Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problem with MACH3 and first peck drill cycle

« on: September 27, 2016, 05:06:43 PM »

It fails.

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problem with MACH3 and first peck drill cycle

« on: September 27, 2016, 03:56:14 PM »

Well, I think I have a way to make the peck drill cycle work properly on the first and all proceeding drill cycles.

The problem I’ve been fighting is definitely related to the machines “Velocity Mode” when the job starts. If the mode is set to “Constant Velocity”, G64, the first peck drill cycle will not work properly and will jam the drill bit down to the final hole depth on each peck retract cycle. After the first hole, all following peck drill operations will work properly.

I’ve found that if I explicitly put Mach into “Exact Stop” velocity mode, either by including the G61 code in Mach’s initialize string or by including G61 in the jobs G Code file header, all the peck drill cycles work properly, including the first. If I omit the G61 from the initialize string AND the job G Code header, the first peck drill cycle fails.

So, to be safe (hopefully), I have included G61 in Mach’s initialize string AND will include it in the header of all my CamBam generated G Code files.

Thanks for all the input and suggestions:

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problem with MACH3 and first peck drill cycle

« on: September 25, 2016, 06:33:47 PM »

So much for a last post.....

I'm now getting the bad peck cycle even with the G64 code removed. I SWEAR I was able to verify earlier the G64 code was causing the problem but now it doesn't appear to be. One thing for certain (I think) is that if I let the first peck drill operation complete, albeit screwed up, then all following peck drill cycles work properly. Even if I load a new job, they all continue to work properly. If I then terminate Mach3 and restart it, I get the problem again, until I let it complete one screwed up peck drill cycle. I've also seen the first peck drill cycle work properly if I run some other job first, even if the job does not have a drill cycle in it. I'm a retired software engineer and it just appears to me that some internal Mach3 variables key to the peck drill cycle are not getting initialized properly when Mach3 first starts up.

I'm really tired screwing with this but I need a reliable peck drill function. I'm really surprised others have not run into this, perhaps most others are using the old printer interfaces and they don't seem to have this problem, only smart controllers.

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problem with MACH3 and first peck drill cycle

« on: September 25, 2016, 03:38:37 PM »

OK, hopefully a LAST post from me regarding this issue.

I just installed the older version of Mach3, version 062 to see how it handles the G64 code and it behaves the same as version 066. So, I'll just make sure I don't use G64 in the header of any of my jobs.

Not sure if I'll go back to version 066 or stay at 062 since both appear to have the same issues.

I should probably think about moving to Mach4 but will have to rewrite a dozen scripts or more when I make the move. I'm a bit confused on the Mach4 licensing, I'm a hobbyist and I currently use the same licensed copy of Mach3 on my CNC Mill and CNC Router, two separate PCs. Will I have to purchase two Mach4 hobby licenses if I switch or can I just generate two keys, one for each PC via the single Mach4 hobby license?

Thx,
Joe

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problem with MACH3 and first peck drill cycle

« on: September 24, 2016, 03:09:53 PM »

OK, 2 years later after reporting this problem I decided to get a new controller. I got a Smoothstepper and a KL-DB25-5 BOB. I tried using the peck drill cycle again and got the SAME problem.... UGH. So I assumed there MUST be something in the CamBam G code causing the problem. The actual code for the drill command looked fine therefore there must be something in the CamBam added post processor. The code added at the start of the file (minus the comments) is:

G20 G90
G91.1 G64 G40

Turns out the G64 code is the culprit!!!!!!!!

If I delete the G64 code, the first and all following peck drill cycles work correctly.

If I leave the G64 code in, the first peck drill cycle behaves as I originally documented and rams the drill down instead of retracting after each peck but only on the first hole. After the first hole completes (broken drill bit and all) the remaining holes in the job drill properly. So, for some reason Mach3 does not like the G64 code and after the first peck drill cycle, Mach3 then correctly performs all the remaining peck drill cycles in the file.

The G64 code sets a constant velocity mode. Not sure why this would cause Mach3 to screw up the first peck drill cycle in a job.

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problem with MACH3 and first peck drill cycle

« on: December 03, 2014, 11:07:10 AM »

Sounds like a controller problem. Mach is tellign it to do the cycle but the controller has to actually do it.

(;-) TP

I would be surprised if the AKZ250 motion controller interprets G code. I would think (don't know for a fact) that Mach3 provides the G code interpretation and sends lower level motion control commands to the AKZ controller. The AKZ then interprets the motion control commands into driver control signals such as step and direction. The AKZ probably doesn't know it is performing a Peck Drill operation, it is simply being told positions and speeds and the AKZ does the low level stepping.

A similar problem was reported about 8 months ago using a Smooth Stepper controller both USB and WiFi http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,23990.0.html so I would be surprised if my AKZ250 controller is the culprit but could be. Really need someone familiar with the internals of Mach3 to comment on this problem. Since I can reproduce the problem at will, this may be an opportunity to corner a nasty intermittent bug.

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problem with MACH3 and first peck drill cycle

« on: December 02, 2014, 04:34:17 PM »

Still looking for some input or at least acknowledgment of this apparent bug.

Others have reported a similar problem with the Peck drilling function but have reported it as a random, difficult to reproduce problem. My short G Code example reproduces the problem every time on my machine.

Is this a problem that just showed up on  R3.043.066 release or is this an intermittent problem that has been around for some time? If this is new to  R3.043.066, should I go back to an earlier version of Mach3, if so, what version?

I'm hesitant to use the Peck drill function even if it appears to work with some other G Code file because I don't know if this is an intermittent bug that comes and goes or is a solid bug that has been identified and can or has been fixed in another version of Mach3.

I'm now using the normal G81 drill cycle which seems to work OK but would like to use the G83 Peck cycle provided it works properly and consistently.

8

General Mach Discussion / Problem with MACH3 and first peck drill cycle

« on: November 24, 2014, 06:09:30 PM »

I'm new to CNC machining and just recently converted a G0759 mill to CNC using Hoss designs and recommendations. All appears to be working well but I just ran into the following problem with peck drilling cycles.

I generated a fairly simple G Code file via CamBam and when I tried to machine the part I ran into problems with the peck drill cycle. Specifically, the first hole or drill cycle is the problem, all holes following are fine. The first hole cycle appears to jump high speed down about .25 inches at the end of each peck. The drill lowers at the correct feed rate of 5.0. The drill then appears to drill down .125” as expected but then the drill goes high speed down another .25” and then retracts out of the hole high speed to where it started. For some reason MACH, or maybe my controller board AKZ250 is adding the additional .25” high speed plunge at the end of each peck.

Strangely, the second peck drilled hole in the G file works properly. I’ve even ended the drill cycle and started a new one in the G Code and it also works fine, just the first hole of the first peck drill cycle in the G Code file behaves this way.

Below is a simple code snipet that demonstrates the problem on MY system which is running MACH3 Version R3.043.066 on Windows 7 and talking to a AKZ250 USB interface controller.

Any help or advice appreciated.

G20 G90 G91.1 G64 G40
G0 Z0.125
M3 S2200
G0 X-0.613
G98
(the following peck cycle exhibits the problem)
G83 X-0.613 Y0.0 Z-0.6 Q0.125 R0.125 F5.0
(the following peck cycle works properly)
G83 X0.613 Z-0.6
G80
G98
(the following two peck cycle work properly)
G83 X-0.613 Y0.0 Z-0.6 Q0.125 R0.125 F5.0
G83 X0.613 Z-0.6
G80
G0 Z0.125
M5
M30