Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Denford easiturn & mach 3

« on: November 17, 2014, 07:07:44 AM »

Hi Hood, Thanks for the reply but I managed to find out the problem and rectify it yesterday. I come across another post with someone saying they had a similar problem. It was down to the delay in the spindle set up in ports and pins. It was set at 1 sec so I put it up to 5 sec and that has solved that particular problem.

I think the other problem is due to not having enough torque. im thinking of perhaps fitting servo's when I can afford it.

Cheers.

Jason

2

General Mach Discussion / Denford easiturn & mach 3

« on: November 16, 2014, 12:14:09 PM »

hi there, I'm looking for help with my lathe. My father in law and I converted the machine from the original cnc control to mach 3 about a year ago. I have had various problems and have slowly got the machine to work better. Having saide that I am still having issues.

1. I am using the original motors, they have 4 wires and are rated  at 3.5 amps with a power supply  of 80v. When I disconnect the drive to the z axis I can get 3mpm . When the motor is connected to the axis I can only get 1.8mpm. On the x axis I can get 2.5mpm. Would I be right in saying that I need motors with more power or torque. Am I barking up the wrong tree.

2. When I'm machining something that requires several cuts the feed rate doesn't seem to stay constant. For example if I put a feed in of 0.2per rev it will do facing cuts at the specified feed but then when it does the turning cuts the feed will reduce by about half and then goes back up to 0.2 on the final cut. I don't get this at all This is the standard start block I use for each tool.

G18 G80 G90
M6 T0101
G97 S1500 M3
S1500
G95 F0.2
G0 X50 Z0.0 M8.

I have tried the feed on the first G1 line and on all feed lines following a G0 line but I still get the same result

I have seen videos on you tube of big slant bed machines being run by mach so if people can get there big machines running pretty good why am I struggling with a small one.

Any help would be very much appreciated

3

General Mach Discussion / mach mill cutter compensation

« on: November 30, 2013, 10:35:29 AM »

Hello everyone. I wondered if anyone could help me. I'm using my milling machine for simple things at the moment. I use   featurecam to produce the code. If I get II don't use cutter comp mach will follow the programme no problem. if I use cutter comp I have certain issues.

%cylinder drain flats )
(Compiled: 11-30-2013)


G40  G17 G80
G28 G91 Z0.0
N1 T1 M6 (1/4" slot drill)  S1718
G00 G90 X-0.3498 Y0.3175  M3
G43 H1 Z0.2  M08
G00Z-0.335 
G01 Z-0.625 F4.12
G01 X-0.3123 Y0.2525 F5.15
G01 G41 X0. Y0.2885 D01
G01 X0.25 Y0.144
G01 Y-0.1443
G01 X0. Y-0.2885
G01 X-0.25 Y-0.144
G01 G40 X-0.375 Y0.144
G00Z0.2 
G40 G17 G80
G28 G91 Z0 M09
M05
M30
%

The above code is for machining a 1/2" hexagon with a 1/4" slot drill. On the last side to be cut the machine stops short abd then proceeds to cut at an angle to the last position.
The following code is the same but with a couple of modifications but does the job how I want it. So the question is, is the cadcam giving out the wrong code or is mach not reading the code as it should

%cylinder drain flats )
(Compiled: 11-30-2013)


G40  G17 G80
G28 G91 Z0.0
N1 T1 M6 (1/4" slot drill)  S1718
G00 G90 X-0.3498 Y0.3175  M3
G43 H1 Z0.2  M08
G00Z-0.335 
G01 Z-0.625 F4.12
G01 X-0.3123 Y0.2525 F5.15
G01 G41 X0. Y0.2885 D01
G01 X0.25 Y0.144
G01 Y-0.1443
G01 X0. Y-0.2885
G01 X-0.25 Y-0.144
G01 Y0.144
G01 G40 Y0.144
G00Z0.2 
G40 G17 G80
G28 G91 Z0 M09
M05
M30
%

The following  programme is to cut a circle .3" diameter with 1/4" slot drill but with the comp mach comes up with a message saying arc radius not less then cutter radius. other than using a smaller tool which isn't always a good thing is there anything I can do to rectify the problem or is this just how mach is. Do machines with Haas Or fanuc etc. have this problem


%(circle)
(Compiled: 11-30-2013)


G40  G17 G80
G28 G91 Z0.0
N1 T1 M6 (1/4" slot drill)  S1000
G00 G90 X-0.0059 Y0.0102  M3
G43 H1 Z0.2  M08
G00Z0.04 
G01 Z-0.02 F1.0
G01 G41 X0.075 Y-0.0 F2.0 D01
G03 X0.075 Y-0.0 I-0.075 J0.0 F1.0
G01 G40 X0.0115 Y-0.0022 F2.0
G00Z0.2 
G40 G17 G80
G28 G91 Z0 M09
M05
M30
%

I'd be very gratetful if someone could shed some light as it's really frustrating. Thanks in advance.


Jason

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 turn constant sfm?

« on: November 26, 2013, 01:38:12 PM »

Regards G96, I want to control the speed through the programme. I have an inverter powering a 2HP motor. can I use either the spare Y axis or A axis pin on the printer port to give the PWM. Is there another way of doing it

Regards Jason

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Increasing feedrate when threading

« on: November 10, 2013, 03:07:46 PM »

Just to let you know I' v got the index working and I just run a couple of threading programmes in thin air. This is through the parrellel port and seems to be fine. The real test will be when I actually cut material. I'll let you know how that goes.

Thanks for all your advice.

Regards. Jason.

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Increasing feedrate when threading

« on: November 06, 2013, 04:18:28 AM »

When Ii tried threading through the breakout board that my father in law made we I used another laptop because it had the parrallel  port on but didn.t have a license. So this could be the problem as you saide.

The index pulse is configured to the correct pin. I would have thought that if it was not then I would not see a an RPM

I am cutting air anyway just to try it and slowed the speed down to 100 RPM.

I shall try the breakout out board again with a licensed copy of mach and see what happens.

If I get no joy then I guess I' m  going to have to bite the bullet and do as you said before and invest in a separate motion controller.

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: Increasing feedrate when threading

« on: November 05, 2013, 02:52:06 PM »

No the steppers were wired through the breakout board as well.

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Increasing feedrate when threading

« on: November 05, 2013, 02:40:49 PM »

I forget the name but it is an LED that shines on to the indexing disc that has a reflective strip., This creates  the pulse and is wired straight into the break out board.

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: Increasing feedrate when threading

« on: November 05, 2013, 02:06:20 PM »

I'll have a look at that. Although I have tried the sensor through the mills breakout board and the speed can be read in the DRO so we are half way there. I got the lathe rigged up to run through a board that my father in law made and everything worked. I tried doing a threading cycle but it just stops. the X position goes to the first cut depth and the Z axis is supposed to start at o.1 which it does. It moves to about 50 thou in and then stops.  Is this likely to be because of what you are saying or could it be something in the G76 line or something in the mach software. Sorry if I seem a bit slow with this but I'm not up on electronics. My father in law is doing all this sort of stuff.

10

General Mach Discussion / Re: Increasing feedrate when threading

« on: November 05, 2013, 07:01:37 AM »

Pokesys doesn' t support threading.  The control must be from the pokeys it's self and not from mach. If that makes sense. If I wired the spindle sensor to a spare output on the breakout board on my mill is it likely that that I will see an rpm. Bearing in mind the mill is running on an older version of mach