Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / What causes lost steps?

« on: August 10, 2006, 07:30:31 PM »

I am not sure if I am losing steps. But this is what happens. I try to cut a 1 inch sqaure at about .01 deep.
Y axis is fine, but z axis going one way suddenly is about .25 of an inch and then the other way it seems fine.
I hope this makes sense. If this is what happens when you lose steps, what could be the cause? I just bought mach3 today.

Forgot to say that when this happens, If I give the z axis a little pressure  with my hand while it is stuttering, it will move fine and then when I stop the pressure it seems to grind almost. I try moving it by hand and it moves fine. I switched the x and y plugs at the controller and to see if it was maybe the table but it then made the y axis stutter. Any suggestions?

2

General Mach Discussion / strange holes

« on: August 09, 2006, 12:20:33 AM »

I am not sure if this  is the right forum. If it is not I apologize. I am testing out a program for carving. I output the gcode to mach 3 and then test it there. I am getting these weird holes from the z axis and it doesn't happen when the z axis is a set depth, this happens when it move up and down.
Anyone know why this happens?

3

General Mach Discussion / odd shaped circles

« on: July 31, 2006, 09:31:45 PM »

I am very new to this. I was given a used sherline machine with a camtronics controller. I have managed to get the machine to run. I am now just messing around with cuts and my o's have an odd shape. What am I doing wrong?
In this picture the o is about an inch tall. I made this with the text wizard in mach 3.
I am using a .5 inch v bit. It was all I had laying around at the time.

4

General Mach Discussion / Mach 3 and meshcam

« on: July 28, 2006, 11:01:05 PM »

I am using meshcam to generate some g code and somewhere I am losing something. Theses pictures will explain better than words.



Anyone know what I am doing wrong?
 

5

General Mach Discussion / sherline 5000 and mach 3

« on: July 19, 2006, 03:47:42 PM »

I am looking at purchasing a Sherline 5000 amd using The software Mach3.

I will use this to engrave small things into wax like lettering and logos.

Is this machine capable of this and how steep is the learning curve?

6

General Mach Discussion / Max nc 10 and mach 3

« on: July 18, 2006, 10:15:13 PM »

I was thinking of purchasing a max nc 10 and looked over the forums for info on them and it looks like alot of people are having problems with them and Mach3. Anyone out there use a maxnc10 and mach 3 successfully?
Thanks

7

General Mach Discussion / Total Newbie question

« on: July 17, 2006, 09:53:55 PM »

I was loaned a broken Sherline 5000 cnc machine in hopes of fixing it. I have successfully repaired the machine but bear with me on this for I am a complete newb.  It has 3 motors that have what looks like serial ports connected to them. My question is, How do I connect them to my PC?

I am not understanding. Is there another component that goes between the mill and the computer?  Am I misunderstanding the Mach description where it  says " Converts a standard PC to a fully featured cnc controller."

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to get the machine setup for engraving.

Thanks in advance.