Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Calibrating PWM Spindle RPMs by hand

« on: March 21, 2011, 10:29:55 AM »

Is there a way to calibrate the RPMs on a PWM Spindle by hand?

Meaning instead of having the electronic feedback we can just measure the actual RPMs for a series of "S" instructions and then somehow use that to derive the calibration curve for Mach3 to use.

Thanks!

2

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 Rebooting on Startup again - Is Smooth Stepper the solution?

« on: March 21, 2011, 10:22:07 AM »

Hi.

It seems random.  You start Mach3 and after a few seconds the computer reboots.  After the computer reboots and windows comes back you start it up again and cross your fingers.  You have to keep trying until Mach loads up successfully.

I had this problem 2-3 months ago and after reinstalling XP and Mach3 from scratch the problem went away... until this week.

Is this caused by the printer driver?

I can not be rebuilding the computer ever 2-3 months.  Would using smooth stepper instead prevent this problem?

If so, is there a way to uninstall the printer driver or do I have to reblast the machine?

Thanks!

3

General Mach Discussion / Shared limit/home switches not limiting *confused*

« on: March 01, 2011, 10:35:19 PM »

Hi,

I'm using the same switch for homing and to limit travel.  Homing is working, however, when the machine is moving and I trigger the switch nothing happens.

I thought I would get the equivalent of an eStop or the same we get with a softlimits violation, but right now it just keeps on going.

Is there a flag I forgot to set someplace?

Thanks!!!

4

General Mach Discussion / Reboot in the middle of the Program

« on: February 13, 2011, 04:23:23 AM »

This is the first time it happens with this new install.  I really do not know what the issue is.  It is a clean PC.

The part is lost, time is lost, the tool did not break -- still very frustrating :-(

I'm wondering if (1) could this be a mach3 problem, (2) could it be a driver problem, (3) could it be a hardware issue -- someone once told me that some sort of signal fluctuation in the parallel port could reboot your PC.

2 questions, if you can help me...

1) What could be causes for a spontaneous reboot in an install that is/was otherwise working.

2) Would it help any if I upgraded to something like Smooth Stepper?  I would be pretty upset if I upgrade the computer, got a Smooth Stepper and a month from now I had another crash.

Is there hope?

Thanks.

:-(

5

General Mach Discussion / G73 Pullback Setting - Possible Bug

« on: January 05, 2011, 11:13:16 PM »

Hi, I just wanted to highlight what I think is a small bug and perhaps provide enough information that makes fixing it easier. Thanks!

Mach correctly saves changes to the G73 retract setting one defines under "Config>Ports & Pins>Mill Options"

However, when it starts up again it fails to read the saved settings and defaults it back to 0.1".

The issue being that since the retract is only to break the chip the 0.1" pull back is rather large, and a value of 0.01" with no dwell would be much nicer in certain cases.

6

General Mach Discussion / My mill started going backwards

« on: December 20, 2010, 09:18:14 PM »

It is weird.  It first happened in the middle of a program.  Instead of going -Y it went +Y.  I was watching it so I stopped it.  The problem continued in jog mode.  No matter which arrow (up or down) I hit the Y would only increment, never decrement (on screen and on the mill).  At times it would get confused and loose steps (as if you were changing directions too quickly).

If you just exit Mach and come back the problem will persist (yes, in jog mode).  If you reboot the computer a few times eventually it will recover and you are able to reference the mill and zero the tool, but then it may go crazy again in the middle of the g-code execution.

I think/hope it is just my XP/Mach3 install that went bad...

Have you ever run into this?

I figure I would rebuild the machine and install the latest version of Mach3.

What files do you back up and copy back to the Mach folder so that you do not loose your settings?  I suppose there is a license file some place and some configuration files... *confused*

Any advice?

Thanks!