Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / goto zero

« on: March 30, 2021, 03:40:17 AM »

Hi All,  when I press goto zero my X axis sets to 0.0025. This seems to shift the whole cut in the X direction. I am cutting a mold and the cuts are all in the same direction (left to right) After each cut the X axis is returned to 0 and the y axis increments a tiny amount and the next cut is moved to the right a small amount. This is not a gcode action. If I jog x about 120 mm then goto zero the x axis returns perfectly but the dro shows x at 0.0025? Weird! Any suggestions?

2

General Mach Discussion / zero z axis in plasma

« on: April 25, 2020, 03:12:33 PM »

Hi All, I have just completed the hardware installation of a height checker and need some help with a subroutine to auto reset the z height during the execution of a plasma gcode. My sensor is a small pneumatic cylinder with a reed switch attached which I can adjust to a preset position. i have used the coolant function to deploy the probe which stops below the plasma nozzle so i can move the z axis down until the switch triggers, at this point I want to do aG92 to reset the z axis height and carry on with the job until the next move/cut. I have tried a subroutine which appears to work (does the motions etc) but does not reset the z height. See my sub below.

O1000
M7                   ( deploys the  probe )
G1 z3.000 Fxx  (slowly moves z down until switch triggers. Z going down moves probe up)
G92 Z*********x       (Resets the z height with the known value)
M9                   (stows the probe)
M99                 (return to the main gcode)

Any help will be very welcome!

3

General Mach Discussion / signal inputs

« on: April 14, 2020, 05:10:54 PM »

Hi All, Years since I have been on the forum. I have an RNR motion controller that I'm using on my plasma machine and x,y,and z control is working ok. when running a gcode file the torch on triggers fine but the thc zup and zdown do nothing? I checked on the rnr board connectors and the relevant inputs are triggering ok but giving no z control. How do I assign an action to an input signal? Set thc ports to 3 and signals to 10 11 and 12 in  ports etc config file.

4

General Mach Discussion / mpg

« on: October 09, 2012, 06:41:38 PM »

Hi AllI am using a 1000 line encoder in a home built MPG which works fine except.......when I stop moving the handwheel the axis starts tiny jog movements back and forth ans you can hear the stepper "singing to itself" I have tried 2 other encoders with the same result. Anyone have suggestions to fix?
Many thanks
Moxy

5

General Mach Discussion / accuracy problems

« on: April 28, 2011, 03:28:00 PM »

Hi All, I have just done a retrofit on a Standard Mill (Chinese knockoff of a Bridgeport) and am having problems getting the cals right on the Y axis. I finally got it set by the change and check method to the point that a 100mm move is consistantly within .01mm. When I run some gcode the result is somewhat erratic. Circles are slightly flattened in the y axis. I have tuned the motor down to 1500mm/minute  and it is the same. The x and y axes are capable of moving at 4000mm/min and 2500mm/mi respectively and sound very steady. I found that the bob 5v was very noisy when I enabled the motors and fixed that up by fitting a larger capacitor. This stopped the erratic motor movement that I was having. The noise on the 5v is now about 3 millivolts. The backlash on both axes is 0.02mm Is there anything in setting mach3 up that I may have missed?
Regards
Les

6

General Mach Discussion / calibrating

« on: February 14, 2011, 02:50:49 PM »

Hello all, I am trying to calibrate my dividing head (rotary axis) and am having the following problem. I am using the set steps utility in the settings screen and when I set the amount of degrees I want the divhead to turn a weird thing happens. If I set 360 degrees no movement occurs. If I set 359 degrees it moves 1 degree in the opposite direction. The position is correct but the stupid thing took a shortcut! If I set 330 degrees it goes 30 degrees the other way. Am I doing something completely dumb or should I operate the thing via a mirror (lol) Any ideas?

Les

7

General Mach Discussion / Timing pulleys

« on: August 03, 2008, 12:46:45 PM »

Hi Guys, can anyone help with info on timing pulley dimensions? I need to make some 3mm pitch pulleys and the maths is driving me nuts! If you multiply the number of teeth of your pulley by 3 (pitch) you get the circumference and from there you can calculate the diameter. So far so good. When you cut the pulley the pitch is too coarse. Not good! I have some commercially made pulleys and measured them and the diameter of a 13 tooth comes out at 11.6 mm and the calculated diam is about .8 mm bigger. This is unfortunately not a constant and will increase with larger pulleys.(i think!)
Any suggestions
Les

8

General Mach Discussion / gcode

« on: May 03, 2008, 04:26:56 PM »

Hi all, I'm using Eagle pcb to design (guess what!) pcbs and would dearly like to know how to convert my hard work into a gcode file. Any help will be much appreciated.
Many thanks
Les

9

General Mach Discussion / error code

« on: November 21, 2007, 03:31:48 PM »

Hi everyone, I have just loaded ver 3.60 and was using the gear cutting wizard. The job was running fine but during the run a popup appeared ststing that an error ,art code 3336 had occurred and did I want to try and repair it. If yes is selected, nothing happens....the job keeps on running to the end. If no, then Mach is immediately terminated. Anybody seen this?

Best regards
Les

10

General Mach Discussion / lazycam pro

« on: September 24, 2007, 10:25:53 AM »

Hi Everyone,
                 I,m using turbocad version 4 (free download ) and find that lazycam pro does not seem to undrstand what an elipse is. I save my files as DXF and everything shows except the elipses. Tried saving as HPGL and all was well but scale was nuts. It started with a move about 580 mm and the whole job is about 120 mm. Any help much appreciated
Les