Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Forgotten so much

« on: June 26, 2011, 09:13:34 PM »

Hello All,
I had a CNC router a few years ago that ran on Mach 3. Well that machine was torn apart and the drives and what not put on the shelf for future use. I never got around to building the new machine until now and have fogotten a few things.
Here is my problem I have the motors and the gecko drives I have mach 3 and the design software. What I dont have is a good BOB and I know that I will want a auto tool chnager and for the system to self zero after tool change. So my question to you guys is how many in and out ports do you want / need on a BOB for all the extra stuff like auto zero and auto toll changes and any other neat toys you guys have come up with since I have been gone. Such as I remember something about using a joystick to manually move the mill this would be cool.

So again I ask you guys for all the neat extras like Auto toll changers how many extra in and out pins do you need on a BOB to be able to use all this stuff (I just need the extra pins for the extras not all the in, out, step, direction, limits, etc pins just the pins for the extra goodies).

Thanks and I look forward to throwing chips soon.

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Belt Drive Help

« on: October 23, 2007, 09:11:20 AM »

I agree I do not intend to drive it directly I was using that as an example so everyone would know the setup I will have a reduction drive for sure I don't know about the prices you stated Sam I have looked at doing rack and pinion or belt the belt system seems to be cheaper and Art seems to love his I am not concerned with the noise of racks as I am using a router so I wont hear it anyways. I have seen where 3 1/4 hp routers were cutting 3/4 in deep at over 300 ipm I will most likely up grade to 3 1/4 in the future that is why I want high speeds also I can make shallower cuts faster and the project is done sooner and I cut foam so high speed is possible as for wood cutting the speed was mainly for rapids. I still have the problem of how to figure out the belt size that can handle the torque and how to figure the pulley sizes for the torque and speed. Sam you said that the XL belts were 1/5 which is 5 teeth per inch I am assuming that a 24 pitch GEAR has 24 teeth per inch correct if so then I should be able to use the rack and pinion calculator that I have as I input the pitch of the system and then the number of teeth on the actual gear and motor size etc.. and it gives me the speed available the theoretical cutting torque as well as resolution etc.. if anyone is interested I will post the calc for everyone to download it is a Excel spreadsheet I also have one for screw drives I did not write them so if there are errors don't blame me.

Bearwen

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Belt Drive Help

« on: October 22, 2007, 10:14:44 PM »

Ok I still have no clue this is what I am looking at I have a motor with a pulley on it the belt is connected to the gantry then raps around the gear on the motor then goes and raps around an idler pulley of the same size as the pulley on the motor then the belt goes back to the gantry. I found out about the belt they sell just straight lengths but the problem I have now is how do I determin what size pulleys I need as the discription above I have no gear ratio it is direct drive I am not concerned withgear ratio I know how to figure that I need to know how to figure out what amount of torque I can get with a set size pulley directlly connected to the motor I can get figure the circumference based on the pitch diamter but I dont know how to figure what kind of driving torque or how much motor torque I need to move X amount of weight with X size pulley directlly connected to the motor once I can figure that out I can set pulley to given size and then figure out what drive ratio I need to get X amount of torque at X speed of motor and feed rate etc... so does anyone know how to figure what size pulley to get X amount of torque with a given size motor when pulley is connected directlly to the motor shaft?

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Belt Drive Help

« on: October 20, 2007, 07:39:06 PM »

Ok well here is the link to sdp-si website where I saw the pitch lengthhttp://www.sdp-si.com/D790/HTML1/D790C02051_4.html and here is a link to Arts machinehttp://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,1590.0.html I got everything figured out except what size belt to run such as .25" or 3/8 or 1/2" etc and what the pitch length means I am sure if I call them they will explain it but I am just curiouse right now and not in a big hurry. I am the most concerned with what size belt such as 1/4" wide 3/8 wide etc or does it matter ( I am looking at kevlar reinforced belts so they are really strong the above link will tell you the strength that is the belt I am looking at) for a wood machine running in the 300 ipm range with a total gantry weight router and all of roughlly 80lbs and I will cut woods all different types and foam maybe some thin light gauge metals with a 2 and 1/4 hp router the 300 is rapid of course except when cutting foam I cut at rapid speeds

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Belt Drive Help

« on: October 20, 2007, 05:31:00 PM »

I got that no I want to go to a system of belts only no ball screws as whip seems to be a limiting factor on a machine of this size I want to build a machine like Arts if you look at the pics of his old machine in the forum there are no screws it is all belt drive. The question I have is how big of a machine can you use belts on I am looking at 4' x 4' and also a second machine of 4' x 8' and when I am looking at belts ( Irecentlly found a site that has the ibfo I needed) but I still have one question when looking at belts they say that for example the belt is 48 inches  pitch length with 240 grooves so is this the total length of the belt as a loop or is this the size of the belt if it was cut and layed out flat?

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General Mach Discussion / Belt Drive Help

« on: October 20, 2007, 02:46:49 PM »

Hello All,
  I know some of you are running belt systems and I have a few questions first what are the formulas for figuring out speed and distance also I know in rack and pinion that you use pie on the gear etc but when I am looking at belt pullys they are giving me number of teeth so how do I fugure this stuff out such as there is a XL belt that has 120 teeth how do I figure out how long this belt is so I know what to order and what not this must seem dumb but just havent found any info as to where you learn this stuff? Also what kind of limitation is there with belts noise is not an issue for me so I have considered racks as I am building a new machine cut area 4'X4' and will build a second in near future that is 4'x8' and I wonder if this is to much for a belt drive thanks for all of your help.

Bearwen

7

Tutorials / Re: Video Tutorials for Mach

« on: October 13, 2007, 01:07:51 AM »

I just went to see and download some videos and they are not working I am really intersted in tool change stuff but at present I am a complete noob so all the videos might be a good I dea for me.

Bearwen

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Post processor help

« on: October 13, 2007, 12:23:16 AM »

Gary,
 I appreciate that but I do not have Artcam I had the model and toolpath made by a local company much better artist than I and they said they had a post processor for Mach but since I have a few tool changes in the model the post processor they have for Mach in Artcam said it doesnt support tool changes they dont use Mach and said that they have many post processors for other software and machines such as shopbot, Haas etc.. but I dont know what Mach could read as they gave me one I dont recall which one it was at the moment but it was a tap extension when I opened it in Mach 3 it says error line one I looked and there was a txt message so I looked at the code in notepad and saw many txt inputs in brackets and well I deleted it all out and then loaded it and I got an error about some G code conflict two G commands on one line I dont want to have to go theough all the code and clean it up just for Mach to read it so the whole thing is if I want them to export another toolpath and model for me what post that supports tool changes should I ask for that I can change the extension to nc or tap and it will work in Mach 3? Shopbot, Hass etc...?

Bearwen

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Post processor help

« on: October 12, 2007, 10:03:50 PM »

I had thought about pasting the codes together but I have no idea how to use the M06 command and what lines of code I will have to get ride of. Also if I use the M06 command will that call up a macro if I write one to move the spindle to a set location and then back once the bit change is done ? I am a total noob to this kind of stuff so any and all help is appreciated.

Bearwen

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General Mach Discussion / Post processor help

« on: October 12, 2007, 03:23:07 PM »

Hello All,
  Well I had a local company create a model and toolpath for me (as it was beyond my current design skills) and it requires 3 tool changes the problem is well when they went to export the toolpaths to disc Artcam Pro told them that the Mach post processor in Art Cam does not support tool changes so I have 3 different toolpaths that I have to run seperate I would like to know if anyone knows of a post processor that can handle tool changes and run in mach 3 I undestand I will have to change the file extension and that is fine I just need to know what post processors will run in mach 3 or quantum that can handle tool changes as I am working on an auto tool changer and would like to use it when I have other models creted by this company (price was not bad) thanks.

Bearwen