Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Opening g-Code Locks Mach3

« on: April 19, 2023, 08:30:50 PM »

Sorry guys I’m still on Mach3 because as a retired man I have no great use of it. I decided now to build a wooden clock as a hobby and of course Mach will be in use again. BTW I bought Mach3 some 20+ years ago from cnc4pc but that’s a long time ago….

Picture 1 shows a part in my CAM software, a piece approx. 8” long by 3” wide to be cut in 1/2" thick plywood. If you noticed the part is locate in the lower left quadrant of the X/Y axis

Picture 2 shows the same part on Mach3 screen which out of shape and located in the upper right corner of the X/Y quadrant which is wrong.

Picture 3 shows the part of the g-Code especially line 116 which is highlighted when I open the g-Code in Mach3. This tells me that Mach3 sees a problem with this line and the motors on my cnc are not working.

From some past notes I have on Mach one says “…if I have a lot of curves/circles in my part change the IJ Mode in general config from absolute to Inc…” but doing so nothing happens, line 116 is still highlighted and motors are not moving. Closing the g-code the motors are working which means nothing wrong with the cnc.

Any help will be greatly appreciated
Nicolas

2

General Mach Discussion / Auto Tool Zero Setting

« on: March 26, 2023, 05:00:54 PM »

I’m using Mach3 and I have a few items to cut on a 3/4” plywood I have on the top of my cnc. So I use the Mach3 Auto Tool Zero utility which sets the tool tip at 1” above the table. Then I press cycle start and the gantry goes to the start point, the tool decent and does the cut. At the end she goes back to the origins and lowers the tool to zero and stops. Now the tool tip almost touches the top of the plywood.

To do my net cut I have to move the gantry to the next cuts origin but I can’t since the tool is almost touching the table plus I have to re do the Auto Tool Zero process and this becomes a pain when I have to do a lot of cuts.

Is there a better way to do multiple cuts and how?

Thanks

3

General Mach Discussion / E-Stop During a Cut

« on: October 03, 2022, 05:28:03 PM »

I noticed when I use my cnc to do a cut if I press the E-Stop all axis movement stop and the spindle stops running but after when I press the Cycle Start the axis start to move but not the Spindle.

Is this normal and if yes is there a way to have the spindle also running?

Thanks

4

General Mach Discussion / Grounding Stepper Motor Driver

« on: September 05, 2022, 06:14:26 AM »

On a stepper motor driver we have the high voltage section where we connect the required power and we also have the signal section where the wiring from the stepper motors connect.

I use shielded cables for both the high voltage and signal sections and my question is do I ground the shielded cable in both sections or just the high voltage or signal section?

Thanks

5

General Mach Discussion / Requested Home Axis is Used

« on: September 03, 2022, 10:20:08 AM »

My C11G BOB has four 5V terminals on the Inputs side and the schematic provided for connecting the Limits indicates all 5V for the Limit to go to one pin. I decided to spread the 5V to other 5V pins to make a better looking job but then the problem started (thought all 5V terminals are the same).

All limits alone work properly and when I’m in the diagnostic screen I click the Ref X, Ref Y it works properly, but when I click the Ref Z then I get the message “Requested Home Axis is Used, Fix the Wiring and try Again”.

A+/Home is on Pin 12, Y+/Home on Pin 11, Estop on Pin 10, Probe on Pin 15  and all the rest on Pin 13.

I wonder if the problem is on Mach3 configuration or my wiring.

Thanks

6

General Mach Discussion / Is This a Helix Cut?

« on: August 27, 2022, 02:09:37 PM »

Did another cut today but I noticed something which although not visible if you don’t know about it I noticed only because it reminded me of a helix cut I did years ago on a piece of 1/2" thick aluminum.

The bit enters the stock in a helix axis rotation to avoid excess load to the bit and today in my cut, as well as yesterday I noticed when the bit touches the material is swings just like a half helix cut. In the attached pictures you can see the complete cut + an enlarged picture where I point with 3 arrows the start of each cut.

When I did the drawing in my CAM I looked at the bit parameters but I noticed nothing about a helix cut or similar. It only happens at the start point and the rest is fine. I don’t think its because of loose axis or spindle cause if it was that it would have happened when the bit changes direction to complete a geometrical shape.

Any idea why it happens and perhaps where to look for to fix it?

7

General Mach Discussion / My First Cut

« on: August 26, 2022, 04:36:01 PM »

This is a first cut of my aluminum made cnc. Cut material is 1/2" thick MDF 12”x16” painted white, 1/8” HSS 2 Flute end mill 1/4" shank, 10K spindle RPM, 26”/min feed rate, approx. cut time 14min. Been the first cut I have selected slow RPM and Feed rates. I also attach picture of the cut after cleaning it up to see the results

https://youtu.be/cf5h7O-DMs4

Still have a problem with my Probe and I attach some pictures of the wiring to see how its connected. The Probe it’s quite unpredictable what it will do, sometimes it will work like it should and sometimes goes up/dn by 1/2” and it stops (I test by touching the touch plate to the bit manually). Today after 3 times which were good I took a chance and let it finish with my finger on the E-Stop but it worked? Anyone has an idea where should I look for a solution? I have use this Probe setup in other machines for years and never had any problem, is it possible because now I use ESS and before I only had parallel port connection to my PC? Also now I use a laptop with windows 8.1 and before it was always a desktop with windows XP.

8

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 Shows Drawing in wrong Quadrant

« on: August 25, 2022, 01:45:28 PM »

As per attached my drawing in CAM program is shown on the bottom left side, I do a simulated cut to assure all is good and then I ask for the NC file. I open this NC file in Mack3 and the drawing is showing in the upper right side.

Why this happens and how can I fix it?

Thanks

9

General Mach Discussion / AutoZero Script Problem

« on: August 17, 2022, 01:42:22 PM »

Today I thought will be the day but again I was not lucky. Got all setup and the dry run went good and then I used the Autozero to set the spindle height and it wasn’t good. Although I have used this probe setup many times before with the same script (shown below) this time the probe behaved erratically.

For example when the script finished the probe will go up and the Z axis DRO will indicate +1.3750 (see attached snip). I don’t know where this number comes from.
Then doing it again and touching the bit with the touch plate (just to see if she will go up) the probe stops for a second then descents for about 1/2" and then will go up to +1.3750

So for now I will forget the probe unless there is a solution

Message( "Auto Zeroing..." )
If IsSuchSignal (22) Then
code "G31 Z-3 F20"
While IsMoving()
Wend
Call SetDRO( 2, .375 )
code "G1 Z1"
End If   

Then I thought to use a piece of paper to set the spindle height manually but I’m not comfortable with this approach because I’m not sure what the code does (shown below partially). I’m only concerned with the Z axis movement since I don’t want it to create any damage and my thinking is:
At N70 Z goes up to 3/4", At N80 Z descents to -.0625, but after I’m not sure what happens. I know that max depth of cut is 1/8” and is done in 2 steps of 1/16” each step, is this what is shown in lines N90 to N170?

(NWDTOOL N" 1/8 FLAT ENDMILL" T232 D.125 F.375 L2.25 CD2. CL1. SD2. C0)
(NWDSTOCK X12.5 Y16.5 Z.5 OTC OX6.05 OY8.05 OZ0.)
N10 G00 G17 G20 G40 G49 G80 G90
N20 T232 M06 ( 1/8 FLAT ENDMILL)
N30 (MAX - Z1.)     
N40 (MIN - Z-.125) 
N50 G00 Z1. M08 
N60 G00 X-.0625 Y-.0625 S10000 M03
N70 Z.75
N80 G01 Z-.0625 F30   
N90 Y-15.9375     
N100 X-11.9375 
N110 Y-.0625     
N120 X-.0625   
N130 Z-.125   
N140 Y-15.9375
N150 X-11.9375
N160 Y-.0625
N170 X-.0625
N180 Z.75
N190 G00 Z1.
N200 X0. Y0.
N210 X-4.4974 Y-3.5625
N220 Z.75
N230 G01 Z-.0625
N240 G03 I-3.1276 J0.

10

General Mach Discussion / Can you Explain NC Code?

« on: August 14, 2022, 04:31:57 AM »

When I tried to start my new cnc it stop at the last line shown below (N120 T2 M6). I deleted the line and then it started ok. Where did the M6 came from? Looking in my parameters I can’t find out where I ask for a tool change

(MATERIAL - WOOD INCH)
( T2 |  1/8 FLAT ENDMILL | H0 )
N100 G20
N110 G0 G17 G40 G49 G80 G90
N120 T2 M6

Then on the following line what the A0 means?
N130 G0 G90 G54 X.0625 Y-13.2 A0. S11000 M3

In the following lines it changes from G3 to G1. In my parameters I selected CW so I don’t understand why in the code I have CCW plus I have G43 (Apply tool Length Offset Plus) and didn’t ask for it either
N140 G43 H0 Z1.
N150 Z.2
N160 G1 Z-.0417 F1.03
N170 Y0. F30.
N180 G3 X0. Y.0625 I-.0625 J0.
N190 G1 X-9.6
N200 G3 X-9.6625 Y0. I0. J-.0625
N210 G1 Y-13.2

Thank you