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Messages - Ducman56

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General Mach Discussion / Re: An unusual problem

« on: January 10, 2016, 07:43:32 AM »

It does not appear to loose position under any particular set of circumstances, so far it has been random with regard to tool, type of move, cut position on bed, time during cut etc. Then next time it will run the path perfectly.

General Mach Discussion / Re: An unusual problem

« on: January 10, 2016, 05:50:09 AM »

Many thanks for the comments, I will now go away and try to shield as much as possible as it would appear from replies here and from other sources that it could well be RF interference causing my problems. I certainly have not been taking excessive cuts on the toolpaths, so hopefully mechanical issues should not be a factor.

Thanks again for the swift response, much appreciated.

General Mach Discussion / Re: An unusual problem

« on: January 09, 2016, 10:47:01 AM »

Dear Nick

Sorry again in English please

Electrickery is not my strong point

General Mach Discussion / Re: An unusual problem

« on: January 09, 2016, 09:03:54 AM »

Dear Nick

Thanks for the thoughts, the UPS is a Riello Vision Dual VSD 3000ER which is apparently powerful enough for the job, we are in a dirty current area but the UPS has smoothed out all the apparent surges, dips etc, so I think you could certainly be on the right track. If this is Radio Frequency interference, how can I shield my machine from it, what is affected? the pc, the control board< the USB cable?

General Mach Discussion / An unusual problem

« on: January 09, 2016, 06:56:56 AM »

As the title suggests, I have come across an unusual problem with my router.

Occasionally it will change its cutting path mid-run without apparent reason.

I was cutting an a double Archimedian spiral out of 4mm plywood, it ran the first spiral of 5 passes perfectly, then started on the second spiral, it ran one and a half passes on the second spiral Ok, then suddenly shot off at an angle and continued to cut the path from another position. The two paths had be drawn in Illustrator, taken into Aspire 4.5 and calculated there, then exported as a .txt file to run in Mach 3 as a complete path, not separate for each spiral. I stopped the machine and put it down to a glitch without exploring what had happened. I ran the toolpath again in the air, and there as no problem.

A couple of days ago I was machining and lozenge shaped bowl which again I had generated the outline shape in Illustrator, taken it into Aspire to model the bowl, exported it as a roughing cut and as a finishing cut.

I ran the roughing cut without problem, changed tools and started the finishing cut, after 30 seconds or so of the finishing cut, again it displaced and continued cutting the bowl, this time I let it complete and when I returned the tool to zero, the zero x had moved to the right by around 25mm and the zero y had moved down by about 6mm. As the shape was regular, I was able to save the work by running the toolpath again a couple of times, displacing the x axis to take account of the error, then cleaning up by hand after. I ran the path a further 4 or 5 times to correct the bad cut, and each time it ran perfectly without error.

The router and computer are both on a UPS so there should not be any problem caused by power fluctuations etc, but I am at a loss to understand what is happening, I have since run a lot of other toolpaths without problem.

Any help, advice etc. gratefully accepted.

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problem with z axis cut

« on: September 10, 2015, 04:09:25 PM »

I ran a series of tests today using a very simple square cut calculated from Aspire, see attached file.

Following advice from the Aspire forum, I changed line N10 in 2 ways , once I changed the G43 to G49 and the H1 to H0, then I removed the G43 and the H completely.

I ran the test cut 3 times, as generated, with g49 H0, and without G43 h

There was no appreciable difference in the cut depths, which were all +-1mm

as required, I ten ran the logo file which I had first noticed the problem on, and it also was correct.

i think the reversion to the earlier Mach3 must have done the trick, I did check the version which came with the machine, which I did not use because it was a cracked copy, I just went ahead and bought a real one and downloaded the latest version when I bough it, the original one was 3.043.056, do you think I should revert to that? or leave it as is because it appears to be working OK now?

Thanks again to all for your inputs, most valued

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problem with z axis cut

« on: September 09, 2015, 09:36:04 AM »

OK, I installed the older version of mach3 with the suggested modifications.

I produced a series of test squares to cut using different tools to see what would happen, code attached.

These are simple squares, cut with an engraving tool for the fist 3 using code generated by Aspire in Vcarve, profile and pocket options without the 'display on 3d model' selected, the second 3 with that option selected, all set to 1mm depth of cut by Aspire. The third set of 3 use the same Aspire options but with a 2mm ball nose tool.

The results were interesting and confusing.

The first 3 cut to 1.80mm deep, the second 3 to , 2.10 mm and the 3rd set to3.46 ! I then changed the tool to a 4mm mill and using the code from the ball end setup and ran that, these cut to 2.18mm deep.

I had manually set the depth z=0 so it was not an issue with the auto zero tool, I also checked the calibration in the approved method and all was spot on. ( the x and y axis cuts were precise)

Then, just when I thought I could not get more confused

I set the 4mm end mill to z=0 dropped the depth using Mach3 to 1mm and simply ran a straight line cut by jogging the x axis across, it cut to 1mm deep. So it would appear that the Mach3 is working correctly (??)

I have to say I did not notice any difference in the performance with the changes made to the Mach3 version or the suggested modifications to kernel speed etc. but this was a very simple set of code and perhaps it would be more stable on more complex cuts.

As a self-confessed ignoramus on these matters I am totally baffled, why, when the code shows -1mm Z in all cases, should it cut differently in the different examples when the calibration would appear to be OK.

I am saving the files from Aspire in what I think is the correct format, Mach2/3 Arcs (mm) (*.txt), and as the x and y are correct I can't be that far out, can I ??

I even installed Mach3 on a different, more powerful computer, just in case that was a problem source, but the results were the same.

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