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1

General Mach Discussion / Struggling with Mach 3

« on: June 12, 2013, 07:19:35 AM »

HI,
Been running Mach 3 on my PC with my Denford Easimill for years with no real problems - suddenly I am struggling. The PC seems to become unresponsive to keyboard or mouse clicks now and then - there could be a couple of seconds pause between clicking on a command before it wakes up and switches screens or whatever. When running code it looks like the same thing is happening - the machine stops dead mid movement - sits for a second or maybe 5 secs, and then moves off again with a jolt.

Ran driver test last night and it reported pulsing too fast - dropped the speed one notch to the minimum - this seemed to sort it last night. Ran this morning and same problem - this time driver test reported too slow. I am assuming that this is a PC problem so went searching - used msconfig to switch off all start up items - still the same.

This machine is not on the web and is pretty much dedicated to Mach3 - I have Cut 2D on it and AutoCAD LT but these have been on for years with no issues.

Does anyone have any ideas I could try - something has changed somewhere - but what?

Ian

2

General Mach Discussion / Mach 3 Turn Problem - any pointers please

« on: January 15, 2012, 05:08:10 PM »

Hi,
I have just come back to a Mach 3 conversion of my Denford Orac after a longish break.
Running a number of the turning wizards and everything seems to work fine (limited testing but I have done some radii as well as plain turning and facing) but when I try screw cutting I have a problem. The G code looks fine and the first pass looks fine, the second pass though misses the work (looks good in Z but inadequate X), the third pass, again looking good in Z takes a deepish cut at the start of the pass but as it progresses towards the chuck there is some X movement and the tool progressively comes out of the job -  like a taper thread. I am not convinced about the pitch either on this pass. I have been stopping the job at this point as there is clearly something amiss.
Critical line of code is G76 X0.192 Z-1 Q1 P0.05 J0.001 L45 H0.005 I26.5 C0.025 B0 T0 which seems ok to me.
I have calibrated the spindle and it is showing 4 pulse per rev which is correct. Can anyone suggest a next step please to diagnose and solve this - where should I start exploring?
Thanks
Ian 

 

3

General Mach Discussion / Multipass - Changes...

« on: March 13, 2011, 06:07:26 AM »

Hi,
I am using Mach 3 with great success to machine patterns for lost was casting. One of the features I need to machine now and then is a slot where the depth of the slot is greater at one end than the other. Previously I used the multipass feature on the Mach 3 program run screen. I would generate the G code using the dxf converter then edit the G code manually to put a different Z value in at each end of the slot.
When the multipass function is being used, the tool sets off down the slope but the Z inhibit holds it a constant Z increment - next pass it sets off down the same slope but goes further down by the Z increment again. This works perfectly.
Having recently upgraded Mach 3 following some corruption problem or other- the new program run screen does not have the mult-pass feature - it has been replaced with the Newfangled solutions multipass wizard which is great....but I don't think it will do what the old function did.
My question then is can I get the old function back? If I upload the old screen set (1024.set) will the multipass function come back and work? I could cope if I just go the Z inhibit back on the screen.
Ian