Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Help - Stop and Restarta project

« on: November 22, 2011, 10:42:10 AM »

I'm running Mach3 with VCarve Pro and I'm looking for some help.
On occasion when I'm running a large project I'd like to stop the run while it is running then restart it later. Is this possible and if so can someone guide/instruct me on how to do it?
By the way I'm still a newbie but I'm having a lot of fun learning.

Lameiii

2

Finished Plugins for Download / Re: USB JoyPad and game device plugin - New Version 2.0

« on: July 13, 2011, 11:42:23 PM »

Gentleman,

I appreciate all of the information but I think I've jumped to soon in getting the joystick without a little more research. In addition I'm way over my head in trying to assign buttons.

I think I'm going to wait awhile and maybe look into getting some other device. I don't care for the two handed units.

Again, thanks for your help up to this point and you may hear from me again in the future.

LAMEIII

3

Finished Plugins for Download / Re: USB JoyPad and game device plugin - New Version 2.0

« on: July 13, 2011, 01:26:08 PM »

atifeh,

I looked again this morning at the Mach3 config plugins and see that my joystick is recognized as "Microsoft PC-Joystick Driver" by the joypad Plugin. It is showing that X and Y are mapped while Z is not mapped but gives me a drop down box allowing me to choose mapping to Mach Z, A, B, or C.

If I run the Joypadsetup.exe it still shows " no button map" file found and brings up the "Device Assignment " screen. 

Do I still need to do the user defined gamepad or since the joystick is recognized by the joypad plugin in Mach3 I don't need to do anything else.
I can't really try using the joystick since I'm using my computer that is not hooked up to my cnc until I'm sure the steps I've taken are correct.

LAMEIII

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help!! Auto Zero Problem

« on: July 13, 2011, 11:51:56 AM »

Tweakie,

I really appreciate your help, I made the changes in the script and now my Zero Tool works like a charm. This is going to make my life a lot easier as I get into trying a project that requires several different bits: which is my next project.

Now I'm going to try setting up a joystick. I ran across a program in this forum - "JoyPad Plugin" that I'm thinking about trying.

Again I really appreciate your help. I can see I'm going to have a very long learning curve.

LAMEIII

5

General Mach Discussion / Help!! Auto Zero Problem

« on: July 12, 2011, 10:30:01 PM »

I'm new to CNC routing and have a problem I'm trying to resolve.
I added a Zero plate setup to my machine and can't get it to work properly. Here is what is going on.

I set up the auto zero plate (thickness 0.04" which shows in the plate thickness window) and hit the probe over plate DRO. The spindle slowly lowers until it hits the plate then raises to 0.5 and stops. I then hit the ZO DRO and the spindle lowers to 0.0001. When I then hit start cycle the spindle raises and travels to the start point and then lowers but stays above the work surface by a very very small amount and does not route the wood. The toolpath I'm trying to carve is 0.2" deep.

I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong and I'm hoping someone can guide me in the right direction.

The script for the plate thickness DRO is as follows:

 CurrentFeed = GetOemDRO(818) 'Get the current feedrate to return to later
PlateThickness = GetOemDRO(1151)

If GetOemLed (825)=0 Then 'Check to see if the probe is already grounded or faulty
DoOEMButton (1010) 'zero the Z axis so the probe move will start from here
Code "G4 P2" ' this delay gives me time to get from computer to hold probe in place
Code "G31Z-1 F4" 'probing move, can set the feed rate here as well as how far to move
While IsMoving() 'wait while it happens
Wend
ZProbePos = GetVar(2002) 'get the axact point the probe was hit
Code "G0 Z" &ZProbePos 'go back to that point, always a very small amount of overrun
While IsMoving ()
Wend
Call SetDro (2, PlateThickness) 'set the Z axis DRO to whatever is set as plate thickness
Code "G4 P0.25" 'Pause for Dro to update.
Code "G0 Z.5" 'put the Z retract height you want here
Code "(Z axis is now zeroed)" 'puts this message in the status bar
Code "F" &CurrentFeed 'Returns to prior feed rate
Else
Code "(Z-Plate is grounded, check connection and try again)" 'this goes in the status bar if aplicable
Exit Sub
End If

LAMEIII
   

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: New Joystick

« on: July 11, 2011, 08:51:05 AM »

I've read through the installation manual for Joypad 2.0 and it makes no mention of running keygrabber.

Is it necessary?

Lame

7

Finished Plugins for Download / Re: USB JoyPad and game device plugin - New Version 2.0

« on: July 10, 2011, 11:58:50 AM »

Hi all,

I'm a newbie that just purchased a Logitech Attack 3 joystick which appears to be a 3 axis 11 button which I want to set up. When I ran the joypadsetup.exe I got a message that no button map file was found. When I clicked OK it brought up "Device Button Assignment" screen and I'm not sure which choice to select.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.


LAMEIII

8

General Mach Discussion / New Joystick

« on: July 07, 2011, 05:23:58 PM »

I'm a newbie to CNC but have been having a lot of fun learning the software and Mach3. I just purchased a Logitech Attack 3 Joystick with 11 buttons. I have it installed on my computer and it appears to be working correctly. At this point the only thing I want to use it for is controlling the X, Y, & Z axis.

What I need to do now is get it into Mach 3 (V 3.043.022). I've read numerous threads on Joysticks but that has only confused me. I see references to several different plugin's and don't know which to use or how to set it up..

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Lame

9

General Mach Discussion / Fixture Save

« on: May 08, 2011, 08:44:15 PM »

I'm a newbie who just started using Mach3 and I have what may be a silly question. When I'm exiting Mach3 I get a message asking if I want to "Fixture Save".
I haven't been able to locate anything on this and was hopping someone might help me with this.
Thanking you in advance for any assistance you can provide.

Lameiii

10

General Mach Discussion / Abnormal Condition

« on: April 13, 2011, 11:35:36 PM »

I'm a newbie that is just starting to use Mach3 on my first machine.
When I start to run a file the DRO that usually says Normal Condition starts flashing yellow and shows Abnormal Condition. When I clip on the DRO it says "IJ mode is incremental". I've tried changing it to Absolute in the General config screen but it doesn't help.
As a side note the file appears to run correctly even tho the flashing DRO continues.
Any help/guidance would be appreciated.

Lameiii