Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Call plasma mode with gcode?

« on: November 27, 2011, 06:18:43 PM »

That's what I'm think as well BR549. It would sure make things easier though for me if I can.

2

General Mach Discussion / Call plasma mode with gcode?

« on: November 27, 2011, 05:41:50 PM »

Hi all,
Have been a lurker here for a long time. I have been using M3 for awhile now and have been using plasma mode for over 6 months when doing 2.5d, as well as arcs and such. This tends to eliminate the jerky point to point cutting when milling at high feedrates.

Now My question, Is there a way to call plasma mode with Gcode, Using say an M or G call? I have a need to change from CV or exact stop to Plasma and back during some milling. I can use  G61/G64 call from Exact stop to CV but that does not accomplish what I need

thanks

MK

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: continuous motion and tangential cutting problem

« on: November 30, 2010, 02:03:00 PM »

This may sound alittle crazy but I have tried this when having the same Jerky problem with some code generated by Aspire on 2.5D carves. I changed the CV feed rate in settings to 40, also turned on Plasma mode in the general config. Turn off CV dist at angles. This made my 2.5D carves run much smoother. Also check that your read ahead is set at about 200.

Just my experiences so far. Plasma mode uses an algorithym to keep constant velocity so as not to stop and burn holes. At least that is what I would suspect the reason. By using it though it will round sharp corners. Now you can also leave the CV at angles on and this will help with the corner rounding. I applied this while milling Steel on a mill that would stall the steppers due to the mass/enertia problem of the stops and starts. The problems went away.

Just my .02cents worth.

Mike

One more thing. When milling metals this way and doing 2.5D carves. The Zaxis will plunge at a higher rate than what the plunge rate is in the Gcode. To overcome this and not break mills. Set your maximum Z axis rate to the fastest plunge rate you would use for that specific material. Set the accel rate to 10% of that value.

So if I know that I can only plunge into steel at say 2 IPM  with a particular end mill, I will also set the accel rate to 0.2. This only appears to apply when doing metal work in my experience. In my wood working it does not seem to be a problem.

Mike

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: continuous motion and tangential cutting problem

« on: November 30, 2010, 12:59:44 PM »

This may sound alittle crazy but I have tried this when having the same Jerky problem with some code generated by Aspire on 2.5D carves. I changed the CV feed rate in settings to 40, also turned on Plasma mode in the general config. Turn off CV dist at angles. This made my 2.5D carves run much smoother. Also check that your read ahead is set at about 200.

Just my experiences so far. Plasma mode uses an algorithym to keep constant velocity so as not to stop and burn holes. At least that is what I would suspect the reason. By using it though it will round sharp corners. Now you can also leave the CV at angles on and this will help with the corner rounding. I applied this while milling Steel on a mill that would stall the steppers due to the mass/enertia problem of the stops and starts. The problems went away.

Just my .02cents worth.

Mike