Messages

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Manual Tool Height Z Measurements

« on: December 16, 2017, 08:56:28 PM »

https://photos.app.goo.gl/swPmB8vq0zcyHXR02

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Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Manual Tool Height Z Measurements

« on: December 16, 2017, 08:54:47 PM »

Hi Gary, thanks for the assistance. I figured out the tool height. Its logical, I just assumed Mach 4 would keep track of the surface as long as you told it where the tip of the tool was. Anyway. I got my first complete part finished... with no errors. Small mold. Here is a link to google photos of the piece. Thanks again. Keith.

3

Mach4 General Discussion / Manual Tool Height Z Measurements

« on: December 15, 2017, 09:47:21 AM »

When I manually change the tool in MACH4 the new length must be input in the TOOL TABLE.  I do this manually by using the Z MEASUREMENT button in the Tool Table. This works ONLY if the tools get shorter. If the successive tool is longer the Z measurement is a POSITIVE reading which is incorrect. The correct Z height would be to ADD this positive Z measurement to the previous Z reading. I can do this math, but the possibility of making a simple mistake is large. Is there a way to manually set to tool so MACH4 references the length from a common starting height?  Is the probe page the way to do this... even if you don't have a probe? I attached a link to a drawing of this situation. Looking at the 3rd tool, left to right, the first two work ok, the 3rd longer tool is the problem. When the plate is touched the Z reading is +.4454. This is not correct for the Z height on the 3rd tool The actual height should be *-.2970.https://photos.app.goo.gl/FFa6nu7Dt9ouhvs43

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Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 tooltable

« on: December 14, 2017, 11:38:51 AM »

I think you are in the right area... The MACH4 screen shows what the tool #should be and it shows the ACTIVE H OFFSET. While stepping through the program, the Active H off set seems to filp all over the place. At the point of the tool change, when I am moving the Z to touch the plate, the Active H offset shown on the screen DOES NOT match. It is the previous tool. Still playing a bit. At this point.

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Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4 tooltable

« on: December 14, 2017, 09:08:27 AM »

Hey everyone...been working on a small xyz mill and 99% complete. Have this last problem. I must change the end mills manually when the gcode calls for a tool change. From my experience, the initial tool is used for establishing the ZERO z height.  For me, this is set to the height of my plate of AL that I am milling. I lower the Z till it contacts the plate. This Z offset value is placed in the TOOL FIXTURE TABLE under G54. NOTE: I do not place this z offset in the TOOL TABLE for this end mill. This works perfectly. For the 2nd end mill, I insert the end mill at the tool change request, I lower it to the AL plate, and put the Z offset value in the TOOl TABLE for the appropriate tool number. This WORKS perfectly. The problem is the 3rd tool change. For the 3rd end mill, I do the exact same procedure but the mill is NOT getting the correct height for the tool. The gcode seems to be holding the value for the 2nd tool and adding it to the 3rd tool. I am using a generic post to generate the gcode using Fusion360 and a PMDX422 board via USB connection. (I ran a test with three tools 1/4, 1/8 and 3/16 flat end mills. The G54 initial z off set was -.9195 in, The 1/8 was -.6533 in and the 3/16 was -.2380 in. The 3rd tool the 3/16 was milling above the plate by .6533 in which was the z offset from the 2nd tool?) Thanks any help you can offer.

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Mach4 General Discussion / MACH4 restartimg in the middle of post

« on: March 16, 2017, 10:05:47 AM »

I was in the middle of machining a small part on my CNC milll using MACH 4. Assuming everything is still set...can the sequence be started from where it left off? Or should I start from the beginning and let it machine air till it catches up?

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Mach4 General Discussion / Setting G54

« on: January 06, 2017, 10:07:35 AM »

I have a simple xyz mill using Mach4 and have to set the offset xyz distances for G54. I'm only using one set-up. From my learning thus far, I assume the offsets are from point 0,0,0 or HOME position. I home mill and xyz are set to 000. I see Mach3 has a screen to easily set the offsets and save them. I can not find a similar screen? How do you set these offsets in Mach4? Any info would be great. Thanks Keith M.

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Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Fusion360 Post processor for Mach4

« on: January 06, 2017, 09:59:24 AM »

Thank you very much for the information. The Mach3 post seems to be working. Will keep my eyes open if a specific Mach4 processor comes out.

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Mach4 General Discussion / Fusion360 Post processor for Mach4

« on: January 04, 2017, 09:29:59 PM »

I am using Fusion360 to generate gcode for a Mach4 basic xyz mill. When selecting a post processor to generage the gcode there is no selection for Mach4 within Fusin360...there is one for Mach3. The question is what would be the BEST processor to choose for Mach4  OR is there a post processor in a app that can be added to fusion360 for specfically for Mach4?  Any info would be helpful. Thanks Keith.

10

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Error 7 in Mach4 using PMDX-424 board

« on: January 04, 2017, 07:26:46 PM »

Thanks Greg

I think I figured it out. In the installation, I installed the setup software that was marked PMDXsample. This worked until I started setting up the limits. Then it just fell apart and kept giving me the errors. When I went to reload the PMDX software, I just happen to notice there was another version PMDX424sample. The 424 matched my board number and...magic it started to work fine. I have yet to reset the soft limits if they work then i'm good to go!

Thanks again
Keith M.