Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: I Hate Windows XP

« on: September 12, 2011, 12:02:00 PM »

No, not quite

I'm an EPOS Engineer, our computer equipment (Wincor Nixdorf) uses XPe mostly and Linux, but that's for B&Q, when the POS applications run on it, you wouldn't know what operating system was running, because everything's hidden away. No borders, windows, little blue lines at the bottom of the screen or missing graphics.

I can always design my own screen set to cope with any missing graphic strip, or stretch it a bit to fit the full screen, but I can't find a way to hide the operating system and make MACH3 go full screen. I hope someone knows, it's driving me nuts.

Graham

2

General Mach Discussion / I Hate Windows XP

« on: September 12, 2011, 10:22:42 AM »

Does anyone know of a way to run MACH3 under XP that is absolutely and totally, window and borderless, as if the operating system isn't there at all?

Many thanks

Graham

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Power Supply Unit

« on: January 30, 2011, 08:31:07 PM »

If you bought 6 of these 15500uF 25V capacitors, wired 2 sets of 3 in series and then took those 2 sets of three and wired them in parallel, you'd end up with the equivalent of 1 capacitor of 31000uF @ 75V.

If I'm not mistaken, the total capacitance in a circuit with capacitors in series is reduced.  If I'm figuring right, the total capacitance for three 15500uF caps in series would be about 5200uF.  To maintain a total capacitance of 15500uF you would have to have three 46500uF caps.  That said, I'm not sure total capacitance even matters that much in a power supply.

In the above example, the 2 sets of three would equal about 5200uF each then putting those sets in parallel would raise the total capacitance to about 10400uF.

Oops... I forgot that bit,  I got the voltage bit right though, it's been a while since I've done any electronics.. Though I seem to remember being able to draw off odd voltages at low currents into a regulator between the capacitors to use when no other source was available. Though I may have been dreaming

http://www.electronics2000.co.uk/calc/series-parallel-capacitor-calculator.php

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Multiple Parallel Ports and XP Profiles

« on: January 30, 2011, 07:56:18 PM »

If your PC will install 5 ports (only ever had 2 before) then no need to disable anything. Just have the two
 profiles for your machines and have the appropriate port address for whichever machine is connected to these ports. Start the Mach profile you want and all should be well.
Hood

That's what I was a little confused about, because a PC will only recognise 3 LPT ports connected to it at any one time and I wanted to disable the motherboard port when running CNC stuff.

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Power Supply Unit

« on: January 30, 2011, 07:49:45 PM »

That's really not a good practice with electrolytics, unless you provide a LARGE voltage safety factor, which kinda defeats the purpose.  The tolerance on the capacitance of large electrolytics is typically very broad (like +/-30%), which means some will charge MUCH faster than others, which means some can have considerably more voltage across them than others when connected in series.

Regards,
Ray L.

That's why I suggested 3 x 25V types in series to give a 75V capability, they should easily handle the 40 or so volts being used in this circuit with almost a 40% margin for safety. It's always worth a try if you can't get the correct size. They don't exactly go off like a hand grenade, just monitor the voltage across them individually and make sure they don't get too warm

...and I thought the purpose was to get up and running as quickly as possible

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Power Supply Unit

« on: January 30, 2011, 06:59:33 PM »

I went to purchase the capacitors from my local store but I couldn't find anyone with 50VDC or more neither with 20000uF or more. The closest I found were:

15500uF, 25VDC
10000uF, 25VDC
8200uF, 25VDC
5500uF, 25VDC
34000uF, 15VDC
25000uF, 15VDC
10000uF, 10VDC

Can someone tell me if a combination of the above is suitable?

If not, then I will have to purchase them from the Web

Thanks

I haven't read all this thread yet (only up to page 7), so this may have already been answered...

If you can't find the correct size capacitor, you could always buy more of the same size lower voltage ones and wire them in series to get over your operating voltage. Series means wiring + to - in a line... So 3 x 15500uF @ 25V in series would give you in effect 1 capacitor of 15500uF @ 75V.

If you bought 6 of these 15500uF 25V capacitors, wired 2 sets of 3 in series and then took those 2 sets of three and wired them in parallel, you'd end up with the equivalent of 1 capacitor of 31000uF @ 75V.

I know it sounds weird to do it that way, but I usually work with what I can get my hands on at a reasonable price too.

Graham

7

General Mach Discussion / Multiple Parallel Ports and XP Profiles

« on: January 30, 2011, 06:00:37 PM »

Hello everyone.

I'd like to use Mach3 to control my CNC Lathe and CNC Router/Mill (not at the same time) without having to constantly swap the cables over. So... I've had the idea of installing all the parallel breakout boards, control electronics and shared main power supply in one 19" rackmount server case and installing a PC with 5 parallel ports in another, there lies the problem...

Is it possible to have multiple parallel port cards in my PC as long as I disable at least 2 out of 5 of them in each boot-up hardware profile.

I'm in the hope it would go something like this...

@ boot-up I'd have 3 options to choose from...

1. Boot to PC mode would allow only access to LPT1 on the motherboard so I can print and use the PC normally (non-CNC mode).
2. Boot to Lathe mode would disable motherboard LPT port and enable PCI LPT 1 & 2 for Lathe operation.
3. Boot to Mill mode would disable Motherboard LPT and enable PCI LPT 4 & 5 for Mill operation...

Am I barking up the wrong tree to expect to be able to do this please?

Regards

Graham

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Is this the real deal or just a cracked warez product?

« on: January 03, 2011, 10:48:25 AM »

Thanks guys, I'm nowhere near needing my software yet, still playing with the nuts and bolts in Alibre design but when I am I'll get a real licenced version

Happy New Year

Graham

9

General Mach Discussion / Is this the real deal or just a cracked warez product?

« on: January 03, 2011, 10:14:14 AM »

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MACH3-Desktop-KIT-CNC-Engraving-Milling-Router-/150540856876?pt=UK_BOI_Metalworking_Milling_Welding_Metalworking_Supplies_ET&hash=item230cef2e2c

Graham

10

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Welcome to SmoothStepper forum.

« on: March 02, 2008, 02:15:49 PM »

Anything happening, I'm ready to buy one now though it seems to have been very quiet for a couple of months

Graham