Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Auto Zero Plate/Ports and Pins

« on: October 14, 2015, 03:20:35 PM »

My machine came with a wired touch plate (or offset block).  I've had the machine for 9 months now, and never bothered to try to set it up because it would activate the E-stop whenever contacted.  I've just been zeroing Z the old fashioned way.  I decided it would be nice if it worked and have been doing some searching.  There are a couple of good YouTube videos explaining the setup, and I tried to follow that process.  The first thing I noticed was that the PIN# for both the E-Stop and Probe is 10.  That would make sense with the probe behaving like the E-Stop switches.  I'm not sure why it would be installed that way, though.

I downloaded the Auto Zero programming text that was attached to one of the videos (and seems to be available many other places).  It works until the contact is made.

Is it safe to assume that I need to rewire the touch plate to another PIN# on the breakout board to isolate it from the E-stop circuit?
    

2

General Mach Discussion / Why is this happening at higher feed rates?

« on: June 07, 2015, 06:35:10 PM »

The effect in the photo occurs at 300 ipm and lessens as I slow the feed rate.  I have to slow the feed rate down to 50 ipm before I can get acceptable, clean corners, but that's just way too slow.

Sorry if this has already been discussed at length.  I just wasn't sure what keywords to search for.

3

General Mach Discussion / How do you have your CNC accessories wired? (Dust collections, vacuum, ect?)

« on: April 14, 2015, 10:00:09 AM »

I'm still working toward getting my setup to be user-friendly, and I was wondering how everyone has their various accessories setup to be controlled when starting/ending a job.  I will eventually have a dust collector, spindle cooling pump, vacuum system, misting system, and probably another thing or two that I haven't even considered yet.  I won't be using all of these things all of the time, so I can't combine them into a single switch.  I was curious if anyone uses Mach to control anything besides a misting system?  I had been worrying about forgetting to plug in the spindle cooling pump, but I soon found out that the spindle won't even rev up without the pump being on.  That was a relief.

It's a slight inconvenience to run around switching things on and off.  It would just be nice to stand in one spot and be able to control everything

4

General Mach Discussion / Spindle Controls

« on: April 10, 2015, 09:57:06 AM »

HI.  I'm new to CNC and Mach3, and I have just started cutting my first few projects.  My design software is Aspire, and I'm or sure if this is controlled by Aspire or Mach.  When I start my program, the machine goes to the start point and the spindle starts.  The problem is that the spindle is not nearly up to full speed before it engages the wood.  Is this strictly a G-code issue generated my Aspire that can be helped by making my start point further away from the wood, or is this something that I can adjust in Mach?  Do I need to start the spindle manually in Mach before I run the program?

Also, at the end of a program, is the spindle supposed to shut down on it own, or do you have to stop it manually?  Mine doesn't stop.  I'm standing right there, so it's not a big deal to hit the red button, but it would be nice if it shut down on it's own at the end of a run.

Thanks.

5

General Mach Discussion / Trouble with soft limits, slow zone

« on: March 22, 2015, 08:38:53 PM »

I've been working on the initial setup of my new woodworking CNC.  I have my motors tuned, my soft limits set, and all my axes moving in the correct direction.  I am able to REF ALL and zero out all the axes in machine coordinates.

The problem comes with the slow zones and the axes moving away from the home switches, as shown in the "Homing, Limits, and Offsets" video.  When I REF ALL, the machine goes to the home switches at full speed and stops abruptly at the home switches.  It does not slow down on approach or move off the switches.  I have my slow zone set at 1".  The only time I am able to get a slow movement is when I am jogging the Z at both extremes of my soft limits.  Any suggestions?

Also, the presenter in the video (sorry, never caught his name) said to go to the diagnostics page and toggle the home switches.  Mine do not toggle on and off like he shows, so I'm not sure what that means and if that's and indication of anything.

Are slow zones suppose to always work when your soft limits are active, whether you are toggling, REF ALL, running a program, etc?  I understood it to be a safety measure that is active all the time when the soft limits are active, but maybe I misunderstand.

I have included a couple screen shots that may help.

Thanks,

Andy