Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Guidence Request... Surface probing with Mach3 & a Gecko G540.

« on: May 07, 2018, 03:04:33 PM »

No worries... You haven't destroyed my idea... I'm 100% sure it's doable, and 99.44% sure I can get it working on my system with some help, and under $200 USD. It's just the details that are giving me troubles.

You're right, though... I didn't define "accurate"... For most doors, I figure a 1" by 1" grid is plenty accurate. So, for the specific door in queue, it's around 500 points. If I need to double the resolution to 0.5" x 0.5" it's around 2000 points.

Thanks for the input,

Chris

2

General Mach Discussion / Guidence Request... Surface probing with Mach3 & a Gecko G540.

« on: May 07, 2018, 01:30:26 PM »

I've Googled, searched, & read, but what I've found seems to be beyond my technical ability to understand.

I have Mach3, a Soigeneris controller with a Gecko G540 & USB Smoothstepper, and Vectric Aspire for CAD-CAM.

I need to be able to create 3D models of existing wooden door panels that can have varying degrees of warpage so I can bring in to Aspire so I can have an accurate model of the panels in order to V Carve or route a 3D model into the panels.

I see Mach 3 has a digitizing wizard. Will that Mach 3 built-in digitizing wizard and a digitizing probe off ebay get me what I'm after, or do I need something else, too?

Let's say I buy the probe shown in the following link. Where to I plug it in to? The G540? Do I need software other than Aspire?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/CNC-3AXIS-DIGITIZING-TOUCH-PROBE-3-8-SHANK-HIGH-PRECISION-LED/332578284189?hash=item4d6f35e29d:g:0b0AAOSwyYFaEzV1

Hopefully somebody can help me with this.

Thanks!
Chris

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: I've got CV Brain lock... I know even less, now... Help!?

« on: May 29, 2015, 02:34:04 PM »

The faster the feed rate, the faster the acceleration needs to be... That makes sense to me now.

I'll play with the Distance Tolerance when I get caught up on other projects.

Yeah, I know the oscillation is from flex. It's a steel machine, but the 5 HP Perske spindle is pretty heavy, so that's what is limiting my acceleration, especially in the X Axis.

I can bump up the Y acceleration w/o seeing the oscillation... Do the X & Y accelerations need be set to the same value for best CV performance, or might a faster Y acceleration help out?

Thanks!
Chris

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: I've got CV Brain lock... I know even less, now... Help!?

« on: May 28, 2015, 05:05:16 PM »

OK... Here's my report.

Short story: I can get the corner rounding to an acceptable level. I set Stop CV on angles to>89. I have Plasma Mode, Dist Tolerance, and G100 Adaptive NurbsCV unchecked.

More details:

I had my motor accelerations set pretty low. X was at 4.5 in/sec/sec, Y & Z were at 6. I bumped all 3 up to 12. I tried them as fast as 30 in/sec/sec, but I didn't like the oscillations of the spindle due to it's mass & inertia, so I backed them down.

I set the motor speeds to 240 ips. I won't cut anything that quickly, but it does Jog around faster.

My trouble seems to have shown itself when I began to use faster (better) feed rates. It seems the fastest feed rate I can use with my new CV settings is around 60 ips. Faster than that & I start to see some rounding. Maybe I can bump up my accelerations a bit, and use a faster feed rate, and not see the oscillating spindle thing. I'll have to give that a try to see if I can get a better sweet spot. I think I have a better understanding of CV now, and can do some tweaking of settings.

Here's a couple more questions:

Does maximum motor speed affect CV rounding?
Would enabling Dist Tolerance and entering a really small number, like 0.001, allow faster feed rates with little to no rounding?

Anyway, thanks for the help, Gerry!
Chris

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: A really quick Mach3 XML file question

« on: May 20, 2015, 06:36:31 PM »

Thanks, Rich.

Chris

6

General Mach Discussion / A really quick Mach3 XML file question

« on: May 20, 2015, 05:01:30 PM »

Does the xml file contain all of the Mach3 settings for my machine?

So, if I make a backup copy of it before I do some Mach3 tuning for my machine, and I don't like the new settings, can I just reload the old XML file and be back where I started?

Whoops, 2 questions... Sorry!

Chris

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: I've got CV Brain lock... I know even less, now... Help!?

« on: May 20, 2015, 04:15:31 PM »

Thanks Gerry!

I'll make the changes, do some testing, and report back.

Chris

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: I've got CV Brain lock... I know even less, now... Help!?

« on: May 20, 2015, 03:12:59 PM »

Yeah, I know, I know... Another CV post... 

I tried to figure this out myself, but I'm stuck in the mud.

Does anybody have any ideas for me?

Thanks,
Chris

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: This cut is as bad as it gets

« on: May 20, 2015, 03:08:38 PM »

Just throwing this out there...

Your cut looks like the cut I was getting when my supplier mistakenly gave me 5052 alloy aluminum sheet rather than the 6061 T6 alloy I ordered. I was new to cutting aluminum, so for 2 days I was trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. I finally figured out it was the material, not my bit, speeds, & feeds.

Chris

10

General Mach Discussion / Re: I've got CV Brain lock... I know even less, now... Help!?

« on: May 19, 2015, 02:45:49 PM »

Here's the Y & Z axis settings.

Chris