Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Cut parts are wonrg size

« on: July 20, 2012, 01:41:43 PM »

Ok...

so I have set the calibration for the tool to move 1". Measuring with a digital caliper, it sure seems to move 1".

Is there a better way to do this?

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Cut parts are wonrg size

« on: July 20, 2012, 11:37:56 AM »

Rich and everyone,

Sorry for the delay in posting the dfx and the code. Take a look and let me know if there is something amiss.

Thanks

Dave

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Cut parts are wonrg size

« on: July 18, 2012, 09:05:04 AM »

Rich,

Well, duh that makes perfect sense. I have a few things to do this morning, but I will definately get that stuff together and post it later on this afternoon.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Cut parts are wonrg size

« on: July 17, 2012, 03:52:04 PM »

Yeah, I really don't mess with scaling features in mach 3.

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Cut parts are wonrg size

« on: July 17, 2012, 03:35:53 PM »

Sorry guys,

I have been sick for the past week or so.

I would love to post the g code, but i do not know how to get it out of mach 3 in a manner that I can post it.

All of your replies gave me an ideas though... none of which worked.

Here is what I did... I went into autocad and made a part. I made sure that I was scaled 1:1 before saving as a dxf. The part still did not cut right after going through Lazy Cam, it ended up being 6-3/16" instead of 6" wide. I rechecked the calibration of the axis and they all check out. So, I went and got into v-carve pro and taught myself how to create a part in there and out put it... the damned thing came out at 6-3/16" instead of 6".

So, this tells me that the error is not in AutoCAD, or the Cam program. The axis calibration works out in Mach 3 pro and all of the axis move the designated amount... so where does this leave me??? is there a rogue tool off set that I have missed? How do I set all of Mach 3 pros offsets to a default 0 in a global manner to make sure this is not what is biting me in the butt?

Anyone have any other good ideas?

Thanks for all the help. I have dreamed of having my own CNC machine for more than a decade... I just need to get past this maddening part.

6

General Mach Discussion / Cut parts are wonrg size

« on: July 03, 2012, 07:41:43 PM »

I am new to this so hopefully the solution is an easy one.

I built my router and have it up and running just fine. I have had success tuning the motors and when I tell it to move a certain distance it does to within .001 inches, which is fine for what I use it for. The issue is that the parts I cut out look like they are right, but are off proportionally by a lot... sometime by more than an inch. I can repeat the part, and while all the parts are the same, they are all wrong by the same amount.

I am using AutoCAD, outputting a dxf to Lazy Cam, creating all of my tool paths and sending it to Mach 3 for cutting. My line of logic is that something is not translating right in one of these steps. I also think this is a software problem and not a machine problem because the parts created are all identical... meaning all sides are completely flush with one another. So repeatability is not a problem, I just need it to reproduce what I drew faithfully.

So if one of you more experienced (not necessarily older) CNC guys out there would be so kind as to point me in the right direction on correcting the error of my ways I would really appreciate it.

Thanks, Dave

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: I have hit a brick wall

« on: March 21, 2012, 11:47:04 AM »

Yep, my thoughts too. I have gone through all of that twice now with not improvement. So, today I will be replacing the BOB and the Smooth Stepper in the hopes that one or the other solves the problem.

Thanks for the ideas though.

8

General Mach Discussion / I have hit a brick wall

« on: March 16, 2012, 06:38:51 PM »

I have a new machine that I an trying to finish up and get running for my business. over the past few months i have purchase all of the parts and very carefully assembled everything. There has been some success because I have know the joy of having everything move in jog mode. So, after playing with it for a little while, I decided to go back and get all of the limit switches hooked up, added another e-stop, and added a relay for the spindle. After a couple of minor bumps I got it all to work. Here is where the other shoe falls... I cannot move any of the axis now.

The machine specs... I have a 4' x 8' 3 axis router set up. I used Keiling Kl42H2150-41-8a stepper motors with their KL11080 8 amp opto-isolated drivers. The PC is a quad core 2.9ghz machine with 6 gig of ram. To get to the drivers I have a smooth stepper linked to a c10 break out board.

What I have done... Basically I took everything apart and started over. Wiped all the software and re-installed, double and triple checked all the wiring. Everything checks out. When I go to the diagnostics screen and have everything indicating that all is well with the world with the exception of the time to int. and the processor information. All of this reads 0. This is very confusing because the smooth stepper checks out that it is loading the firmware and is communicating with the PC just fine. The PC works just fine too... no glitches, no devices not working properly, etc...

So the question of the day is what the hell??? Why is the system showing no sings of life after having worked fine?

Please help with any ideas. - Dave