Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / USB usage

« on: October 05, 2013, 09:29:29 PM »

I got a CNC machine a while ago and am a licensed user of the Mach software may be a little out of date since I haven't had a lot of time to use it recently and I have a basic question. So don't flame on me if it is too basic or it is a well repeated question. I looked around on the site and a lot has changed and I am wondering my system uses the parallel port for the data transfer from my PC to the CNC machine and I was wondering if it can be to use the USB port instead and if so what does it take to so I was looking at another CNC machine and it has USB on it so I was wondering if I could use the Mach software via just the USB port.

IF so could some one please let me know somewhat in detail exactly what I would need to make this work.

Thank you and I apologize if I am just out of times with the version of this software

2

FAQs / Tooling

« on: June 12, 2011, 04:23:32 AM »

Hi everyone, just a quick question.What are some sources for bits especially ballend end mills I was thinking 1/8 - 3/16 shaft fairly small cutting diamter as my current focus  is lithographs. My materials are nothing special just acrylic sheets from an 1/8 to 1/4 inch  thick.

This is more of a general request though,most good sources would have what I need, I just need to find them.

You know, go with this good place; beware of this place kinda thing.

My cutting tool is a craftsman dremel so nothing to fancy yet unless anyone has a real inexpensive cutting laser for thin balsa wood handy they want to get rid of.


So what are your bit sources
Please help me out
Thanks
Jeff

3

General Mach Discussion / stopping Mach III

« on: June 03, 2011, 03:25:07 PM »

Hi all I just hadthis happen again so I thought I would ask might be a "my computer" issue but wanted to check.

Anyone have trouble stopping Mach III
Mach III crashed on me  and I couldn't restart I would click on it the icon and nothing would happen so I checked Windows task manager and saw MachII was still running I tried forcing it to close  but it still would not close I had to re boot in order to get Mach II to run again any ideas on this

Jeff

By the way I still love this program and am very happy with it. I am amazed on how accurate things can be cut using this software.Thanks again

4

General Mach Discussion / stopping and restarting a job smoothly

« on: June 03, 2011, 03:18:42 PM »

Hi all,
Just a simple question I am running an extremely long job (very detailed lithograph)but the bad news is I am running inside a room in my Apt. so although the noise is Ok during the day my neighbors probably wouldn't care to hear it all night along so I need to stop the job mid way and then restart this could be at any point during the run so what is the best way to accomplish this.
 I tried the stop and then run from this line but I ended up with a noticble line where the job was stopped any other better proedures out there

Thanks
Jeff

5

General Mach Discussion / subroutines

« on: October 16, 2010, 04:41:08 PM »

HI everyone even though I am still new at CNC programming I am making headway I have the book that everyone seems to be talking about but I am having a bit of difficulty in setting up my first subroutine. I have a drawing that I want to make into a subroutines and simply adjust the z axis lower by the same amount in each iteration. A job suited nicely with subroutines.(ie multi pass)
The drawing has a small cutout in the center and then another shape the outer edge. I will attach the .tap file from mach. Anyway I successfully made it process the subroutines the amount of times but I can't seem to get the Z axis to adjust incrementally I believe I am correct in using the G91 - G91.1 CNC commands but something is off and as soon as I try to make what I think is an insignificant change to test I get something that says all words I J K don't exist or something along those lines.

I have several jobs that will all be using this same subroutines structure 3 iteration pass of a small cutout circle and a 3 iteration pass of the outer edge.
So with a little help and guidance I may be able to get all my jobs created and running soon.

The object is a gear with a center hole cut out, if my previous explanation was insufficient(Hope this one helps)

I have looked at the book regarding subroutines which is how I got most of it working but the incremental increase in the z axis on each pass is eluding me

6

LazyCam (Beta) / Z Inverts

« on: October 06, 2010, 02:04:36 PM »

HI I have a strange problem.

Here is what I am doing.

I have a gear in 1/8 inch stock that I am trying to cut out
so I make the dxf in autocad and use lazycam to import the dxf which works fine if I sto there I can go back into mach3 and cut the part. I set the top surface as zero for z and the part gets cut just fine.

However, if use the lazycam feature I just paid for which is the offset. I want to offest the cutline to the outside of where it is current is so I select the cutline  and the choose the offset button, select the tool, here is where I get a little confused I would think that I choose outside for the direction of the offset but the new cutline appears to be inside the original cutline so I end up choosing the inside offset this at least looks right (if someone can explain this  it would be appreciated as well) but back to my z issue. After I choose the "inside offset" I press the offset button.  I delete the original cutline and post the code to mach 3.

I expect it to cut just as the previous cut went except the cutline has been adjusted outward.  But what happens is that my z axis movement is now going up instead of downas if I am cutting the part from the bottom.

If I stop the code from running and try to jog the z axis it works just fine up is up and down is down
I have added two attachments  10611.tap is the correct cut prior to offsetting and 10612.tap is after the lazycam offset function.

7

General Mach Discussion / Can this be done in Mach3

« on: September 27, 2010, 12:48:21 PM »

Is there a way to store an x,y,z  position other than 0,0,0 and then go back to it automatically

8

General Mach Discussion / default position of cut

« on: September 22, 2010, 03:19:39 AM »

Hi I will tell you first I am new at CNC and still learning quite a bit every day. My latest question has to do with the positioning of the cut line. does Mach3 default to the center of the cutting tool diameter or 0 if none exist. For instance if I have a tool that has a 1/8" diameter endcutting bit setup and make a 1" x 1" square. If I measure it will the square be 1" x 1" when measuring from the outside edge, the inside edge or the center of the cutpath. I will assume it is the center. If this is indeed the case, is there a Gcode command or something that I can use to adjust for the actual width of the cutpath to make the 1" x 1" square measure that way from either the inside edge of the cut or the outside edge automatically based on Gcode know the tool cutting diameter. I know I can do it  manually using an offset for a line but what about a circle. How does an the offsetting of the cutpath get adjusted for curves I picture trying to cut a path similar to the letter 'S' on its side the offset would get screwed up.

Very confused at this point
Jeff

9

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Code Sample

« on: September 20, 2010, 03:24:02 AM »

Hi, this may be an easy one for you all but I am not sure. So here is the question the end result is sort of a stair step pyramid in the center of a round pocket cut so that the top of the pyramid is the same height as the top edge of the material. I guess another way to describe it is concentric cylinders and to threow anoterh wrench into thing I need to cut all the way through the last cylinder about 1/16 from its edge.

Is there a name for this kind of cut? O r is it simply using bit widths and so on.
I added a picture if my description was not good enough.
If this is not a special kind of cut the mach knows how to do or there is a trick to I would start out as follows

I would start with 5/8 inch stock
mill out the center hole
then step out the width of the edge of that first wall
mill out the remaining parts to this secondary depth the step out again the width of the second step
and then mill out the remaining area to create the third step.

Do you think lazycam may be able towork out the GCODE for the cuts?

10

General Mach Discussion / Is there a NUBE gotcha list etc.

« on: September 19, 2010, 02:17:47 AM »

I was wondering if I missed it. A place for all those that are new to CNCing to find the things that are not that intuitive. For instance the screen/power saver after I had a part ruined by my screen saver kicking in I checked the forum and indeed it is stated that you should NOT have any power/screen saving utilities running. I guess I missed that now I know but if there is n't a place like a STICKY NOTE giving a list of items like this maybe someone witha  great deal of knowledge may be able to put one together  that others can add to.


Such as a check list
load file
verify coords
verify tool
verify spindle speed
verify feed rate
etc

there may be more but those are all that come to the mind of a NUBE
something like this probably could have saved me some misteps
Jeff