Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Settings for new UC100

« on: February 12, 2018, 09:40:20 PM »

I've been using Mach 3 for about 6 years. The old XP machine with 25 pin port finally died. I got a UC100 today, got M3 running on a Win 7 laptop, and am trying to configure the settings. Unfortunately, I don't remember the settings as well as i thought, but I have pictures showing the config screens for ports, motors, etc.

I've configured all that I know of as they were, but something is way off. (The CNC machine is all the same as before).  I configured xy&z in motor tuning with the same values as before, then told the X to move 1". It shot to the other end (about 20") so fast that I almost couldn't hit escape before crashing. I selected native units from configured, it was in metric, I changed to inches, and it still way over shoots. I could go on, but I really need to understand all the settings, (I did 6 years ago) in addition to motor settings.

Any advise on how and where to relearn?

2

General Mach Discussion / Question about Mach 3 Turn

« on: October 22, 2014, 05:19:31 PM »

This post is to ask for opinions on my plan. I have been using Mach3 on my home made milling machine. I'm now building a simple CNC lathe/mill hybrid (for wood). The turning of the lathe spindle will be controlled by a stepper motor, and cutting will be by a router traveling on the X axis.

 My first test will be to make threaded dowels, using only the X and Y axis. I'm planning to write simple G code to do this. I think I can have it move along X using a normal command.  For rotation I'm planning to trick it into thinking the Y parameters are very large, and let it think it is moving along Y while it is actually rotating the lathe spindle.

If I haven't been clear enough, here's more detail. The whole "machine" is a platform clamped to the bed of a wood lathe. The X will control the left-right motion. The Y is a stepper motor with a pulley and belt rotating the lathe spindle by another pulley on the lathe shaft behind the chuck. (The lathe's motor will be disconnected)  If the test works, I plan to add a Z axis to raise and lower the router for use with objects that are not dowels.  A simple first version may not use a stepper for Z, as I could add a bearing to follow templates matching the form of the piece. Templates will be a simple way to do decorative detail such as spiral flutes on a spindle already shaped by traditional turning. The Z axis stepper when added will allow roughing out the shape before adding finer detail.

I know this has already been done on much more sophisticated machines, and eventually, for making and embellishing complex shapes,  I will need to have a direct way to command the spindle to turn, since it will be doing more than thinking the X and Y are causing a diagonal line across a table 2' (X) by 20' (50'? 100'?)  but I don't see a version of Mach 3 that controls rotation in this way.

Any comments?