Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Please help

« on: December 19, 2020, 10:03:32 PM »

Hi all,

Had Mach 3 for years - with no issues. Lately my old XP pc has gone to a better life. I know now that Mach3 cannot run on win10 and any 64 bit system.

My CNC controller is a home built HobbyCnc one, working on the Parallel port.

Since I have not operated my machine for some time now - I really have no idea what are my options here:

Should I get another Win XP PC ?

Is there any workaround that will allow me to run Mach 3 on a win10 PC ?

Is there any gadget out there which will allow me to switch from LPT to USB and work on win 10 or Win7 with 64 bit?

Many thanks in advance.

Isaac

2

General Mach Discussion / Help with circles

« on: September 12, 2011, 04:16:16 AM »

Hello Folks

Need your assistance again.


Having problem getting a perfect or even near perfect circle - tried everything I know (which isn't much)


Made a circle on Cut2D - exported manually to Mach3 (the auto system does not work for me..) cutting the piece I get a circle that has in two opposite locations a "tip" that looks like the machine did some straight lines instead of an arc.

Looking at the circle on the tool path in Mach3 - it seems that the top part of the circle (north/south) is bigger then the other half (west east) but I don't know if this has anything to do here.

I set the I J mode tab to Inc, in Mach3 config page, and also checked the exact stop tab.

Tried to do a separate circle from the wizard in Mach3 - looks much better but still can see the pointers.

Checked my axes, can't see any mechanical fault. Did 3 passes from Zero point - the tool went exactly to the same position

To try and show the problem - I drew an exaggerated circle on CorelDraw.

Hope you can give me a hand here.

Cheers


Isaac

3

General Mach Discussion / Jogging buttons on MPG

« on: August 20, 2011, 07:02:30 AM »

Hello Folks

Another question:   I am using the jogging buttons at the bottom of the MPG window. (the one that pops-up using the TAB key) - when going to other screens or back to the first one - it goes away - hence I need to hit the tab key again and again.

Is there any possibility to set up the SW so this window will stay "on" all the time ?

Cheers


Isaac

4

General Mach Discussion / Straight corners are rounded

« on: August 15, 2011, 06:41:00 PM »

Hello Folks

Need your help again.


I am using Cut2D SW - and there, all my sharp corners are displayed as expected. However when transferring the file to Mach3 - all my corners are rounded. The part color on the screen is blue, but the corners are in red as if they were changed or marked to show someting I don't understand.

Any ideas ?


Cheers


Isaac

5

General Mach Discussion / Switches behave strangely

« on: August 02, 2011, 03:57:24 AM »

Hello folks

Need you help again please.

We hooked all up, fired up the PC and HobbyCNC proboard - managed to jog all 3
axes smoothly. Motors are locked and humming, not much heating at all - seems
prefect.

My troubles start with the switches. I know it may be a SW issue but I suspect
some HW issues as well.


Homing switches all work on the diagnostic tab in Mach3 Can see them pop up when
pushing.

When trying to share the home switch of Y axis with the Y--, it pops up a
"limit switch triggered error". I can reset, all looks good but after a second
or so, the limit error message pop up again - without any button being pressed.

When trying to reference Y axis - it behaves as if the switch is not there at
all (jumping from Z to X axis) Further more - when trying to ref Y axis
separately via the diagnostic page - the motor moves slightly and stops.

Then tried to do the limit switches - I get the limit switch triggered error no
matter what I do - high or low active - without any if them pressed.

We checked all the switches wiring - all looks good.

Home switches are hooked to pins 10 (x) 12(y) 13 (z), and the E stop is hooked
on it's NC side to the main power line going to TB6 and the NO side goes into
pin 15. (seems to work OK)

My limit switches are hooked in series to pin 11. All switches grounded to the
same ground.


Any idea where to look ?


Many thanks


Isaac

6

General Mach Discussion / New to CNC, seeking sources

« on: July 25, 2011, 09:04:04 PM »

Hello all

Since I am VERY new into CNC    - and was surfing quite a bit to get information - It seems there is so much info I have no idea where to start from.

Since I will be using a small router with Mach3 - can you guys recommend a good book, manual or e-book that explains CNC programing with the system matched best for Mach3 ?  (there are CNC numbers starting with "8" - have no idea what they are and which one is suitable for Mach3)


Any help will be very much appreciated.


Isaac

7

General Mach Discussion / Z axis help

« on: July 24, 2011, 10:32:08 PM »

Hello all

This is my first post - so you know I am a real noob :-)

I am confused with the Z axis zeroing and direction of movement:   (I will use this with a router)

In Mach 3 video - it was recommended to set the max value to zero and the min value to the actual travel of the z axis. The example was   -200. So I understand the logic is to home the z axis to the top as a safety issue. So when cutting a job - I will jog the z axis down to the work piece and zero it - then to cut the material my logic says to put negative numbers. (say -0.1)

However on the sample programs, I see some positive numbers and when trying to execcute -  I get the soft limit warning.

In the Multi pass wizard - (which I will surely use) all the numbers are positive again, and the video says to put for example 0.75 as a negative value

Can someone please help me understand this issue ?

Cheers


Isaac