Topics

1

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / what the? coilwinder!

« on: November 04, 2019, 05:01:22 AM »

i had to rebuild an induction coil from, iunno... 1890? the lovely smell of silk-wound rosin-sealed paper-insulated coils...

anyway. whatever. thats irrelevant.

but i did have to whip up a quick winder, what with 12000+ turns...(took me a day to unwind, and of course my counter decided to stop at 3000 or so...) pulled apart the old 3dprinter, started looking at arduino, the cruddy board from the printer, saw accelstepper, screamed, stole the gecko g540 from my mill instead... gcode is so much easier...

my code.

g21 g91 (metric, incremental, no need to zero or home)
f10000
m98 p1 l100
m30
o1
m98 p2 l100
m1
m98 p3 l100
m1
m99
o2
g01 x0.25 a360
m99
o3
g01 x-0.25 a360
m99

pretty simple. allows me to enter different coils nice and easy.
P1 L(x) is half the number of layers.
P2 is feed right, wire diameter, rotate A, however many times it needs to be.
P3 is return to zero but keep rotating A.
pausing after each layer to wrap it in paper.

obviously incremental so i can keep spinning that A. i might change that to 359 degrees though, so i can stagger the overlaps of insulation... makes a big lump otherwise.


so, it seems to be working, and i did figure out the one actual ISSUE i had, which was it would keep incrementing up by 0.25 every cycle... as far as i can tell, i had the P1 M99 command right at the end of everything rather than at the end of that particular subroutine (line 10 was my last line previously)... newbie, can you tell? just figuring out where the M30 is meant to go took a while!

i havent actually wound the second coil yet, so im yet to see. my dry run worked as expected this time. (had to hit Estop every few layers and nudge the feeder back over a smidge on the first one...)

so.

what i am getting still is the toolpath display seems to reset after traveling approx 20.75mm either way.

its not an issue, it still seems to function fine... but is anyone else getting the same thing if they try to run it?

and if so, WHY? ive never had any g-code do that before!

i doubt its the demo mode being the blame. (it is licensed, i just havent registered it yet. only blew the dust off that PC yesterday and installed mach3. keep meaning to find an old copy of XP and do a format/reinstall... nice clean CNC dedicated puter for once! ha ha. i will miss the sound media player makes when you fire up mach3...)

what else? there was something else bugging me... um...

oh! yeah!

any ideas how to count the number of cycles? i prefer to have my 360 rollover enabled, and i guess i could just leave it and divide by 360, but it would be nice to know exactly how many turns and layers i have completed...

is there a limit to how high it can display, btw?

this wire is 0.2mm under the silk. it tends to break occasionally (i blame the rosin and the quick and nasty tensioner/wire guide...). its pretty tricky to get going again, and all too easy to lose track...

and as i have a roll of 0.1 for future coils (wee! 50,000 turns!) it may be handy if i can just glance at the screen and know...

yeah yeah... just use an endstop switch or a trigger on the shaft... its just... i dont wanna open the box my gecko lives in to attach extra wires!

yeah yeah... just stick a socket in the gecko box and plug in and then i can simply unplug... like, i do have switches on the CNCmill, right? i had to undo them, right?

yeah...right... wink wink.  theres only ONE important switch! that massive red one...

it would be nice to do it with the software instead... i spent longer making the bobbin supports than i did making the winder itself... switches are a hassle! meant to be winding coils, not making coil winders...


ah well. its good to actually write some code after a 1year hiatus... even better when its got practical benefits rather than making a mess...

2

General Mach Discussion / angle slot wizard being strange on arc slot.

« on: July 20, 2018, 11:57:27 PM »

ok, first up...sorry if this isnt the place. i tried searching and came up trumps.

so. im trying to cut a slot and an arc slot.

using the included angle slot wizard, i can make the straight slot no problems.

now, i then want an arc using the same xy zero point as the straight slot.

so... i plug in the xy coords, the radius of arc, blah blah. all good.

when i tap in the start and finish angles though...

first off... i type in 270 say. it decides it requires a minus sign in front of it. thats no problem. any figure over 90 and it automatically sticks a minus sign in front of it. i can work around that and figure out my coords to be in reverse...

the problem is that if i try any arc with a start and finish angle of anything other than 90 to 270, it wont generate the code. i cant get rid of the minus sign. it tells me things like arc chord length is a negative value, once it threw back an error that the tool diameter was too small...

it used to work, ive used it before (like, before i formatted my HD and reinstalled win7 and downloaded the latest mach3 release.... if that means anything?), but right now...its not doing what is expected!

maybe some screenshots will explain it better.
screenshot 1. the only arc it has decided its willing to create.

screenshot two. lets try changing that start angle...all is good, it did that. it even allowed 110 degrees to stay as a positive.

screenshot 3... my desired start and finish angles. i did NOT put that minus sign in front of 135!

and obviously, its the same g-code as screenshot2. it simply wont generate my desired arc.

i have just spent an hour or so plugging in various coords and so far, thats all it is doing. creating an arc from around 90 degrees start to 270 degrees finish, a 180 degree arc facing the wrong way... i actually want from 45 to 135.

so...is there something wrong with what i am doing here, or do i give up and go use the arc cut wizard instead? i just prefer the finish and ramp on the angle slot wizard... for obvious reasons.

3

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / one day, ill go cnc :) spherical boring/turning

« on: June 15, 2013, 08:58:21 AM »

i had a mission, to make a high compression head, with a squish band, and a hemispherical combustion chamber!

well, gemoetry simply ended up smacking my bottom and telling me i was naughty. that was basically the end result. silly law of volume versus area! you cant get a squish band in a 50cc head while retaining a decent volume on the hemisphere.

anyways.

i have a mill with cnc fitted, thats cool.

i dont have a lathe with cnc.

so boring a hemisphere posed a challenge.

well, i rose to the challenge i stuck my thinking cap on and looked at things upside down.

1 32dp rack.
1 small lathe
1 (or two) lumps of alloy
1 piece of brass
1 piece of 70mm steel.
1 32dp gear from an RC starter(HSP or HPI?)... never counted teeth
1 lunatic

and i maded it! vanquished!

i have a rack on the cross slide.

gear is mounted against rack in alloy blocks, with brass bushes for bearings, vertically under spindle.

70mm lump of steel was turned down, and hexed partially to drive hex inside small gear, forming a turntable.

very dodgily drilled and tapped and used mill clamp on badly sharpened tool just to test it out.

works perfectly

the turntable is going to be thinned down somewhat, with some sorta toolpost. later on, one day...tomorrow!

unfortunately, as its fixed on the centre line, its not suited for spherical TURNING, only boring really.

but it was the only way i could think of to get the pivot in far enough to do a 25mm hemisphere, for instance.

for which it will need a toolpost, cus the clamps getting in the way currently and i can only go in so far before hitting chuck jaws!

4

General Mach Discussion / is it worth plasma-rating?

« on: June 15, 2013, 08:32:45 AM »

i gotta cut profiles in thin steel. 0.8 to 1mm. some 5mm for flanges, but thats only a small amount.

making tuned pipes up. see pic

so ive settled on a final layout, generated profiles, and so far...bandsaw, paper templates, cutting, time consuming. cool to do one or two, nightmare to do fifteen.

having played plasma cutter a few years ago, i finally decided i needed one.

now i have one

i got one quote for a set of profiles...roughly 10 a section, and with 28 sections to a pipe... not a nice quote at all. definitely not nice when im figuring to sell em around half that... with 13 sections only!


i want to cut profiles. just how accurate is a plasma cutter? ive seen good results, but never run a cnc plasma. does it have an offset like tool offset on mills that is the orifice diameter or something (kerf)? i know that by hand its a matter of give up. straight lines, maybe, but following a line, no way. great for hacking, bad for profiling.

i need these profiles to be better than i can get with the bsaw. thats pretty good but not perfect. each and every imperfection means i need filler rod means time means money! and also minor deviations from the exact result desired...a frustra! how frustrating :p sections of cones for the non geometrically inclined  

at the moment, im just happy to make a pantograph and trace the profiles with a timber template, but im looking at doing the cnc approach later as i have mach3 already. maybe i should build a table anyway and link it to a pantograph makes sense huh?

so. will it be up to cutting these profiles without rounding corners or under/oversizing? like, 0.1mm tolerance say? i know the slag is more a matter of my setup on the torch etc.

and then, whats the easiest software to convert my dxf templates into actual gcode? cheap cheap?

thc...tool height control? so, basically a short travel Z axis, thats reacting to arc current/voltage and material thickness somehow? has to be fairly rapid?


all so many things to learn!


thanks for tolerating me. if you do

5

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / water cooled head for motorised pushbike

« on: June 15, 2013, 08:07:54 AM »

im baaaack!


i been making a mess again 

what did i do?


well, i got to playing with making heads on the lil x2 baby!

first, turning a hemisphere. this pic isnt actually the head this threads about! and neither is the hemi turner! thats later...

neither is the second. but a good demonstration of software. i have deskproto and meshcam. to cut a profile like this, meshcam wins, hands down. despite some of the odd moves. theres not enough fins, i should have used a 6mm cutter and stuck with my original parallel fin plan. i got lots of performance just before getting lots of auto detonation

third is the head, undergoing water passage creation. i felt like a rainbow serpent or summink once again, meshcam. bit of chopping with the code and i got it done in 10 mins i need coolant on this beasty still...


fourth, all fitted up with a plug after a good run. performance? awesome


no more pics? hmmmph.

thats about it. i tried making a pump with neo magnets to drive off the magneto. failure. nice machining. i took no pics anyways

oh well.... now onto the topic i came here about...

6

FAQs / edit gcode... where does the file go?

« on: March 21, 2013, 04:06:20 AM »

on the puter im on right now, my room puter, i just have mach3 to try out code in the comfort of my lounge.

i start with no file loaded, and hit edit gcode.

i write something simple like g00 x 10 y55 z-22 a256

i click close, and get the prompt to save changes.

i click yes and whatever i have written appears and is displayed.

normally. on this puter it doesnt cus i once clicked "save as" and saved file on a memory stick.

now when i "edit gcode" i click close and nothing appears.

how do i get it to reappear? wheres the file location that it does load? whats the string?

i know i can save it in a particular location and find it again, but its not convenient.


arrrgh!


if i hit edit gcode with a file loaded, and fiddle with it, its cool.

will just uninstalling and starting again help?

7

Mach Screens / reversing "A" axis rotation on toolpath display?

« on: March 18, 2013, 08:37:36 AM »

allo! its about my screen, so im gunna put it here with "screens".

i made a little turbine impeller the other day, ripped out the gcode on deskproto still under trial rights.

so, the image i used is a left handed turbine. it spins clockwise to "suck".

wasnt really an issue, its more just fiddling, but!

it wasnt until id finished that i realised that it was now right handed!

the image is still left handed. but the toolpath display is right handed when i load the code onto mach3.

i obviously have axis rotation enabled in configurations.

now, obviously theres no Y offsets or i would have made a mess, not a mirror image.

so, if the hand of the turbines an issue, i can either rewrite the code by flipping the image, or by flipping the direction control in the settings(saves writing new code,huh?). im wary of doing this as then my table rotates in reverse to the toolpath display!

i currently have it set up so it rotates with the display, thankyou very much! :p but this appears to be incorrect

now, flipping images and rotation directions also affects whether im climb milling or not. new gcode for a flipped image is different, obviously(strategies...), though now i know i can mirror things with the click of one setting if i dont mind what way it cuts! i vaguely recall when i first ran the code thinking "so much for choosing climb..." but if the tables rotating the wrong way of course it wouldnt climb anymore!

what i want to know is...

how do i change the direction the display rotates in mach 3? without affecting parts produced or by perpetually living with it being round backwards? is it even possible?

changing stepper direction doesnt affect the toolpath displayed.

not that ive noticed, at least. didnt try the old close and reopen trick...

OOOOOOORRRRR

maybe its just deskproto being in trial mode thats doing it?


anyways. its not critical, i could live with it being backwards if i have no choice, but id rather have a choice, yes? and its going to bug me until i know for sure!

8

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / 1 inch impellor

« on: March 18, 2013, 08:18:49 AM »

  im learning!


i could post lots of pics but for now ill stay on topic....

a lil 1 inch impeller i maded

lets see... sieg x2 with cncfusion ballscrew kit, big long steppers(iunno what torque anymore! lots!) and a gecko g540 (note other bits on keyring... a gecko and some motor mount i made for an rc bike but stuffed by forgetting about the sprocket... another topic!)

back to me gizmo. vertex 4 inch table with 2:1 belt drive. made on my machine too now i think of it!

STL file. dont ask...? scaled to 24mm dia, roughed with 2mm endmill, semi finished with 2mm ball, something like 0.5mm waterlines? snapped the only 0.8 i had almost instantly on final pass. cheap chinese carbide!  where do i get sub millimetre bits from? im impressed with how ebay 3flute HSS endmills cut (a 2mm ender rapid plunged 7mm into ali is pretty good in my book...) but cant find much under 2mm in HSS...

oh. deskproto for the code... a few lil hiccups but still not bad for demo version!

9

FAQs / a FAQ that doesnt seem to have been asked...

« on: January 24, 2013, 01:49:42 AM »

whats the minimum requirements for a small portable device that WONT EVER RUN A MACHINE so i can muck around with snippets of gcode when the mood strikes? can i get away with a tiny lil pocket PC? dont have a smartphone and i WILL SHOOT anyone that suggests that option

i get my best ideas when im not near a computer.... its like recording music. so many ideas until you hit record 

10

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / getting brutal with arcs and sub routines...

« on: January 23, 2013, 06:38:23 AM »

this is fun. this is weird.

should i play a game of "spot the difference"?

right! i chopped up a wizard!

resulting in this...

___________________________


G0 G49 G40  G17 G80 G50 G90
M6 T1(TOOL DIA. 5)
G21 (mm)
M03 S300
G00 G64 A0.0
Y0.0 X0
G00 G43 H1  Z15
M98 P0001 Q5
X0
Z15
M5 M9
M30


O0001
(Start_pos = 10)
G00 G43 H5  Z15 G90
X0 Y0
G01 Z10 F500
G3 X-12.5 Y-12.5 Z-5 I0 J-12.5 F1000
G00 Z15
X0 Y0
G91 A72
G90
M99

_______________________


it is(was) a cut spline, modified for some bizarre reason. note my nasty insertion of a Z move in the g3 arc.(another brutalised wizard)

it makes quite a pretty pattern when " A axis rotation enabled" is selected from the config>toolpath box. im proud. its my first bit of g code ive put some thought into and im learning lots!

it started life as a 4 spline in the wizard. so i worked out the subroutines and q numbers, g90, g91, g64 and g43. im learning!

heres my weird bit of code. look close!
__________________________________


G0 G49 G40  G17 G80 G50 G90
M6 T1(TOOL DIA. 5)
G21 (mm)
M03 S300
G00 G64 A0.0
Y0.0 X0
G00 G43 H1  Z15
M98 P0001 Q5
X0
Z15
M5 M9
M30


O0001
(Start_pos = 10)
G00 G43 H5  Z15 G90
X0 Y0
G01 Z10 F500
G3 X-12.5 Y-12.5 Z-5 I0 J-12.5 F1000
G00 Z15
X0 Y0
A0
G91 A72
G90
M99

______________________


the difference comes from firstly, trying to add some "A" rotation as well as the "Z" move in the arc.
that didnt work at first. it resulted in a strange knot.

so return the "A" to zero . knot remains. a different knot, mind you.

stuffed around with various combinations of - and + figures, knots knots knots.... pretty but not as pretty as i want!

removed my "A" rotation from the arc move  

the knots remain. wtf?

the addition of a simple "A0" has seemingly made the g91 call void... instead of indexing around by 72 degrees, the subsequent moves are all on top of each other.

i havent actually tried the code on a mcahine yet....maybe its just mach3's  display having a hissy fit and the a axis is really rotating?

me thinks not.


see what i want to do? cut an XY arc with some Z in it too, combined with a bit of spin on the A axis... i just want it to return the A to zero afterwards, index, and repeat routine! grrrrr! not make knots!


ha ha. 2nd paragraph of gcode summary G02/03  


its in my blood to be difficult...


its a shame theres only one "axis of rotation" you can select in the config.toolpath box... i like watching gears/splines running. spherical faced spiral gears anyone?