Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Z axis not repeatable

« on: December 05, 2014, 12:18:57 AM »

Thanks for the feedback.  I discovered what the problem was by accident.  I have a new machine that I just finished building and was testing the axis movement and getting ready to do the calibration of number of steps. It took around 10000 steps to move one inch and the machine that was having the problem had 2032.*********xx steps per unit.  I looked at the gecko drives on the machine that was having trouble and it was set to half step mode.  I changed it to 10 microscope and ran some tests. Problem  solved.  The older machine was using the older gecko drives that have jumpers to set the step mode.  The newer machine has newer gecko drives that default to 10 microstep.  Needless  to say that axis runs much smoother now.
Thanks for the help!
Tim

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Z axis not repeatable

« on: December 02, 2014, 05:01:03 PM »

Tweakie,

Thanks for the response.  I have been running the program with the spindle not turning so the problem of the tool moving is eliminated.  I did run a test this morning at half speed on the Z axis and checked it at lunch.  The axis was .135" off.  I cut the speed down to half of that again and started the program again and will check it this evening when I return from work.

Thanks again!

Tim

3

General Mach Discussion / Z axis not repeatable

« on: December 01, 2014, 06:29:25 PM »

I have a machine that is having a problem with the Z axis.  I am running a tool path that is generated from Aspire and it turns out to have about 85000 lines of code with almost all of them having a Z component.  When completed and returning to 0,0,0 the Z axis is off by about .070".  I have slowed the speed down to around 25 inches/minute (half of what it was) and still have the same problem.  The motors on all three axis are identical and the problem is not evident on the X and Y.  I am wondering if it is some sort of round off error on the Z axis since the Z axis has so many moves and it is a stepper system.  The post processor for Aspire produces 4 decimal places which is the same as what Mach3 has.  I ran the axis calibration and Mach3 returns a number that is not an integer. 
Does the number need to be an integer?
With so many Z moves of such small increments I am thinking that it is round off error.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Tim

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: "Limit Switch Triggered"

« on: January 12, 2009, 11:54:49 AM »

I am also using the Bob Campbell board.  Most of the parallel port cards that I have used have internal pull up resistors so what I have done is take the limit switch directly into the signal input on the Bob Campbell board.  When the switch is closed it pulls the input to ground providing the  "active low".  One end of the limit switch tied to "ground" terminal on the break out board and the other to the "signal" terminal on the break out board.

I have used the proximity sensors and just plain ole switches.  Both work fine.

Hang in there!

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: "Limit Switch Triggered"

« on: January 12, 2009, 09:52:16 AM »

Bill,

Do you see your swiches activated on the diagnostics screen when you trigger them?

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Digitize probe wizard

« on: December 22, 2008, 03:21:50 PM »

I guess the resolution of your model to be probed would be governed by the size of the probe tip.

I think I get it now.

Thanks!

Tim

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: Digitize probe wizard

« on: December 22, 2008, 02:36:01 PM »

I think you are correct in that sense that if your ball dia was say 5mm you would set your step over to 5mm.  What about if you wanted to get a finer resolution in the X and Y?  I am not sure how that would work because if your stepover size is smaller that the ball diameter of your probe tip you would be triggering on the tangent of the ball.

Maybe I am thinking about it too much.......

Thanks!


Tim

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: screen set for probing :i saw one somwhere once

« on: December 22, 2008, 11:18:05 AM »

I believe it is under the wizards....

9

General Mach Discussion / Digitize probe wizard

« on: December 22, 2008, 10:37:06 AM »

I had a quick question on the digitize wizard....

There is not an option to choose the diameter of the probe tip.

When using this wizard would you make your tip diameter really small?

Thanks!

10

Promote and discuss your product / Easy Digital Readout

« on: October 03, 2008, 04:05:20 PM »

Please check out www.ezdro.com.  EZDRO.com offers an affordable digital readout addition for your old or new machine.