Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Have I missed something?

« on: January 31, 2008, 04:38:10 PM »

Folks,
I've been a bit busy for a few days. I just noticed that the lockdown version has gone back to V2.63 from V3.0. Did something happen?


Tony

2

General Mach Discussion / Spindle Speed setup

« on: December 27, 2007, 10:46:20 AM »

Hi all,

I've just upgraded to V3.0 and am having some problems with the spindle calibration. I had, by trial & error got a pretty good calibration both in open & closed loop on my old V2.52 installation. I created a profile and carefully saved the xml, then re-installed it after the upgrade. I found that my hard won calibration had vanished!
I've not found any information about using the spindle calibration function and have always had a problem getting it to perform.  The defaults button doesn't seem to get rid of existing corrections.
Can anybody give me ?
1: A clear explanation of how Mach handles spindle speed. Is the data really in the xml?
2: How to use the setup procedure correctly.
I'm using turn, if it makes any difference.

Tony

3

LazyCam (Beta) / Lazycam & turn

« on: November 29, 2007, 12:17:21 PM »

Hi
I've just started playing with Lazycam and, as I have a lathe, I've had to fumble my way through the (apparently as yet undocumented) controls & options.
I've managed to create G code and even cut a couple of parts from DXFs. I have, however, managed to draw a simple part which seems to cause problems. It's just an excercise so it doesn't really matter, but it's not a 'difficult' part either.

The code looks ok & runs, but part way into the roughing it goes off & follows the finished profile.

The problem is caused by the groove at the left hand side. If I remove it everything is ok. I chamfered it to make it easier, but there's no difference.

Can someone try this and see if it's just something I haven't discovered yet?

Tony

4

General Mach Discussion / Arcs in Turn wizards

« on: November 21, 2007, 04:34:50 PM »

I've been playing with the turn wizards and have come across a problem with the OD arcs. When I set up say, a hemisphere, on the end of a bar  using OD Arc, the code generated is a G03. This produces a toolpath which goes all the way round through the work. If I manually change all the G03's to G02's all is ok. The same applies to the OD Arc2. I haven't tried any of the other arc wizards yet.

This is on V 2.52, which is on my lathe PC. I have the latest version  V 2.6 on another PC, just to play with, but I find that if I go into the wizards they won't post code and I can't get out of the wizard program.

Is it just me?

Tony

5

General Mach Discussion / Front & rear toolposts in Machturn

« on: November 01, 2007, 04:07:47 PM »

I've been trying to set up a simple gang tooling plate on my Boxford TCL125. This requires the use of tools from both sides of the work. I assumed that this would mean setting Rear or Front in the tool table, and setting up the offsets in a similar way to single-sided cutting. I get very strange results when I try this. The manual does suggest that switching toolposts is not a good idea but I can't see any other way to set things up.
Has anybody done anything similar ? I'm only doing this to give me something to play with while I think about a tool changer. To my great regret I passed up the chance to buy one for £90 a year ago!


Tony

6

General Mach Discussion / Spindle Speed Control

« on: October 02, 2007, 03:12:50 PM »

Hello again,

I'm still having trouble with the spindle speed control in Turn.
 I can get very good control with V2.0.65 which is the latest 'old' version that I have. The new V2.48 just gives incorrect numbers in the True speed display, the loop is not controlled and the spindle just gradually ramps up.
Reverting to the old version puts things back to normal.
Something seems to have changed.


Tony

7

General Mach Discussion / Backlash and spindle speed problems in Turn

« on: September 28, 2007, 10:43:49 AM »

Greetings all!
This is my first post, although I've been lurking for some time.
I'm in the process of rebuilding a Boxford TCL125 lathe that I aquired some time ago. Everything has worked ok so far and I had good stepper & spindle speed control using the existing motors & drivers (although I may change the stepper drivers at a later stage). This was around last Christmas using V2.0.023.
For various domestic reasons I've just picked up the job again, and updated the software to the latest V2.48.  The backlash compensation seems to produce a strange variation in the step rate, which I can only remove by turning it off. ( yes I have a little backlash in the z axis)
The spindle speed feedback does not read correctly or control the speed, which just ramps up. All my settings seem the same and I can recover the original performance by revertiing to the old version.
Any suggestions?