Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / MPG issues

« on: December 14, 2013, 06:14:57 PM »

Hopefully someone can help me.  I purchased three MPG wheels off of ebay so that I can use my mill like a manual for small jobs and I thought it would be quite cool.  I tried out and got strange results.  
The MPG wheel is a 100 detent type that works from a 5v supply and on the back of the wheels are six terminals, + -, A B A- B-.  

So, with a wheel connected its own 5v supply unit I wired up the A and B terminals to two spare input terminals on my C11G board which runs through a smooth stepper.  The input indicator led's flash one after the other depending on the direction so I took that as a good sign.  I setup the ports and pins as per normal and ran through the MPG config and got 4 pulses per indent, clicked save etc.  I set the Jog settings to multi step and set the resolution to 1thou.  Now when I turn the wheel in one direction it misses a few indents and doesnt turn the required amount, when I turn the other way it hardly moves at all, missing entire turns and then twitching.  

It does seem to get a signal to mach 3 as it will move the motors but its extremely erratic and not really useable.  So, im assuming that it is a software problem.  I tried running this through my direct input board to the smooth stepper with exactly the same result.  

Can anyone with a similar unit let me know what their settings are that may affect the operation of the wheels, Mach3 runs great in every other respect.  In the ports and pins settings it says 4 yet this can be changed and doesnt seem to relate to the MPG config.  How hard can this be....

2

Sieg Machines / C3 index pulse board with three optical switches in series...

« on: August 13, 2013, 01:57:41 PM »

Hey all, I wonder if someone can help me. 

I thought I would be cheeky when setting up my optical slot homing switches on my sx3 and use them connected in series to cnc4pc's C3 index pulse board as I had this wired up already from the lathe set-up.  I was able to get two up and running but whenever I connected the third in series it wouldn't work.  Now, I am not up to date with electronics so unless it's obvious im at a loss.  Any ideas?  I'd rather not have to buy another interface board unless it was cheaply priced.   

Thanks, Rob.

3

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Many many inputs

« on: June 13, 2013, 07:41:56 AM »

Hey all,

Im well on the way to building my SX3 CNC mach based machine.  As this is my only milling machine I wanted to be able to use it as a manual machine too, so after looking on ebay I got three chinese mpg wheels and have made some mounting brackets.


I am also making my control unit in a computer box to keep everything tidy.  I plan to fit a 4th axis driver soon too.


But, this requires two inputs per axis plus some other switches to control x10 x100 etc so my question (whilst showing progress) is: are there any opto-isolated breakout boards which favour inputs over outputs i.e. I want as many inputs as possible, that work with a smooth stepper and mach3 and are cheap......

When I get some more time I will post the progress leading upto this point.

Rob.

4

FAQs / Help with Turn R2.0.053 Spindle Pulley Ratio location

« on: October 01, 2010, 11:08:18 AM »

Hey all, just a quickie.  I currently have Turn R2.0.053 and for the life of me cannot find the spindle pulley ratio box.  Any ideas where it could be would be great.  Its not on the spindle pulleys tab under config and yes my spindle is working on M3 and M4 commands but is out due to the ratio. 
Help would be great.

Rob.

5

General Mach Discussion / Automoatic tool changer macros & sensing

« on: September 27, 2010, 11:57:02 AM »

Hey all,  I have recently been playing with my new toy - a denford orac which i have fitted with a C11G and index pulse board from CNC4PC driving  two gecko 201's and it works great

My new set-up in a PC case:




It also came with an automatic tool changer and three burnt out dc motors to operate it.  They rattle, whine and burn out as they are used to keep the ratchet against its pawl in 12v reverse mode.  Well, I have fitted a small stepping motor to it with the idea that using the grey code that the 3 sensors produce with its reflective disk, it could tell where it is, rotate a set number of steps for the tool change (it operated a work at 40:1) and reverse a small amount onto the pawl, skipping a step or two and then hold. I was going to use a small cheap driver such as this http://proto-pic.co.uk/products/EasyDriver-Stepper-Motor-Driver.html.  Is this an ok idea? and can someone please give me an idea of how to write a macro for it.  I can build a system, do gcode etc but macro's scare me.  I have no idea if the greycode produced by the sensors can be used???




denford sensor drawings:

http://www.denfordata.com/bb/download/file.php?id=598
http://www.denfordata.com/bb/download/file.php?id=597

Any help would be amazing

Rob.

6

General Mach Discussion / Complete Gcode List

« on: September 25, 2010, 03:17:11 PM »

Hi, Is there a complete list of the Gcode and Mcode with descriptions that mach3 mill and slightly more importantly turn recognises?  I have recently got my lathe running ok and have started playing with the programs.  The code I have just been playing sucessfully with regards CSS and was on this forum but if it wasn't on this forum I would never have known how to do it.  Codes like G96 G48 etc dont appear anywhere on the lists i can find. 

I have a few more problems such as index vs. timing option with more than one slot and not being able to differ the step and direction pulse of the spindle and servo's but that will come later  

A published list of all the codes that we could print off would be great

Cheers, Rob.

7

General Mach Discussion / Polygon Turning

« on: June 07, 2010, 03:37:41 PM »

Can Polygon Turning be done using mach 3?  i.e. running two spindles at the same time accurately.  Im currently designing a benchtop machining centre and would love it to be able to do this   it already has live tooling for small tools (5/16" dia max), a 16c large bore spindle with auto collet closer and is about 40cm x 800cm c 40cm in size.   
My headstock spindle is servo driven with a mitsubishi 400w melservo (still wondering if this is big enough) and I am wondering if i could design the tool rack to hold a flywheeled servo driven tool maybe with a 200w servo and a hefty flywheel to dampen the cutting action.  Any ideas?

Its pretty awesome stuff...

ref videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9jMN9Bgg6g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMdBIBzGtKI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDNogxSWa-w

Rob

8

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Half Size Douglas Motorcycle :D

« on: October 07, 2009, 12:01:10 PM »

Hey Folks, ive been using Mach 3 for over a year now, coupled with writing my own programs and using Vectric's cut3D to produce parts from aluminium its turning into quite a good combo.  

  Here is my website where i have tried to describe what ive been upto!  Comments are welcome.  

 http://sites.google.com/site/HalfSizeDouglasMotorcycle    


  Cheers, Rob.

Edit: thanks, modified so the link works!

9

Tangent Corner / ARGH heidenhain HELP!

« on: June 27, 2009, 12:18:34 PM »

Ok folks, i have a heidenhain positip 855 digital readout which i have retro-fitted to my senior mill.  Its wonderful, i love it except the z axis encoder only works when its plugged into either the x or y axis then it reads perfectly.  When its plugged into the Z axis it says encoder defective   Now, the encoders are ones ive picked up from around the place but they all seem to work ok except when plugged into the z axis.  Are there any settings i have to change in the reaout for it to accept the paticular encoder i have?? I found the users manual online but its not very helpful.  It just seems strange that x and y are good.   Im pulling my hair out!!!


 Rob.