Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Drop down menus under Config

« on: August 07, 2021, 02:53:35 AM »

Thanks again, Tweakie. Problem solved. Now for all the other problems 

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Drop down menus under Config

« on: August 06, 2021, 07:50:30 AM »

Thanks Tweakie.
That was my go to action if no-one came up with a better solution. First job in the morning   

3

General Mach Discussion / Drop down menus under Config

« on: August 06, 2021, 02:27:58 AM »

Hey everybody,

I'm having a rather odd problem. I need to do the Motor Tuning but when I click on the Config drop down and then on Motor Tuning, there is no response. I can access all other menu items but not motor tuning. Any ideas?

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Importing A Chinese Machine......Roger Webb/Pacific Tooling - CNC Router

« on: August 20, 2018, 06:46:32 AM »

There is a great deal of criticism leveled at Chinese manufacturers who make shonky stuff but what about those people who buy it?

Craig

I agree with a lot of what you say but I think that this last comment is a bit unreasonable. I believed that I was buying from an Australian supplier who bragged repeatedly on his Youtube videos that his machines were built to his specifications in his factory and that his machines were built to a much higher spec and quality than other Chinese machines. You imply that I'm stupid for buying from the shonky manufacturer.

Firstly, I've never done this before so I had no experience to tell me that it wasn't a wise move. Secondly, Roger Webb proved himself a liar and a dishonest businessman. Perhaps I am a fool for falling for his speel but most of my workshop purchases have come from either Carbatec of Hare & Forbes where most of the machinery is Chinese and quite acceptable. If they sold an equivalent machine to what I bought, I would have bought through them. But they don't and other locally made machines were way out of my price range.

Yes, I've learned a hard lesson but I don't believe that I, or any others in my situation, deserve to be told that we're stupid.

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Importing A Chinese Machine......Roger Webb/Pacific Tooling - CNC Router

« on: August 17, 2018, 01:54:24 AM »

Well, this good information as I was ready to order the P6012 or P6090 from Roger.  I wonder if Laguna's CNC is any better?

Hi,
This may be of interest to you....... https://www.cnccookbook.com/cnc-machine-customer-satisfaction-and-reliability/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Reliability+and+Customer+Satisfaction+for+CNC+Machines+%5B+Survey+Results+%5D&utm_campaign=Newsletter+08152018

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Importing A Chinese Machine......Roger Webb/Pacific Tooling - CNC Router

« on: August 12, 2018, 09:33:19 PM »

Thanks for the update Doug, I am pleased that you finally have it sorted.

Your experience, in many ways, is not unique – Here in the EU we have CE certification, which adequately covers electrical safety but it only relates to the ‘point of sale’ and many unscrupulous dealers make the ‘point of sale’ China (or a country outside the EU) in order to circumvent the regulations.
Obviously it is ‘buyer beware’ but something that is often not considered is that if the buyer subsequently re-sells the product (even second user) within the EU then the seller is responsible for the all the CE regulations being met. As you can imagine the penalties for default are quite severe and if anyone is injured as a result of this then the penalties can be really severe indeed. (Perhaps interesting to note that the ‘point of sale’ for e-bay items is outside of the EU  ).

Tweakie.

Interesting re the resale obligations. Naturally, simple good ethics would prevent me from selling an unsafe item without, at the very least, pointing out any issues to the buyer. But it's great that the EU puts it to law.
This is the exact approach that Roger Webb took with his machines. He distanced himself from the sale by making himself the 'facilitator of the sale' and then saying that the rest was between me and the factory. Clearly this wasn't enough for our regulator and he was made to sort out the safety issue anyway. One possible reason that he didn't get away with it is because he told me very clearly in writing that he owned Pacific Tooling. This, it turned out, was not true and Energy Safe may have used this misrepresentation to force him to fix the issues.

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: Importing A Chinese Machine......Roger Webb/Pacific Tooling - CNC Router

« on: August 08, 2018, 06:10:40 AM »

Hi everyone.
Well, the saga (regarding the electrical safety of my machine at least) is finally over. As you will know from the earlier comments in this thread, I was deeply concerned about the electrical safety of my machine when I noticed that there was no mains earth. Roger Webb had told me that no Australian electrical certification was required because the machine wasn't made in Australia. Because of his attitude, I had placed this matter in the hands of Energy Safe Victoria and they conducted an investigation on my behalf. They told me that Roger Webb had absolutely denied owning any part of Pacific Tooling or it's other trading names. This was in direct conflict with has assurance to me that he and his wife owned Pacific Tooling. I have this very clearly stated in an email from him so he is now self condemned as a liar on top of all his other shifty practices. He said to Energy Safe that, therefore, he was simply a facilitator to the sale between me and Pacific Tooling and had no responsibility for the safety of the machine.

Anyway, whilst I did not have access to Energy Safe's correspondence, they must have given the Webbs an ultimatum because they came back to me with the news that they had had a conversation with the Webb's lawyers and shortly after that I received a call from Maria Webb saying the she was very sorry that I had had a problem with the electrical safety of the machine and that she was very keen to have the problem resolved as soon as possible. Unlike previous conversations with Maria, this time she was as sweet as pie. She said that I should obtain a quote from an electrician to make the router electrically safe and that, once she received a copy of the quote, she would promptly transfer the amount of the quote to my account.

The electrician I chose happened to have some experience in this field and he found a number of issues.
Firstly, of course, there was the lack of mains earth. He also noted the following:

Single insulated 240V cable was penetrating through metal conductive parts without gromets or wear protections.
Single insulated 240v cables and extra low voltage cables running within the same ducting enclosure are not meeting the requirement of Electrical separation for single insulated 240V cables.
Single insulated 240v cables are not clipped securely as per AS/NZS3000 5.4.4.(c) 
The control box containing 240V cabling had unsealed openings adjacent to a water pump.

As of now, I have received the quoted amount from Maria Webb and this aspect of my dealings with the Webbs (and probably all other aspects) is now closed.

Energy Safe have told me that they are seeking a full list of of machinery sold by Roger and Maria Webb along with the names of their customers. They have also told me that, where necessary, other regulators in other jurisdictions will be notified.

Maria Webb also told me that they had had 'many problems with Pacific Tooling. They never owned any part of Pacific Tooling. They have now stopped selling anything from Pacific Tooling.'
Roger has not contacted me at all and obviously doesn't think an apology is due. He has left his wife to do the unpleasant stuff. I think this reflects the type of man he is.

Thank you all for following this saga. I hope that, although the Webbs have stopped trading in Chinese machines, anyone who reads this will learn some valuable lessons from my experiences.

Bye for now!

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Calibrating for A axis

« on: July 07, 2018, 06:21:14 PM »

LOL!

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Calibrating for A axis

« on: July 07, 2018, 01:51:01 AM »

Hi,
glad you got the licence drama sorted, it sort of makes you feel like a mug... and that's on top of being just plain confused about Mach!

So you have had reasonable success with making things with the machine as three axis? If that's the case then you must have the steps per unit values in the respective axis
tuning pages correct or all your parts would turn out misshapen or the wrong size.

Now that you have started to use the 4th axis things are going crazy? May I suggest open the motor tuning pages and have a look at the steps per unit value in each of your
three linear axes. Have they changed? They should not have, if they have then the xml file is corrupt and you will have to try one of your backups, you do have one I hope, or
redo your profile.

My guess is that the steps per unit values have NOT changed. What has happened is that you have enabled another axis an put an appropriate number in its steps per unit value.
What is the steps per unit value for your new A axis? If I made a guess and said 55 steps per unit, we can carry on.

Remember that that value is the number of steps Mach issues to get the A axis to move 1 degree, so it would have to issue 55 x 360 = 19800 steps per revolution.

Lets say you want the X axis to move 450mm and the A axis to rotate once and you issued a move like:

G1 X450 A360 F360
The A axis would take 1 minute to rotate 360 degrees and so the X axis will slow down so it arrives at its endpoint at the same time, ie 450mm per min. You can see that adding an A axis
may well have a significant effect on the speed of your remaining axes.

Have a look at the steps per unit values of all your axes a post them.
Confirm that they are good by issuing and MDI for each axis in turn and confirm that its moving the right distance:
G0 X100....did the X axis move 100 mm?
G0 Y100....did the Y axis move 100mm?
G0 Z100....did the Z axis move 100mm
G0 A90....did the A axis move 90 degrees?

Craig

Hi Craig,

Problem sorted. Thanks for your help. Although Roger Webb had insisted that I use the pirated copy of Mach3 that his factory had 'set up' for my machine, I gave up on that copy and set up my licensed copy properly for this new machine. Magic and sorcery.....it worked!

Thanks again
Best regards
Doug

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General Mach Discussion / Re: MACH3 screen not able to go "full screen"

« on: June 30, 2018, 12:02:59 AM »

I tried the solution above as well, but it didn't work for me?  Bummer as my sight isn't good.  If anyone has any other options, that'd be great!  TIA.

I'm guessing that you have sorted this by now but just in case you haven't, I had the same problem and Auto Enlarge was already checked in my General Config page. However, I noticed that the 'Hi-Res Screens' wasn't checked and so I ticked that box too and problem solved. :-) And thanks to Hood above for directing me to the right controls to fix the problem.