Hello Guest it is March 29, 2024, 03:46:40 AM

Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Topics - alkassell

Pages: 1
1
Galil / Feed freezes
« on: October 21, 2013, 02:07:34 PM »
This was first posted under "General Mach Discussion", but Hood suggested I ask here, as he suspects it may be the Galil plugin hanging ( I'm using V 4.4.0.0 ). Soo.. here it is:

I've got a problem with my CNC / Mach freezing, and can't find any posts for this exact problem:

 I have been running some longer programs (89,000+ lines...), and at random times, the mill will freeze in place. Mach stays frozen on one line in the display, but the PC isn't frozen. I can click on various buttons on Mach. Clicking on 'Cycle Start' has no affect, but clicking 'Hold' turns the highlight off on "Cycle Start". If I hit "Cycle Start" after "Hold", it will not light up again. If I hit "Stop", it stops as it should. I hit "Cycle Start" one time, after I had hit "Stop", and it did start up again, but as the spindle had stopped, it promptly broke my carbide endmill (oh joy... ). This has happened 3 times on the same program, but at different points. I have restarted the computer after each incident, as well as the Galil card. I saw in another post that someone had issues with having a flash drive plugged in ( that's how I transfer my files to the mill ), so I tried transferring the code to a folder on the PC, and running it from there with the flash drive unplugged - same result. I've had this kind of problem before, but only very intermittently - probably just didn't rear it's ugly head in shorter files as often, so I could get through them after one re-start.

Here's my setup in brief - I can give more detail if necessary :

Dell PC with a Pentium 4 processor, 3 Ghz, 1 G ram, running XP SP3, dedicated for use with the mill - no internet connection, no music playing, etc. I have not uninstalled anything, so there may be unnecessary background windows stuff running - I'm a relative novice, so not sure what to look for, but happy do ditch anything that might help.

BOSS 9 bridgeport upgraded to a Galil motion control card, connected via ethernet crossover cable.

Mach 3 ver R3.043.066

I am way behind with my project, so any help / ideas / thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Alex

2
General Mach Discussion / Feed freezes
« on: October 21, 2013, 12:48:03 PM »
I've got a problem with my CNC / Mach freezing, and can't find any posts for this exact problem:

 I have been running some longer programs (89,000+ lines...), and at random times, the mill will freeze in place. Mach stays frozen on one line in the display, but the PC isn't frozen. I can click on various buttons on Mach. Clicking on 'Cycle Start' has no affect, but clicking 'Hold' turns the highlight off on "Cycle Start". If I hit "Cycle Start" after "Hold", it will not light up again. If I hit "Stop", it stops as it should. I hit "Cycle Start" one time, after I had hit "Stop", and it did start up again, but as the spindle had stopped, it promptly broke my carbide endmill (oh joy... ). This has happened 3 times on the same program, but at different points. I have restarted the computer after each incident, as well as the Galil card. I saw in another post that someone had issues with having a flash drive plugged in ( that's how I transfer my files to the mill ), so I tried transferring the code to a folder on the PC, and running it from there with the flash drive unplugged - same result. I've had this kind of problem before, but only very intermittently - probably just didn't rear it's ugly head in shorter files as often, so I could get through them after one re-start.

Here's my setup in brief - I can give more detail if necessary :

Dell PC with a Pentium 4 processor, 3 Ghz, 1 G ram, running XP SP3, dedicated for use with the mill - no internet connection, no music playing, etc. I have not uninstalled anything, so there may be unnecessary background windows stuff running - I'm a relative novice, so not sure what to look for, but happy do ditch anything that might help.

BOSS 9 bridgeport upgraded to a Galil motion control card, connected via ethernet crossover cable.

Mach 3 ver R3.043.066

I am way behind with my project, so any help / ideas / thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Alex


3
I'm wondering if there's a way to control the height at which the z transitions from rapid plunge to feed when using G83. It appears to be set at .010" now, but my machine's deceleration from rapid on the z takes more than .010", causing the quill to 'bounce' the bit into the part hard before it starts feeding (chipped a couple of bits trying to figure out what was going on). Thanks, Alex. 

4
Galil / Mach 3, Galil & soft limits
« on: September 23, 2009, 09:38:56 PM »
I've got some odd behavior, that I think is between the Galil and Mach 3 on my machine. I have a bridgeport, set up with both home and limit switches. I want to set up soft limits, and when I toggle the soft limit button to on in mach 3, I can only jog an axis in one direction ( ie, hitting x+ or X- jogs towards X-, the same for y and z). When the button is toggled off, it jogs normally. I've tried a variety of limits, thinking it will only jog away from a limit it's close to, but no change. To complicate matters, when I put in MDI, such as a G01 or G00, there's no movement at all with the soft limits toggled on, and I can't jog until I reset the galil by hitting reset in mach 3. When the soft limit button is off, all controls are normal. Also, if I let it jog far enough, it will run past the soft limit setting and hit the limit switch. Any thoughts? Thanks, Alex.

5
Galil / Galil & Mach 3 spindle speed control
« on: September 18, 2009, 09:41:07 AM »
I bought a retrofitted bridgeport from a company that went bankrupt before the retrofit was complete. The machine is about 95% set up ( I've taken chips ), and I'm fortunate enough to have help from forum member Roo Trimble, who was one of two principle people who did the retrofit ( Roo's been very helpful). If I happen to sound like I haven't a clue, it's because I haven't a clue: My introduction to modern CNC is through this machine, which I bought already set up ( the last time I ran CNC equipment was on a BOSS machine, entering g code line by line). That being said, please use small words. Here's my question of the moment:

The machine has a galil (2134) and Mach 3. I updated to the most recent plugin for the galil, and the most recent version of mach 3. With Roo's help, we got the machine working fine with the plugin, with one exception: If the spindle speed is set to zero in mach 3, the spindle will run at the speed set in the galil control (I have a VFD for the spindle). With the old plugin, changing the spindle speed in Mach 3 did nothing - I'd have to open the software for the galil, and change it there. Now when there's any speed set in Mach 3 (other than zero), it changes the value in the galil control to a negative number. The galil needs a number from 1 to 10, representing a percentage of  of max speed (10=max), so negative numbers, or out of range numbers, won't work. Is there a place in Mach 3 that I can put in a formula to convert the Mach 3 input into numbers that work for the galil / vfd? Do i have to do this in the galil control software, or maybe the vfd? It seems that having the galil recognize input for the spindle is a definite step in the right direction, but having it out of parameters doesn't help. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

One other quick question: When I toggle the "soft limit" button to on, my machine will only jog an axis in one direction ( hitting X+ or X- moves the tool to X- : same with y & z), even when I'm far from the soft limit setting. Jogging with the button off is fine. What's that about?

Thanks, Alex.

Pages: 1