Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Axis reversed??

« on: August 03, 2011, 10:40:31 AM »

I just know I'm going to feel stupid when I find the answer to this but my poor little brain seems to have stopped working

Went to cut the below item out and the red quadrant cutout, was on the right (white circle). SO, I'm assuming my X axis is reversed.
Made a little test file up of 5 holes, centre NSEW, ran it through cutviewer to see the order then tried it on the mill and yes, on the mach3 screen it shows the cutter going left when in fact it's going right.
Changed the dir low active in mach3 but it still does the same. Go on tell me, what really obvious thing am I missing

PS....Hood, I've got my stop watch out

2

General Mach Discussion / Microstepping on the driver...

« on: August 01, 2011, 12:21:06 PM »

If I change the micro step setting on the driver will I need to redo the steps per in mach3?  if so I assume if I say go from 16 to 8, I could divide the current number by 8 and that would be my new steps per?

Thanks

                 ...........Rikk

3

General Mach Discussion / Multiply Feed rate?

« on: July 25, 2011, 03:10:23 PM »

I have pulleys on each axis giving me a 2:1 ratio, is there a way in mach3 I can tell it this is the case, otherwise I'm assuming if in the .nc file I specify a feed rate of 200 I'm actually getting 100?

Thanks

              ...............Rikk

4

General Mach Discussion / Cuts not in right position on material....

« on: July 16, 2011, 06:01:09 AM »

Appologies for another newbie question but my heads exploding reading the various manuals and not getting to far.

I have a file to cut out the Z mount bracket, looks fine in Cambam and lines up perfectly with the material, same with cutviewer. But when I load it into mach3 the cuts are offset from the material.

You can beat me with a stick for not finding the answer with search or in the manuals, just tell me what it is first

Below is what I see in mach3, and attached is the nc file



Thanks in advance Hood

                             ...............Rikk

5

General Mach Discussion / Manual Z?

« on: July 15, 2011, 02:23:56 PM »

I've got the X and Y working (temporary mounts) and want to use the current functionality to make the Z mount, is there anyway in mach 3 to say "you do not control Z, pause when a Z move takes place"?

Or, if not...

Can I do a search and replace on the NC file to replace the Z moves with a pause? if this is the case what do I search for and change it to?

Thanks

                     ..............Rikk

6

General Mach Discussion / Newbie Initial Wiring/Setup

« on: June 26, 2011, 06:29:28 AM »

Hope you guys can help, I spent all day yesterday doing as much searching and research as I can so as not to have to post a help thread....but here it is ;(

Hopefully I've got all the info together needed, if not let me know what else is needed.

I have one axis setup at the moment (I have tried it with another stepper/driver/axis and it does the same), if I jog the axis in one direction it makes a slick clonk noise and moves VERY slightly (probably one step) then thats it, jogging in the other direction doesn't get any movement. The stepper does make a slight buzzing.humming noise when trying to jog in each direction.
The stepper is locked ie I can't turn it by hand.

I've stripped out mach3 and it's driver and reinstalled in case it was that but it's still the same.

Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction...pretty please

Thanks


BOB - Uniport - http://www.zappautomation.co.uk/uniport-v20-p-510.html
Drivers - 2M880N - http://www.zappautomation.co.uk/2m880n-microstepping-driver-p-20.html
Steppers :-
1 x SY85STH80-5504B - http://www.zappautomation.co.uk/sy85sth805504b-nema-stepper-motor-p-31.html
2 x SY60STH88-3008BF - http://www.zappautomation.co.uk/sy60sth883008-nema-stepper-motor-p-24.html

Images of the wiring can be found in this and the next 2 images
http://rikk.smugmug.com/Scale-4x4/Machining/CNC-Conversion/17702700_5j33JZ#1354865021_msqVhpp-A-LB

Screens from mach3

7

General Mach Discussion / Will Mach3 Work with this?

« on: September 06, 2010, 06:43:09 AM »

Just in the process of sorting out a mill which will be an OPTI BF20 VARIO from Optimum.

I'm planning to learn the software side of CNC for a few months then get the CNC upgrade for this mill, connect up and off I go. I wanted to check though that Mach3 will work with this CNC hardware.
This would be the controller supplied with the kit (VI)
http://www.optimum-machines.com/products/cnc-pc-controls-complete-and-adapter-kit/6/cnc-controller-iii-and-vi/index.html
and this is the complete kit itself.
http://www.optimum-machines.com/products/cnc-pc-controls-complete-and-adapter-kit/complete-and-add-on-kit-for-mi/index.html

Will Mach3 work with this ok? I'm assuming as it uses a parallel port it will but need a definite answer.

Thanks.

                         ................Rikk