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Topics - neptune

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1
General Mach Discussion / Safety First
« on: July 07, 2011, 01:13:49 PM »
Hi Guys

Having just read a recent post about operating Estop button with mouse, I thought I would add my advice to that of many others who say that you really must have a hard wired emergency stop switch which is easily accessible, cuts off all power to spindle and drives and is independent of software.

I have 30 odd years experience as a machinist and should really know better, but we all do stupid things sometimes. The other day i was turning a large piece of bar in the lathe. The chuck jaws were protruding well beyond the diameter of the chuck which was peventing me from fully closing the chuck guard. I was in low gear running only at about 100 RPM, but with lots of torque.

As I reached over the lathe to get something from a shelf, my Teeshirt slipped out of my waistband and was immediately caught up in the jaws of the chuck. This twisted me around and pulled me down towards the ground with the chuck jaws pounding against my back. I aimed a good hard blow at the mushroom switch which is my emergency stop button and all power was immediately disconnected. Unfortunately, in my panic I slammed my knee into the machine. The result of all this was a badly bruised back, a broken leg and 3 days in hospital.

However if I had to rely on getting to the mouse and finding the Estop icon on the screen, it could have been a lot worse. Experienced machinists will know that you should not wear loose clothing whilst operating machinery. It is also not a good idea to reach over moving machinery, but above all you need a reliable way of stopping the machine quickly in the avent of an emergency.

I hope my experiance may be of benefit to newcommers to machining and perhaps just a reminder to everyone else.

Neptune

2
SmoothStepper USB / Smooth Stepper MDI problem
« on: October 09, 2010, 05:40:22 AM »
Hi

I recently changed to smooth stepper on my lathe. Everything seems to work fine except I cannot run anything from the MDI. Jogging works fine, running G Code from files works fine, but if I try to run a single command such as an axis move from MDI, the system locks up and I cannot jog or start spindle. all controls are dead. Pressing Estop then resetting clears the fault and everything is then back to normal, but if I try again to enter anything via MDI, the same thing happens.

Grateful if anyone has any ideas.

Neptune

3
General Mach Discussion / Indexing Problem with R.3.042.032
« on: November 10, 2009, 06:42:31 AM »
Hi

Is anyone else having problems with indexing in the latest release.

I have been running R.3.042.020 for some months, using a single slot index disc with a good stable RPM indication.
I upgraded to R.3.042.031. and experienced the following problems:

Under automatic spindle control (Digispeed controller and VFD) RPM is showing as a negative eg. -218 RPM at a true speed of 500 RPM. Under manual spindle control (potentiometer and VFD) RPM indication is 0 RPM at all times.

I changed back to R.3.042.020 and normal speed indication was restored in both auto and manual spindle control. I then upgraded to R.3.042.032 and had the same problems as above.

If I run the Turn Diagnostics plugin, I am getting a Rotation Speed Realtime of 501 RPM in both cases and an Application End RPM of minus 218 RPM under auto spindle control or 0 RPM under manual spindle control.

I have now reverted again to R.3.042.020 and speed indication is normal again in both auto and manual.

Just wondering if anyone else is having problems.

Peter

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