Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Macro pauses my program

« on: November 29, 2020, 01:21:42 PM »

So i made a macro that will turn on an air solenoid for blowing the part off as I machine aluminum on my cnc mill powered by mach 3. The macro (when called) simply turns on the electric solenoid , "sleeps for 1 sec " then deactivated. It works great.

If I'm cutting a pocket and after a pass or two I insert the m code to clear the part of chips, my machine will pause while it reads the m code causing the cutter to dwell for that time. Is it possible to read the m code and and continue on with the program while the macro does it's thing in the background?

2

General Mach Discussion / Mach turn Thread pitch is off?

« on: July 02, 2016, 05:49:55 PM »

I have an old dyna metronics dm3000 lathe which over the past couple months i've been converting over to mach 3. I've come so far but today i hit a snag.

I wrote a quick program to machine a .5 aluminum rod down and thread a 3/8-16 external thread. After completing the part my diameters are dead on along with turn length. However i couldn't get a 3/8 nut to thread onto it. I checked the thread pitch on the piece and it measures .050 instead of .0625. I looked through the mach threading manual and also did research on this page but was unsuccessful. As the machine is threading , the dro shows the spindle at the program speed of 525rpm. I even used a laser tachometer and received the exact same number. My spindle pulley ratio is set to 1. I have both "use spindle feedback" "spindle speed averaging" checked under spindle setup. I ran multiple parts at different depths thinking it was struggling but that didn't change anything.

What could be causing this? Im using an index pulse card and slotted disc. Could having too big of a slot in the disc be a possible problem? It seems weird since everything else is dead on, including the spindle speed.

Also i am using the latest version of mach 3

3

General Mach Discussion / Turret macro is giving me issues

« on: May 07, 2016, 10:23:23 PM »

Hi everyone, I converted an old cnc lathe that already had a turret on it. After converting the entire machine over to mach3 I needed to control the turret. I receieved a macro from a different site but no one seems to have any info on it.

My turret is equipped with a stepper motor and a pawl. The macro simply rotates the turret past the tool location then backs up tight against the pawl.

 I installed this macro and I can successfully index my turret from tools 1-6 as long I call the next tool in order.  If for instance I'm using tool 3 and call up tool 6 my turret seems to not rotate far enough, its off by a couple degrees. Is there a math error in the macro? I can't see it being the stepper tuning since It works perfect if I call up the tools in order. I indexed the tools in order for 3 full rotations with no errors but as soon as I command it to call up a tool that's a couple slots away it loses its spot.


Here's the macro I installed:






If IsLoading() Then
 'Do Nothing, program loading


 Else






 ' Dim Variables


 Dim Num_Tools As Integer
 Dim CW_Steps_Per_Tool As Integer
 Dim CCW_Steps As Integer
 Dim HoldingDRO As Integer
 Dim Requested_Tool As Integer
 Dim Current_Tool As Integer
 Dim CW_Feed As Integer
 Dim CCW_Feed As Integer


 'Dim moves As Integer
 'Dim total_move As Integer




 ' set up some vars


 Num_Tools = 6
 CW_Move_Per_Tool = 360/Num_Tools
 CCW_Move = 10
 HoldingDRO = 1050
 Requested_Tool = GetSelectedTool()
 Current_Tool = GetCurrentTool()
 CW_Feed = 3000
 CCW_Feed = 2000
 Current_Feed = GetOEMDRO(818)




 ' start tool change


 Message ("Requested Tool No=" & Requested_Tool)


 If Requested_Tool > Num_Tools Then
 Message "Requested Tool No. too high, program stopped."
 Code "M30"
 End
 End If


 If Requested_Tool < 1 Then
 'Message "Requested Tool No. too low, program stopped."
 Code "M30"
 End
 End If


 If Requested_Tool = Current_Tool Then
 ' do nothing
 Else
 ' lets do some changing
 If Requested_Tool > Current_Tool Then moves = Requested_Tool - Current_Tool
 If Requested_Tool < Current_Tool Then moves = Num_Tools - Current_Tool + Requested_Tool


 total_move = (moves * CW_Move_Per_Tool)+(CCW_Move/2)


 'Move to safe position
 Code "G0 G53 Z-1 X-.25"
 'Pause for 1/2 second
 Code "G04 P0.5"


 Code "G91 G94" 'incremental & Feed per minute
 Code "G01 A" & total_move & " F" & CW_Feed
 Code "G01 A-" & CCW_Move & " F" & CCW_Feed
 While IsMoving()
 sleep(10)
 Wend


 SetCurrentTool Requested_Tool
 SetUserDRO HoldingDRO, Requested_Tool
 Code "G90" ' back to absolute movement
 Code "F" & Current_Feed
 End If
 End If


 ' end of tool change

4

General Mach Discussion / Getting my c11 board to control my spindle but am having an issue

« on: April 09, 2016, 10:08:19 PM »

I'm redoing an old cnc lathe with all new electronics. The lathes spindle motor is a dc servo motor. To power it and control it I am using a bardac 1600i drive. Last week I was able to successfully wire up the bardac to control the spindle manually with the use of a pot. I now want to control it using mach 3. I purchased a c11 breakout board but am confused as to how to wire it. The c11 has a analog 0-10v output. I have a +12v psu that powers the analog just like the manual says. I then ran a wire from the analog to terminal 3 on my bardac. Is that all I need to control the spindle speed? What would I need to set the spindle pins at in mach 3 considering its only using the analog. I attached the bardac manual if anyone is able to help me out. Thank you

5

General Mach Discussion / Stepper motors are acting weird! please help

« on: March 03, 2016, 09:53:47 PM »

I'm in the process of upgrading an old cnc lathe with all new electronics. Everything was fine when I first installed and wired everything up. I'm still in the process of wiring other small things but for whatever reason whenever I turn the power on my stepper motors decide to start moving on their own. They keep moving until I jog either motor then they hold. If I keep jogging the axis, it sometimes goes smooth in one direction but the other direction is very rough. Does this sound like a wiring issue or possibly a weird setting in mach3. My setup is just ebay nema 23 motors, c10 breakout board, gecko g251x and 24v power supply for the drivers. Also if I was to turn the power on the electronics without going into the mach3 software then the motors hold without moving at all.

6

General Mach Discussion / Spindle servo drive not working with mach 3

« on: February 28, 2016, 10:14:04 PM »

Hi All,
       Currently doing a complete electronic conversion on a old cnc lathe. The lathe came with a SEM servo motor that was powering the spindle. I purchased a DG4s series driver that uses step/dir to operate my spindle. I went ahead and started wiring up the drive to the oem encoder and servo. I get power, no errors no smoke! Once in mach 3 I setup the correct port and pins, step/dir and within the spindle tab I have the disable spindle relays box checked, and use spindle motor output, step/dir motor also checked. I go into manual mode and simply type in a basic code like g97 s100 m03. The chuck begins to turn without any issues. It will even work fine with m04. My problem is that I can't turn the spindle off. I type in m05 and it says the spindle stops on mach 3 but my actual spindle is still moving. Only way I am able to get it to turn off is by shutting my entire machine down. btw the spindle servo drive is wired into a c10 bob.

Does this sound like a wiring error or am I missing something in the mach3 settings?

7

General Mach Discussion / Newbie question about push buttons

« on: December 30, 2015, 10:51:52 PM »

I'm in the process of retrofitting an older cnc lathe called a dyna myte 3000. I've gutted the out of date electronics and am starting fresh. So far I have purchased a c10 bob, gecko 251x drivers and will be reusing the original power supply since it worked fine before. I went ahead and made my own control panel for this machine which includes a power switch, spindle switch, toggle switch for opt stop, a button for cycle start and one for feed hold. I also installed 4 separate buttons which will control the feedrate and spindle rate override up and down.

Wiring anything more than just stepper motors is all new to me. Do I need to make my own script in order to have mach3 communicate with the buttons I installed? or is it as easy as setting up a hotkey

8

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Converting a dyna myte dm3000 cnc lathe to mach

« on: October 15, 2015, 07:24:04 AM »

Hi everyone! I've followed several sites about doing a similar conversion, and i am slowly building up the confidence to convert mine. I purchased mine about a month ago and was told everything worked. Upon studying its manual I slowly became familiar with how to somewhat set up this machine using its very outdated controller. To my disappointment there was several buttons on the controller that wouldn't work. I have tried a couple different attempts to fix it without any luck so I am now leaning more towards the conversion since I have yet to even play with this machine.
I would like to follow the footsteps of a couple of different guys on those sites as for the electronics they have picked out, however I do have several questions. I've built 3 small benchtop mill and lathes before but only using cheap Chinese steppers/drivers. So far everything is holding up but being as how I've spent a bit of money on this machine alone I'd like to give it decent quality electronics.

I apologize in advance if my questions seem too "newbie" but I just want to be sure I'm on the correct path.

I've copied this from another site from a guy I believe his name was MRM

He wrote what he has purchased:

1. Bardac 1600i
2. G540 Stepper Controller
3. 48V w/ 24V/5V Keling Power Supply
4. C10 bi-directional break-out-board
5. 20A EMI Filter

Here is some of my concerns

Bardac 1600i is what you would use to control the spindle correct? Will I also need some sort of index pulse card to know the spindles location? Also is the bardac literally $600+ or am I seeing things? Why can't we use the original or won't it communicate with mach 3?

The g540 controller seems very popular and nice quality. Will that control both the z and x or will I need to purchase 2 of these?

The power supply seems self explanatory

The c10 break out board. Will it be able to control things like the turret, coolant, limit switches ext... ?

What exactly is a 20a EMI filter?

I've read on some of those posts that someone has a script written for the turret movement in mach 3 so hopefully I can eventually retrieve that as well in the near future if I can get moving on this project.

I'll post some pictures in a couple minutes of its current condition. Thank you to whoever can help me out in this

9

General Mach Discussion / sizes aren't correct anymore please help !

« on: December 16, 2014, 05:39:48 PM »

I'm scratching my head here with a situation I'm currently having. Ill start from the top. I have a benchtop grizzly mill which is converted to a cnc with double nut ball screws, nema 34 stepper motors, microstep driver (ebay). This machine ran great for the past year but recently I've been having problems with motors stalling. I quickly jumped to the conclusion thinking it was just my motors were out of wack and stupid me started changing everything around with the motor tuning and mach 3 setting to get it up and running again. Needless to say it was my ways that needed the adjustment not the electronics. I believe I changed all electronic settings back to the way I had it and continued on making parts.

Heres my issue. I make and sell small aluminum covers to a local company. The covers are made from aluminum and measure .250 thick x 2.43 x 1.73 . I drill all the blanks first then they got bolted to a jig so I can do the outer profile to that size.  My sizes are coming out around 2.46x 1.75. I though maybe its just the motor tuning but using a dial indicator I'm within .001 with no backlash, I then changed my steps per on the microdriver from 1600 to 800. Same exact results. It can't be the program since I've used it hundreds of times. I use the exact same cutter every time. Would the Kernel speed affect this in any way? I'm currently at 45000hz and I believe previously I was at 25000hz

 

10

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Thinking of switching to a closed loop system?

« on: November 17, 2014, 05:54:05 PM »

I've built my cnc mill about a year ago and since then made many many parts. During that time however I've certainly had my share of set backs. Most of them involved missing steps. My problem would happen if I run a large quantity of parts without letting the machine rest. For example, a part I designed required three holes drilled 1" deep. I was peck drilling each hole and the entire cycle time was around 1 minute. I can run about 20 parts with no problem but then all of a sudden I would hear that "squealing" noise and sure enough the z axis loses its position. If I let it rest, reset the position I would be good for a couple more parts. My question is if I go with a closed loop stepper system will this indeed solve a missed step problem? Not only am I aggravated cause I'm constantly hovering over the e-stop button but sometimes I ruin the part in the process. My current setup is a grizzly 1006 bench mill with Nema 34 Motors, running at 800micro steps per. Anyone have the closed loop system?