Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Lost Steps with backlash compensation

« on: February 22, 2015, 02:08:25 PM »

Do I have to use 'Exact Stop' rather than 'Constant Velocity' when backlash compensation is enabled (R3.043.066)?

After a long time chasing lost steps have now found that this is linked to backlash compensation. Lost steps has been as much as 9mm in one go - (between changes in direction?).  The feed rate speed was increased to 750mm/min for this test.
 When backlash compensation is turned off no steps are lost, even at this  feed rate.
Lost steps have been reduced by lowering the Backlash % max speed setting from the initial 20% to 10%. At 20% speed there ia a loud clonk on changing direction as compensation takes up the slack. (Steps lost) At 10% the movement is less violent.
Have also set 'Exact Stop' but would prefer to be in 'Constant Velocity' for better finish.

Any other experience/advice would be welcome.

Machine is Wabeco f1220E with upgraded 3.5Nm nema 34 stepper motors with G540 driver. 48v power supply.
The backlash Compensation is set to X 0.06, Y 0.04, Z 0.04
Feed rates have been reduced to 500mm/min acceleration set to 90. Step pulse set to 4 .Dir pulse at 3

2

General Mach Discussion / Feedhold issue

« on: June 04, 2014, 05:21:53 PM »

 Hi I have a Wabeco mill with gecko drive controller, Mach3 and updated stepper motors.
I have on two occasions during running a program, had the need to press feedhold. On pressing Cycle start the x and y axis has decided to go on an unprogramed path, gouging the work and turning it into scrap! This has made me nervous regarding  using this function. Would it help if I were to press stop after feedhold. I know this is necessary if the z axis needs moving to change a cutter
What is the possible course of this malfuntion and how can I fix it.
I would be most greatful for any solutions.
Cheers
John.

3

General Mach Discussion / Octimising Mach settings, help needed

« on: April 28, 2013, 02:58:41 AM »

 Hi.
I have a Wabeco cnc bench mill
  I have upgraded the controller to GeckoG540 in a bid to running faster feed speeds. The best I can reliably get is 400mm per min. Which I am a little disappointed with.

Here is the spec and settings.

Power supply. 48v switching 7.3A.
New Stepper motors.     350Ncm, 1.8 degree, 4.2A, rated voltage 3.36V.

Motor tuning.

1000 steps per.  Velocity 400.  Acceleration 90.  step pulse 3.   Dir pulse 3.
kernel speed 25000HZ.
Are there any settings that I should change that would help me achieve faster feed speeds without loosing steps. Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks
John.

4

General Mach Discussion / Problem with feed and speed wizard

« on: February 13, 2013, 02:00:36 PM »

Hi,
I am having problems with the feed and speed wizard. I first select the tool dia, eg 10mm, then afterwards any values which are put in the other boxes eg Number of cutting tips, Tool units, etc and the tool dia value changes and  returns to 0.  What am I doing wrong ?

5

VB and the development of wizards / Shape 2D.v2 Wizard

« on: January 30, 2013, 02:33:00 PM »

Regarding the Shape 2d Wizard. It asks for number of sides, radio dimension,origin and angle. I can't see where one adds the -z value and step down value. Also cutter size to be used ( offset value).

Any advice would be apprecieted.

John.

6

General Mach Discussion / Manually writing g code for first time

« on: July 01, 2012, 03:03:51 PM »

I thought I would check for any lost steps on my mill stepper motors . I wrote g code (as shown in manual page 5-15) in windows notepad.

F700
G21 G90
M98 P1234 L50
M30
o1234
G1 X100
g1 x0
M99

Run program but did not repeat as expected. I thought that the program would repeat 50 times.
 Also the last line (M99) for some reason did not appear in program run.
I would appreciate any suggestions.

7

General Mach Discussion / Motor tuning question

« on: June 06, 2012, 02:17:20 PM »

In 'Motor tuning and setup' box, it shows the max velocity at 750 mm/min. Is this the max feedrate that mach3 can run?

Thanks in advance.

8

PoKeys / Interference

« on: May 28, 2012, 01:26:15 PM »

:
 
Has any had interference activating their Pokeys device?  What cured it?
 
I am getting interference, activating inputs to my Pokeys55 device.  This is pretty serious with one event  Z axis moved towards table without any input from me. Luckly we were able to hit the e stop before damage.

We have fitted many buttons connected to pokeys to do functions such as auto tool zero, open Mach3, home. etc

We suspect a new power supply used to power  new Gecko 540 drive.  We are not suspecting the latter as we have had events while no drives were being driven.
 
Actions we are considering (before reactivating this) are to add a ferrite to the PSU mains cable, and add 0.1uf capacitors to all the input switches.
 
Comments/suggestions and if possible experience much appreciated.
 
John.

9

General Mach Discussion / Help needed re. Setting tool height mid part program

« on: August 17, 2011, 02:56:54 PM »

I am having problems setting tool height in the middle of a program. Say I break a tool or need to change cutter, I have found that the Auto tool zero does not work ( goes down to the touch plate and freezes.) Also the MPG will only funtion in velocity only mode so it is impossible to obtain exact tool height. Both the MPG and Auto tool Zero work before program is started and after it has finished.

I would appreciete any help with this matter. Thanks in advance.   John.

10

General Mach Discussion / PC has lost all my settings in Mach3

« on: November 01, 2010, 04:47:27 PM »

I wonder if anyone can help.  In 6 months I have twice lost all my settings (ports and pins, motor tuning etc) that I had saved in mach3 and had to start from scratch.
Is there a way that these settings can be saved in a separate folder so that the next time it happens I could somehow re- add these settings back into Mach3?
 I would appreciate any info on these matter.

John.