Messages

1

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: PCB-Gcode - No milling code in the file...

« on: March 11, 2013, 10:22:25 PM »

May have found an answer...change the outline (default dimension layer) to layer (Mill)  46?

2

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / PCB-Gcode - No milling code in the file...

« on: March 11, 2013, 10:14:02 PM »

I am getting up to speed, have engraved  a  few test boards' traces, am ready now to integrate drilling and milling out the board....
The drill nc file looks great, but haven't run it yet....but despite checking the box to have a mill file generated, which I assume is the file to cut out the board's outline in the dimension layer, the code consists of the following:
G20
(Absolute Coordinates)
G90
G00 X0.0000  Y0.0000  
M03
G04 P1.000000
G00 Z0.5000  
M05
M02

That's all I get every time.  What am I doing wrong?
Thanks for any input....

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: 2nd Tool Head and related offset settings

« on: January 08, 2013, 10:47:38 PM »

Although that doesn't look too difficult, just have to designate in CAM carefully, the tool number, and follow through. Maybe designate 1-5 for spindle 1, and 5-10 for the other.

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: 2nd Tool Head and related offset settings

« on: January 08, 2013, 10:44:41 PM »

I'm thinking to keep things easy for my squid brain for now, I will just rezero to the other spindle on tool changes.
Need to walk before I start running macros. :-)

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: 2nd Tool Head and related offset settings

« on: January 08, 2013, 08:13:07 PM »

To clarify, I simply mounted another spindle on the same axis.
So I could use the next available tool offset, i.e. G55?
So the procedure would be what....field determine the spindle location difference from the original, load the difference into G55 and store it for use..and activate G55 at time of chool change to other spindle?

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: 2nd Tool Head and related offset settings

« on: January 08, 2013, 12:41:49 PM »

Something tells me I am just going to have to handle it as a tool change operaiton, and just rezero everything when switching to the other spindle....is that correct?

7

General Mach Discussion / 2nd Tool Head and related offset settings

« on: January 08, 2013, 09:39:01 AM »

I have an engraving table which I replace the z axis with a real variable height axis in lieu of the air-driven up/down affair, and it works great for engraving and minor soft materials machining.
But the spindle only accepts 1/8" top-load engraving cutters.  A great machine in its own right now, but I need to be able to use other tools.  

So I machined mounts and added a 1/4" trim router adjacent to the existing spindle. It's a double headed monster now :-) Can load 1/8" shank tooling, and 1/4" as well.  Now I can ostensibly do printed circuit boards and the like.  Here's my question...tool and fixture offsets are confusing enough in their own right, but how does one tell the machine to start in a particular job with one head, then continue with the other?  For example, I would set my work offsets for the engraving spindle, cut all the traces, then wish to drill using the trim router...Where do I store the "difference" in locations between the 2 heads and switch to it?  I should be able to select the other offset for x and y, then drop down and set z as you always would...but aren;t standard offsets relational to machine zero, not some arbitrary difference as I seem to require?
 I can field determine their locations easily enough...  can somebody explain this?  Thanks so much.

8

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Smooth Stepper just stops communicating with Mach3

« on: January 05, 2013, 01:31:02 PM »

I just came inside to research a similar problem...have the smoothstepper running flawlessly but halfway thru get these "ran out of data" errors.  Saw the note about thumb drives....DOH!   move the nc file to the hard drive first, and now no problems.  Make note people :-)

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problems with gcode exported to MAch from pcb-gcode...

« on: December 19, 2012, 08:15:28 AM »

Hmm....I am testing that code on my office machine, virtually in Mach3.  Maybe it's just hanging up for some silly reason there, and will cut fine on the system.  Lemme see. Thanks

10

General Mach Discussion / Problems with gcode exported to MAch from pcb-gcode...

« on: December 18, 2012, 08:30:29 PM »

I am fairly familiar now with Mach3, have run a  few parts.  Next I need to engrave some printed circuit boards.
Got to the point where I can run the pcb-gcode add-on in Cadsoft Eagle, and have respectable gcode, and a decent looking board file.
But the gcode despite being told to be MAch3 compatible in the setup, won't run...it stops early on, at M3 code, and if I skip it, it finds more incompatible gcode errors.....am I missing something?   some of the code follows...

(.../EAGLE-6.3.0/ulp/PCB-GCODE/pcb-gcode.ulp)
(Copyright 2005 - 2009 by John Johnson)
(See readme.txt for licensing terms.)
(This file generated from the board:)
(.../fuel flow large enclosure.brd)
(Current profile is .../ulp/PCB-GCODE/profiles/mach.pp  )
(This file generated 12/18/2012 2:58:16 PM)
(Settings from pcb-machine.h)
(  Tool Size)
(0.0070  )
(Z Axis Settings)
(  High     Up        Down     Drill)
(0.5000     0.1000     -0.0070    -0.0320 )
(spindle on time = 1.0000)
(milling depth = -0.0100)
(text depth = -0.0050)
(tool change at 0.0000  0.0000  5.0000  )
(feed rate xy = F20    )
(feed rate z  = F10    )
(Settings from pcb-defaults.h)
(Default isolate = 0.0010)
(isolate max = 0.0200)
(isolate step = 0.0050)
(Generated top outlines, top drill, bottom outlines, )
(Unit of measure: inch)
(Inch Mode)
G20
(Absolute Coordinates)
G90
G00 X0.0000  Y0.0000  
M3  
G04 P1.000000
G00 Z0.1000  
G00 X1.4277  Y1.7565  
G01 Z-0.0070 F10    
G01 X1.4277  Y1.7639  F20    
G01 X1.4262  Y1.7712