Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Can two different Mach3 profiles open in two different monitors?

« on: November 23, 2021, 02:00:20 PM »

Hi!

I'm planning on using one PC with dual monitor support to control both mill and lathe.

Over Windows 10 (using ESS) is it possible to make one profile of mach3 open in one monitor and another profile to open in the other monitor? Not at the same time, sure.

Thanks!

2

General Mach Discussion / How to add a second input to an E-STOP?

« on: May 30, 2020, 10:37:38 AM »

Hi!

My Gecko G-540 BOB is wired to an E-Stop Input on Mach3.

But I bought a new Brushless Motor to my lathe's spindle that in it's controller it also has an output pin as a Fault Alarm.

I'd like to also wire this "Fault" output of the Motor's controller to another input of my BOB and also trigger an E-Stop.

How do I do it, If my E-Stop input is already used by the Gecko's own E-stop?

Regards, Rodrigo

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can Mach3 do CW and CCW in the spindle with just one relay and one output?

« on: May 18, 2020, 12:07:08 PM »

Hi! Just today I managed to upgrade my motor. I’d like thank you for your help. It worked perfectly. I changed the m4 and m3 macros as you said and everything is working!

Thanks!

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can Mach3 do CW and CCW in the spindle with just one relay and one output?

« on: March 29, 2020, 09:10:42 AM »

You will need 2 outputs from your BOB to control 2 relays.
First relay for CW/CCW and second for Start/Stop spindle.
Second, you can edit macros in your Mach3/macros/'your profile' folder named m3.m1s and m4 m1s
For example:

Code: [Select]

m3.m1s

ActivateSignal(OUTPUTx) ' switches ON direction control relay
DoSpinCW()                   ' switches enable relay

Code: [Select]

m4.m1s

DeactivateSignal(OUTPUTx) ' switches OFF direction control relay
DoSpinCW()                       ' switches enable relay

OUTPUTx is an output that you should define/enable in Pots & Pins

Attached you can see that CW and CCW can share same pin.

Thanks! That pretty much solves it all!

Only one doubt: How do I assign the output pin for the enable relay to the DoSpinCW() function? I mean, how does this DoSpinCW() function knows which pin to send a signal? Is it the Spindle Output Pin in the Output port configuration?

Thanks a lot for your help!

Rodrigo

5

General Mach Discussion / Can Mach3 do CW and CCW in the spindle with just one relay and one output?

« on: March 28, 2020, 09:41:01 AM »

Hi!

I've got a micro lathe working normally in Mach3 with it's stock motor, in CW and CCW, with two relays (to invert the wirings of the motor) and two outputs in Mach3 to do M3 and M5.

I'm buying a new brushless spindle motor and controller to adapt in my lathe.

The controller has one input (DIRECTION) that when connected to it's own GND turns the spindle CW and when let it floating (or in 5V) does CCW.

And another input (ENABLE INPUT) that when connected to GND turn the spindle on, and when not, turns off

So, I just need one relay to do CW or CCW with this controller.

Is there a way on Mach3 to set both CW and CCW to only one OUTPUT (instead of the two outputs required in the Spindle Configuration Screen), and only one relay, and then when the OUTPUT is LOW, the relay would be off, the spindle would be in CW and when in HIGH, the relay would be on, and the spindle would be in CCW.

If not, how can I solve this?

Thanks!

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle takes a long time to reach true speed in Mach3

« on: March 28, 2020, 09:23:37 AM »

Ok, I'll answer myself, so if anyone get's to this post will have the answer.

I had to mess with the adjustments in  the spindle settings in the TAB "Motor Tuning -> Spindle"

I don't know the values, as Velocity and Accel are in mm/min and mm/sec/sec, and the "Steps per" I let at 10 (how it was). The other two I changed until the spindle got faster with smooth acceleration at the desired speed.

So, now it works normally at both pulleys, get's to desired speed normally and faster.

Regards, Rodrigo

7

General Mach Discussion / Spindle takes a long time to reach true speed in Mach3

« on: March 24, 2020, 12:25:33 AM »

Hi!

I have a cnc converted micro lathe, with an index on the spindle and relays to turn it on an switch direction.

I control the lathe’s original motor by pwm, and I have spindle feedback to mach3 by the index signal.

I have just changed the original 2:1 (from 4.000 RPM to 2.000 RPM) pulleys by a new double pulley set. One of the sets reduces the speed to  6:1, so I get max speed of aprox. 650 RPM, for higher torque when threading

The strange thing is, in this pulley set (6:1),  when I command mach3 to S300 and then M3, it takes aprox. 25 seconds to get from 0 to 300RPM stable.

If I turn off the spindle control by mach3, and control it manually by the original potentiometer, it takes less time to get to the desired speed.


When I use the original ratio pulleys (2:1) I get to any speed very quickly.

I use a BOB Gecko G540, and PWM settings of 72hz and Min PWM at 1%

My debounce interval for the single index pulse is debounce interval: 600 and index debounce is 10

I use Spindle Feedback in Sync Mode,
Closed Spindle Loop Control and Spindle Speed Averaging

Is it normal in a reduced ratio pulley for the spindle take  so long to get to this 300RPM speed? Is there something I could do to improve it?

Thanks, Rodrigo

8

Promote and discuss your product / Re: Free G76 Macro Helping program for Mach3 Turn

« on: February 28, 2020, 07:08:58 PM »

Hi Stephan! Today I managed to do some real tests with your macro and thread helper! In plastic yet...

But the 3/4 16 TPI thread I tested (not the fine one, the other one) worked perfectly and fit my bolt in the first attempt. I’ll test in brass over the weekend.

A doubt: I chose Z = 0 as the start and Z= 6 (-6) as the end of an external thread.

It begins the thread at 5.17 (or something like it) and stops before the -6. I had to make it to -7.5 to actually get to -6 in Z

The clearence in Z is 0.2mm

My settings are metric, Z-, 0.2 in clearence in x and z, parallel port for now...

9

Promote and discuss your product / Re: Free G76 Macro Helping program for Mach3 Turn

« on: February 25, 2020, 06:51:35 PM »

Thanks Stephan!

As I’m not in the lab anymore, i tried over my laptop in the demo mode. Indeed it was set to true.

I changed to false and mach3 generates the number of passes accordingly and simulates correctly the code generated by your macro!

But when trying to generate the code using the threading wizard, it gets back to that error in line 199 of the m1076.m1s file: it says divided by zero and doesn’t work.

Apart from that, you could also save all last user inputs of your program. Everytime I turn it on it gets back to the first thread of the list. It could go back to the last one used. For instance, I’ll try the UNF 3/4 16 TPI and it resets to metric when restarting.

Also, is it possible to set the depth of the first layer at will, or it’s always automatic?

Thanks again for your quick support!

10

Promote and discuss your product / Re: Free G76 Macro Helping program for Mach3 Turn

« on: February 25, 2020, 04:46:59 PM »

Thanks Stephan!

I was just making sure everything was alright.

Should I edit something in yours m1076.m1s file?

The screenset is ok, DROs are correct.  If I try your G76 line or the threading wizard's G76 it just goes to the other line and doesn't even begin to thread. G76 doesn't even begin to move.


If I go back to the original m1076.m1s file, then yours G76 line and the wizard's G76 works normally apparently.  I'm cutting air for testing, so I can't check number of passes yet. Just checking if spindle get's turned on and synchronizes with the axes and makes the threading moves.



So.. do I have to do something else?

Thanks for your support!