Messages

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: 5 axis, crossing the finish line. need a tiny bit of direction pointing

« on: October 14, 2020, 07:54:02 PM »

here is the generic mach4 post,
and a 5 axis maker post I found online.

2

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: 5 axis, crossing the finish line. need a tiny bit of direction pointing

« on: October 14, 2020, 02:43:38 PM »

Do you think you could help, would you be interested, to program a 3+2 axis post?
via fusion or inventor cam, i would re-orient the tool based on a feature on the part. say to mill an angled plane at 20 deg, the new z axis is 20 degres positive from the machine coordintates.
I have no idea how to write the post that would tell my machine to rotate the b axis 20 deg, B20 and move X negatvie to compensate for the angle change. I would use the g 43 g44 codes to make sence of the b arc length change. (longer tool) the general mach 4 code is aroudn 1000 lines, I have no idea where it says this in it.
I guess i'm looking for where in the post I can program the b axis arc length, and how to tell the post to write g code for a change in WCS coordinate system.

3

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: 5 axis, crossing the finish line. need a tiny bit of direction pointing

« on: October 14, 2020, 01:33:29 PM »

I might focus more on 3+2 machining. For the work I do, this would be totally acceptable.
my research indicates that multiaxis for mach4 is way beyond my level. I'm a builder and a designer, not a programmer. ha ha ha.
Cheers!
-MDA
 

4

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: 5 axis, crossing the finish line. need a tiny bit of direction pointing

« on: October 13, 2020, 04:28:49 PM »

looks like I just need a post processor to configure this for me. maybe i'll have this figured out before anyone responds! ha ha ha
....
I have a mach 3 post processor, configured for A and B axis setup. I think i'll check and see if I can figure out how they did that.
anyone know what that distance is called?
the z value increase that results from a swing in the b axis.

5

Mach4 General Discussion / 5 axis, crossing the finish line. need a tiny bit of direction pointing

« on: October 13, 2020, 04:15:50 PM »

Hello all.
I've finally finished my year long 5 axis build; It was supposed to only take 3 months.
I jumped in both feet, with only my brains, this forum and youtube to help me; having never built a milling machine before.
Hard for me to ask for help when i'm so close to the end, but I could really use it on the last part to expedite the completion of this machine.
super proud to almost have it done, learned soo much along the way, from wiring to g code to technical metal skills, love it. Long story short:
On my head to head gantry style machine. I have the B axis configured to rotate around the Z axis, (b is like a spinning top) and the A axis to rotate the spindle angle relative to XY plane. (A is like a steering wheel).
mach needs to know the distance from the tool end, to the B axis to know how far to drop the z when b is at an angle to keep the tool tip at the same height. where do I program this? is there a mach4 plugin? what is the term for this?
I don't need the offset for the tool programed in. I can, and would prefer to figure that out.
Cheers,
MDA
DDDllc

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: usb motion controller board

« on: October 13, 2020, 03:45:30 PM »

yes

did you ever figure out why your stb5100 was crashing at the end of a move in mach3?
i've been struggling with this for way too long. about to buy a different board.

I upgraded from the stb5100 to the pokeys57. the difference in quality is greater than the difference in cost. though it is super difficult to figure out the pokeys pins! ha!

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: stepper only moves in one direction

« on: October 13, 2020, 03:42:47 PM »

sorry, it was the encoder. I had to translate the label on the outside of the motor, from mandarin.
when I opened up the encoder cover to check the labeling on the encoder circuit board, it was wrong evidently.
no direction signal makes sense to me too.

Thank you

8

PoKeys / Re: Mach4 Pokeys57CNC Input/Output Mapping PLEASE HELP!

« on: October 11, 2020, 02:43:28 PM »

for all you later readers who don't feel like going on a rabbit trail to find the information:
I think I was able to distil the previous post to the following link.
https://blog.poscope.com/mach-4-motion-controller-pokeys57-cnc/
I too am really struggling with key mapping.
cheers

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: stepper only moves in one direction

« on: October 10, 2020, 01:03:30 PM »

update:
am now using pokeys 57 cnc.
same issue, both drivers, totally stuck.
cheers,
-mda
ddd llc

10

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help a newbie

« on: October 10, 2020, 12:59:54 PM »

only 2 days?! ha ha.
i'm a newbie myself.
I suggest editing the macro that homes the machine, and switching the operation, so that the z homes first, or at least retracts all the way.
you might could try in the menu [operator]---[edit button script]---(select button for homing)
or see if you can find the macro in the mach3 macros folder.
about all I know, maybe it will get you started till someone more knowledgeable can post.
cheers,
mda
ddd llc