Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Gear Cutting Wizard

« on: February 04, 2012, 07:59:12 AM »

I have been trying to use the gear cutting wizard for a while and it does all of the right things for number of teeth, cut depth etc., but I cannot make sense of the start position, I must be missing something!

Where should the cutter be placed relative to the workpiece when the axis are zero'd? When I click start cycle the Y axis moves a large amount, from one side of the work piece to the other and then the movements for the cutting cycle start?

Peter

2

General Mach Discussion / Getting 4th Axis to work from Vectric Vcarvepro 6.5

« on: January 01, 2012, 10:19:41 AM »

Hi,

Struggling to get Mach3 to work using the 4th axis using a text toolpath generated by Vcave pro. Vectric seems to generate it ok and it looks like it is wrapped. After saving in the correct wrap.txt file the wording in the file does not appear when we open the file in Mach3, it all seems to be in a lump or thin line? Tried toolpath setupmenu checked 'A' rotation is enabled and selected the axis and the z zero for the job as the centre of the axis  but no luck.

What are we doing wrong?

Thanks  Peter

3

General Mach Discussion / Zeroing with movement?

« on: March 21, 2011, 04:23:59 AM »

Hi,

Just have got a Sieg KX3 mill and it is starting to work fine but one or two issues I cannot solve---real newbie not sure what I am doing wrong

When I zero the axis  (X, Y, or Z or the zero all screen button)the axis zeros fine but that axis then starts to move, I can zero using keyboard and enter ok or enter zero but press "zero all" on screen and z moves upwards.  Really odd.

how can I zero without the movement starting?

Also can anyone advise on best file to save work in on Vcarv to suit Mach and then be able to re-open in Vcarv?

Thanks  Peter

4

General Mach Discussion / paper guillotine back fence

« on: May 06, 2010, 07:12:50 AM »

I would  like to make the back fence on my paper guillotine automated. At present it is hand operated and one turn of the handle moves the fence  10mm. The guillotine works really well so it would make sense to add some electronics rather than change it and I need to do a lot of repetive cutting which involves changing the settings manually. This  becomes tedious and leads to mistakes!

I intend adding a stepper motor to move the backfence leadscrew but leave the rest of the operations, ie clamping and cutting manually operated.

On power up I'd like to move the fence to the home position and zero the scale. After that  key in the first position, move the fence to that position clamp and shear. Then repeat the process a number of times until the card is cut, each step would be the same amount.
Is it possible to program each operation so that each stage is down to selecting a single number or something similar once the program has been set up?

I have no knowledge of any cnc work and I'm sure what I am asking is pretty basic but you've got to start somewhere---can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks