Messages

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General Mach Discussion / Re: newby with questions

« on: March 06, 2023, 10:53:53 PM »

Thanks for the help with soft limits JA. I now have soft limits on and they are sorta working. In the y axis it is stopping short of what appears to be full travel by about 2 inches. maybe there is another limit switch im not seeing? there is a double limit on x. there is a limit switch that has 2 actuators, but they have added a second limit switch. Is mach 3 ok with using the same limit switch for both ends of the travel?
  When I was fixing the computer, i came across what appears to be the d sub terminals from the resolvers attached to the motors... not connected to anything.
   I hope youre not gonna be too disappointed but I'm going to go with mach3 for at least a while to get this up a  nd running. When do I want to get the license? should i get it now before i get it fully functional or after? am i gonna risk losing my setup info transitioning?

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General Mach Discussion / Re: newby with questions

« on: March 05, 2023, 12:58:06 PM »

 Sorry... lost power again....  I have home switches and i do home it to them. the soft limits don't appear to have ever been set in the program, but its as if there are soft limits in the stepper hardware or resolver? I say that because in the program it has what appears to be default numbers 0-100,000 for all limits but I've hit a y+ soft limit far from the hardware limit switch. if I shut the program off the soft overlimit stays, and it isn't at a limit switch. The soft limit numbers are what? inches? counts? it has dg4s servo drives and cui resolvers i believe. (in docs.) I'm getting the feeling i got this midway through some upgrades/modifications that haven't been thoroughly fleshed out. there is a resolver for spindle speed but I'm not sure it works. I'm not sure it is using electrical pulse counts or resolver counts.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: newby with questions

« on: March 03, 2023, 06:18:23 PM »

 Well, I got the computer working! I guess I'm gonna have to decide on 3 or 4 soon. Can you send the 3 vs 4 thread link, i can't seem to find it. I will need to get the soft limits working soon and do the z axis calibration. I gotta hot job coming up... i need to make a replacement lid for my coffee cup... lol

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General Mach Discussion / Re: newby with questions

« on: March 03, 2023, 03:51:06 PM »

 Mach 4 cost wise is essentially the same. It also appears to be a version of the tormach controller software which has worked very well for me in the past. I'm assuming i can't just load mach 4 on the same computer and start making chips. Is there some backwards compatibility? Do the machine specific settings transfer? The cost is nothing, but the switching has, in other posts, been likened to be difficult. What is the gain for the pain of transferring? Other than my inability to get the soft stops programmed, mach 3 has worked pretty well so far? BTW I have Bobcad on my laptop and have been transferring to the controlled via usb stick. The mach 3 controller is a dedicated computer. I'm supposed to get the repair disc sun. so that will likely decide if the current computer stays or goes. buying a new computer is also pretty small potatoes if it is necessary. The base machine, series 1 interact has no manual handles so it isn't much use without a controller system.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: newby with questions

« on: March 03, 2023, 12:50:31 PM »

 Thank you joeaverage,  I appreciate your help!  The computer is a dell with a core 2 duo 2.5 GHZ processor running Windows 7, don't know if its 32 or 64 bit. I have great product logs for the machine and it's using the Warp 9 ethernet smoothstepper. I'm certain it is not a bootleg copy of mach3. The machine is a Bridgeport series 1 cnc. I use bobcad for cad/cam. i presume it is a stepper system but it appears to have resolvers on the back of the motors for position. I'm pretty familiar with Bobcad but i'll get the conversational add on, at that price it is a no brainer. My current concerns are getting the computer back up or getting a new one without losing the Mach 3 setup information on it. It is a paid for version by the previous owner (?) I understand the license is not transferrable and I'll buy a new license for myself after I get it running. the computer suggests that before I bought it, it may not have been used since 2014(?) that based on a windows log file. The machine came with a usb stick with the file MillWizard_Installer_Version_2.0.5 not sure what that is exactly.

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General Mach Discussion / newby with questions

« on: March 02, 2023, 09:47:33 PM »

 Hello! i bought a mill with mach 3 cnc software and I'm hoping for some advise. I got the mill running but with an older windows 7 Dell computer. I got the x and y axis set and was working on Z when an ice storm damaged the computer so it won't boot. If the computer ran ok, and assuming it has a corrupted boot file which looks like the case, is there any reason to upgrade the computer? I am planning on buying the software license and also was considering the conversational add on, does it work ok? I can do it all via cad but sometimes i find it a bit faster and easier with simple stuff to do conversational. After i get the computer working, i would like a bit of help setting the soft limits, i watched the video on youtube but it hasn't sunk in. are there any other tutorials about that? Thanks in advance !!  John