Messages

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Quick Mach 3 digitizing probe question

« on: November 30, 2012, 08:36:07 PM »

Thank you! I really appreciate the quick reply.  And now I know the correct terminology as well. My back hurts from carrying so much ignorance around sometimes 

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General Mach Discussion / Quick Mach 3 digitizing probe question

« on: November 30, 2012, 06:58:25 PM »

Hi,
Could someone with Mach 3 digitizing probe experience give a newbie a hand?

I have a CNC Shark Pro that I have recently converted over to Mach 3. The old software I was using utilizes a "touch, and drag horizontally across the surface" method that seems to want to hang my probe up ion the work surface in areas. I've had this happen quite a few times and have luckily caught it before expensive damage ensued. I have 2 different probes and the same has happened with both of them. Needless to say, having to babysit a 10 hour probing session is tough enough but when it hangs up on the surface 6-7 hours into the operation and you lose your whole scan from doing an emergency stop....well, it tries your abilities to suppress the tool throwing reflex!  

Does Mach 3 probe in the method I described above or can it do the pin probing where it lowers, touches the object, raises back up, moves over and repeats? I've seen videos of machines doing this and I think it would be a better method for my application. I'm just trying to get as informed a possible and I think this would allow me to start the cycle and go do other things in the shop. I'm out of toothpicks necessary to keep my eyelids propped open and I really need to cut back on coffee.  

Thank you for your help!!!
Chris

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Need break out board suggestions

« on: March 17, 2012, 12:44:40 AM »

Thanks Gerry!

Ray, I was looking on that site you linked to. Do you plug a DB-25 on both sides of that connector? Never seen one like that before. I see the board is $39 now. What was shipping like from Australia? What was the wait boxes? Also, are you running that breakout into another controller board like I would be or as a stand alone into separate driver boxes?

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Need break out board suggestions

« on: March 16, 2012, 07:57:16 PM »

I'm not opposed to adding another parallel port to the computer, but how will the computer know to talk to pass information back and forth between a second installed parallel card going to the breakout board and the Xylotex on the original port? Would there be more software involved? I'm a definite moron on CNC electronics. LOL!!!!

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Need break out board suggestions

« on: March 16, 2012, 07:09:17 PM »

I just looked at the link you gave me and that board is different than mine. I've attached a pic so you can see it (ncPOD that will be eliminated is on the right). My manual doesn't tell what the pins on the connector at the top are and the board isn't marked which pointed me to the BOB method. I'm also worried about my motherboard getting fried too as I've read some horror stories. Any ideas?

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Need break out board suggestions

« on: March 16, 2012, 06:49:52 PM »

Thank you for the reply. Could you expand on it a little? I'm just slightly above "moron" on this and it went over my head a little. I'm not familiar with the connector and the pdf that I downloaded from Xylotex was pretty much useless

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General Mach Discussion / Need break out board suggestions

« on: March 16, 2012, 01:38:30 PM »

Hi, I have a CNC Shark Pro with a Xylotex 3525 3 axis board and an ncPod. The current set-up isn't Mach 3 friendly even with the firmware and driver changes and I'm wanting to get away from the ncPod altogether and put a break out board in it's place, which should add quite a bit of attachment capability and allow me to run my digitizing probe, add an E-Stop, a jog controller, etc. The Xylotex has a DB25 connector for input so I would need a break out with DB25 for interfacing with my computer and output to the Xylotex (DB25 on both ends, essentially).

Could someone make a low cost suggestion? I recently lost my job and trying to make a few bucks on the side (and possibly go fulltime) with the machine. I've seen the CNC4PC boards in the $100 range and they look very nice but I was hoping to find something much cheaper to get me back on my feet. I see all of the $30 boards on ebay but nothing has a DB25 output that will plug directly into the Xylotex. I am a novice so if there is a method of connectivity that I'm not aware of that would be essentially plug and play I would appreciate the guidance.

I would GREATLY APPRECIATE if a someone could help a brother out.

Thank you and God Bless!!!!
Chris