Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Hello - and Help please....Mach 3 and Vetric

« on: October 09, 2010, 01:35:23 PM »

I've been using Cut2D with Mach3 for about a year now. I've always wondered what the 'output direct to machine' check box was for but never investigated as Cut2D is on my desktop computer and Mach3 is in the shop with the Taig. I drag .dxf's to the Cut2D icon to open up the drawing for processing. Then I copy the g code files off to the mill computer for machining. The Cut2D/Mach3 combination has worked out well for me for the past year or so.

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: does mach 3 work with USB?

« on: March 06, 2010, 04:30:11 PM »

I've switched from a parallel port to the Smooth Stepper USB adapter and have been very happy. It's working flawlessly with Mach and my Taig mill even on an Acer Aspire One netbook.

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: anyone know where to get an optical edge finder?

« on: February 17, 2008, 11:11:59 PM »

I find I have to occasionally recenter the camera,  using the adjusting screws I built into the shank.

I picked up one of these units from Attoresearch on Ebay for QUITE a bit more than you are asking. It may have been before you started selling them as theirs was the only purpose built camera I could find at the time. The package from Attoresearch came with some interesting software for stitching images together and measuring things which I guess is really what they are charging for.

In any case...

I was also having to readjust the camera every so often to keep it centered and decided to open it up to find out what was slipping. It turns out the camera board is just floating around in the housing. There's a single screw though the case and board to hold it down at one edge. There aren't really any stops to fix the board in place so any flexing of the case can push the board around. Pushing on the "snapshot" button also causes the board to slide a bit.

As your mount adjusts the camera center externally, perhaps a few well placed dabs of electronics safe silicone would solve the readjustment problem for you.

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Video Window plugin

« on: November 08, 2007, 06:01:54 PM »

I've got the Attoresearch CnCam unit off eBay. Looks like the same camera in your photo folder on the yahoo group but has a different mount. In any case, the camera appears to be rotating on one pixel...the sensor and spindle are aligned. The point they are aligned to just isn't the center of the video window in Mach. The error is just along the horizontal axis so maybe it's some sort of driver issue ?

5

General Mach Discussion / Video Window plugin

« on: November 08, 2007, 01:16:05 PM »

I've picked up a modified webcam for use with my Taig mill and Mach. It seems to work pretty well but the pixel the assembly rotates on is a good ways off from the crosshair in the Mach video window. Is there a way to move the crosshair ?