, the Z code is just missing......

Again, it seems my issues are software orientated and it is not with Mach, it is with the CAM software. I thought of issues with the CAD part as well, but I cannot seem to find any info that would require me to set offsets in Autocad when I design something (that in any case doesn't make sense to me as the design is as far as I am concerned, just the exact measurements of something i want to produce) the cam software (or Mach could) is supposed to handle the offsets. I have however sorted this using CamBam, no need to draw something subtracting the diameter of the mill-bit, I draw it as is and get it cut as is, issues is the missing code.

PS I have not yet installed a fresh copy of Mach, or Cambam or XP for that matter. Will do that first as I am sure that I understand the required software and in specific the inputs that I have to make, the end product however remains faulty with ommitted lines of code.

Thanx again for all the help.

10

General Mach Discussion / Re: CamBam export g code into Mach3

« on: October 31, 2014, 08:22:59 AM »

Rich

Thanx for the reply, appreciate it alot.

I understand all that you've said, no doubt about that. I draw the 3d part with the exact specs in autocad, then save it as the only format that seems to work which is the last of the dxf's something like Autocad 12RT/LT.dxf (not sure now, but it is the last format in AC 2012) anyhow, I also experimented with exporting the file as dwf etc etc.

I used to open the mentioned dxf files in Lazycam, did the cleaning, optimisation, reseting of origins, setting the depth, setting the tool info, sending all to all the layers, posted th G-code to Mach etc etc. The manual on Lazycam (perhaps I got hte wrong one, did not give me much info, the two vids on Newfangled, stopped 3/4 of the way so the info there, well wasn't complete) having said that, lazycam seemed to (still does) throw away portions of the part, sometimes its an arc and sometimes its straight lines, if the entire pic does get cut, well then it does one (1) run at the start cut depth, depth and then the G-code is done.

As for Cambam, wathced their vids, followed those instructions, got one (1) part to cut the way it was supposed to, did the rest of the parts exactly the same from beginning to end, meaning design in cad, generating toolpaths, producing G-code and loading into Mach (with Mach set as post processor and other times just default post processor selected) and had similar issues, exactly the same to be honest in mach's machining phase).

I read somewhere here, thath mach stuffs around when there are more than two installations on one HD, thus I was contemplating wiping the disk, reinstall windows xp, then mach and lazycam and cambam and see if that would resolve the matter. WHY? Well not each of the issues, portions of the parts ommitted and incorrect depth (ammount of passes/g-code lines) are constant, even if and when I do exactly the same with each of the phases from design, to coding to machining. no consistency in the occurance of the issues.

atcually, i am considering taking a break from trying to resolve these isuues, to just focus on someting else, like mowing the lawn