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Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!
« on: October 10, 2008, 12:19:52 AM »
Hi, All,
I have been looking at some of the posts on this and similar sites to get an idea of how things are working with machines that use MACH 3. I have been through a bit of a struggle getting a machine running dependably, and still don't have it where I want it. Purchased from Dynamic Plastic, a small ball screw machine with x, y/A, and Z axes, I worked with it for about 9 months before I thought I had it running dependably. But now the weather has turned colder and just last night it started to act up again. It is stored in my unheated garage and it turned cooler the last couple of nights. The ball screws are tempermental.
I have repeatedly asked for help from the manufacturer, but all he was interested in was my money.
I am a graduate engineer with 40 years of design experience in mechanical and electrical fields and own a small company which builds test instruments. I don't have a lot of time to spend writing blogs. But maybe someone may have an interest in getting some idea of how I have approached getting this machine working.
Before the nine months were over, I had made the decision that if something could be assembled incorrectly, then it was done so in this machine. When I received the machine, the computer ran fairly dependably. That was about all. Jams in x axis, jams in both y and a axes, blown controller board, lack of documentation, out of square frame construction. construction that forced the x/y axes to be out of square, you name it. An interesting story.
I am now using the machine for small projects, some of which are fairly important to me and my company. It is a small machine. But with the ball screws, it can do some fairly accurate routing. When it is working.
Problems solved:
adjust x axis bearings
adjust y axis bearings
adjust a axis bearings
shim frame to true it.
disassemble x carriage system to correct misassembly error throwing it out of square
test solidstate driver current waveforms. replace and retune controller board.
discover lubrication needed on small stepper motor belts for proper operation
learned to program in G code and have a number of successful programs running. i would like to hear how people are able to do a little more than write simple linear code. I have written code in C, assembly and basic in the past.
I wonder how people are working with racks and how racks and ball screws compare. Accuracy vs. freedom from tempermental.
Thoughts?
gjf
I have been looking at some of the posts on this and similar sites to get an idea of how things are working with machines that use MACH 3. I have been through a bit of a struggle getting a machine running dependably, and still don't have it where I want it. Purchased from Dynamic Plastic, a small ball screw machine with x, y/A, and Z axes, I worked with it for about 9 months before I thought I had it running dependably. But now the weather has turned colder and just last night it started to act up again. It is stored in my unheated garage and it turned cooler the last couple of nights. The ball screws are tempermental.
I have repeatedly asked for help from the manufacturer, but all he was interested in was my money.
I am a graduate engineer with 40 years of design experience in mechanical and electrical fields and own a small company which builds test instruments. I don't have a lot of time to spend writing blogs. But maybe someone may have an interest in getting some idea of how I have approached getting this machine working.
Before the nine months were over, I had made the decision that if something could be assembled incorrectly, then it was done so in this machine. When I received the machine, the computer ran fairly dependably. That was about all. Jams in x axis, jams in both y and a axes, blown controller board, lack of documentation, out of square frame construction. construction that forced the x/y axes to be out of square, you name it. An interesting story.
I am now using the machine for small projects, some of which are fairly important to me and my company. It is a small machine. But with the ball screws, it can do some fairly accurate routing. When it is working.
Problems solved:
adjust x axis bearings
adjust y axis bearings
adjust a axis bearings
shim frame to true it.
disassemble x carriage system to correct misassembly error throwing it out of square
test solidstate driver current waveforms. replace and retune controller board.
discover lubrication needed on small stepper motor belts for proper operation
learned to program in G code and have a number of successful programs running. i would like to hear how people are able to do a little more than write simple linear code. I have written code in C, assembly and basic in the past.
I wonder how people are working with racks and how racks and ball screws compare. Accuracy vs. freedom from tempermental.
Thoughts?
gjf