Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: strange holes

« on: August 11, 2006, 09:51:20 AM »

In the picture on your first post, are the 'stange holes' where the cutter starts cuttting that section?

Yes and I think I have figured it out. I had the some settings wrong for my z axis too many steps so it was going deeper than it was supposed to but only on z.
Thanks

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: What causes lost steps?

« on: August 10, 2006, 10:47:59 PM »

This is lost steps Slow down the axis a bit and slow down the accel's. this is the first step.. what do you have for a stepper driver?

I figured it out although I am not sure what I did! I have an older camtronics board driving my motors. I looked at the board and at each axis there appears to be the same setup as far as chips, resistors and things.
ONe of the things is a small whitesh gray rectangle with a very small flat head screw in it. I have no idea what they are or do but turning that screw stopped the problem. Turn it one way and the motor stops turn it the other and it goes.
As you can tell I am new to this. LOL.
It was driving me crazy because it worked fine, I buy mach3 and vcavre today, fire them up and the machine does this!
That srcew must have worked its way loose I guess.

Anyone want to enlighten me as to what I did? I can post a picture if need be.
Thanks for the help.

3

General Mach Discussion / What causes lost steps?

« on: August 10, 2006, 07:30:31 PM »

I am not sure if I am losing steps. But this is what happens. I try to cut a 1 inch sqaure at about .01 deep.
Y axis is fine, but z axis going one way suddenly is about .25 of an inch and then the other way it seems fine.
I hope this makes sense. If this is what happens when you lose steps, what could be the cause? I just bought mach3 today.

Forgot to say that when this happens, If I give the z axis a little pressure  with my hand while it is stuttering, it will move fine and then when I stop the pressure it seems to grind almost. I try moving it by hand and it moves fine. I switched the x and y plugs at the controller and to see if it was maybe the table but it then made the y axis stutter. Any suggestions?

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: strange holes

« on: August 10, 2006, 11:56:22 AM »

Are all the holes at the Z plunge in point of all the different cut sections?

Graham.

Sorry I don't understand your question.

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: strange holes

« on: August 09, 2006, 03:29:22 PM »

( V-Carve 1 )
( Mach2/3 Postprocessor )
N20G00G20G17G20G90G40G49G80
N30G70
N40T1M06
N50G00G43Z0.5000H1
N60S16000M03
N70G94
N80X0.0000Y0.0000F100.0
N90G00X1.5110Y2.2980Z0.2000
N100G01Z-0.0315F30.0
N110G01X1.5132Y2.3108Z-0.0276F100.0
N120X1.5198Y2.3341Z-0.0209
N130X1.5291Y2.3557Z-0.0149
N140X1.5343Y2.3646Z-0.0129
N150X1.5458Y2.3803Z-0.0101
It seems to happen around line n110 - n140.

I am not sure. I could have all of the settings in mach 3 messed up.  This was suggested in another forum.

"You might want to check your Mach 3 settings. If your setings for your Z axis is not correct then you can possibly get
more movement then the VCP toolpath actually tells it to."

I am not sure how to check my setting for the z axis. I am completely new to this so excuse my ignorance.
Thanks

6

General Mach Discussion / strange holes

« on: August 09, 2006, 12:20:33 AM »

I am not sure if this  is the right forum. If it is not I apologize. I am testing out a program for carving. I output the gcode to mach 3 and then test it there. I am getting these weird holes from the z axis and it doesn't happen when the z axis is a set depth, this happens when it move up and down.
Anyone know why this happens?

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: odd shaped circles

« on: August 02, 2006, 01:15:31 PM »

I have been reading on backlash and I think that is my problem. Both the hand wheels on thex and y axis turn quite a bit before moving the table.

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: odd shaped circles

« on: August 01, 2006, 02:33:09 PM »

I am not sure if I do or not. How do you know if they are  correct?

9

General Mach Discussion / odd shaped circles

« on: July 31, 2006, 09:31:45 PM »

I am very new to this. I was given a used sherline machine with a camtronics controller. I have managed to get the machine to run. I am now just messing around with cuts and my o's have an odd shape. What am I doing wrong?
In this picture the o is about an inch tall. I made this with the text wizard in mach 3.
I am using a .5 inch v bit. It was all I had laying around at the time.

10

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 and meshcam

« on: July 29, 2006, 11:13:42 AM »

Thanks. I was wondering if that was it.