Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Going from Solidworks to Mach3

« on: February 16, 2007, 05:25:27 AM »

Hi All,

Excuse this newbie question.

I have access to Solidworks and MasterCam from work.  I would like to get from a 3D model (in solidworks) to G-code for Mach3.  Could someone spell out the steps necessary.

Thank You,
Jonathan

2

General Mach Discussion / IBM T60 Laptop Compatibility

« on: February 16, 2007, 05:22:57 AM »

Hi All,

I've read many post regarding laptop incompatibility with Mach but...
I would like to know if the following configuration would work with Mach3

IBM Thinkpad T60
Intel Core Duo Processor: T2400 1.83GHz
RAM: 1GB DDR2
Hitachi 60 GB Serial ATA
Video Card: Intel 950 Graphics card

Many thanx,
Jonathan

3

General Mach Discussion / Help with Mach3Mill Motor Tuning

« on: March 25, 2006, 04:13:30 PM »

Following a friend's recommendation I jumped head's first into this project bypassing TurboCNC and other software options and selected Mach3.

I have went thru the installation video tutorial and followed it step by step.
When I got to the motor tuning section, the motor would not move.

Hardware Connection
1. IBM T40 Laptop parallel port -> cnc4pc Bidirectional Breakout Board (BDBB).
2. External 5VDC -> cnc4pc BDBB 5VDC & Enable.  GND -> GND.
3. BDBB pin 2 -> Gecko 201 STEP.
   BDBB pin 3 -> Gecko 201 DIR.
   BDBB 5VDC -> Gecko 201 COMMON
   - BDBB jumper set to 2-3 position for output
4. External 24VDC connected Gecko 201 24 to 80 VDC.  GND -> POWER GND.
5. Gecko phase A -> homeshopcnc RHT23-260 stepper black wire
   Gecko phase B -> homeshopcnc RHT23-260 stepper green wire
   Gecko phase C -> homeshopcnc RHT23-260 stepper red wire
   Gecko phase D -> homeshopcnc RHT23-260 stepper blue wire

When I power everything up the motor does lockup.  But when I attempt to jog it under Mach3 Motor Tuning it does not move (I have touched on the graph then UP/DOWN key).

My T40 laptop have 4.85 VDC output thru the parallel port.
I have since tried it with a desktop, swamping out with another set of gecko 201 driver and bypassing the cnc4pc break out board but still no motion.
I have checked all gecko 201 drive, resistance between POWER GND and PHASE is 99 KOhms, indicating the driver is still good.

Here's the mach3mill.xml file for reference.

Please help this Mach3 newbie.