Topics

51

General Mach Discussion / Lathe Tool Offset and Program Rewind and G1 Help

« on: September 16, 2009, 10:33:57 PM »

OK so most of you will laugh but there was so much to learn on CNC lathe when I built it about 6 months ago I never bothered to use the tool offsets. One reason was that I tried using the tool offsets in DolphinCAM and they never worked so I was so frustrated that I never bothered to use them. So today I decided enough was enougn and I set up the tools in MACH, works good so far.

The problem I'm having is after I type in a tool, i.e. T808 and it asks me to hit cycle start and I do so, I go to mach wizards and run a program. Well for tool flex I usually always run a program twice, well this was a disaster as it reset the tool to tool 0 (zero) and it crashed so bad I had to reset my tool post.

So the question is how do I get it to keep the same tool after running a program?

Next question, for some reason every now and again Mach Turn stays in G0 mode. So let's say I'm going to cut G1F5Z-.5 it runs at full speed I have to restart Mach to get it to go normal. Is there any reason this happens? I have Mach3.42.

52

General Mach Discussion / Simple Threading Wizard Problems HELP

« on: September 09, 2009, 05:54:34 PM »

OK so for most of the threading I do I use the Simple Threading Wizard already in MACH and it works mos of the time perfect. One thing I noticed that has been happening all the time but never really noticed:

When I cut external threads every once in a great while it will do a cut above the threads, I assume that it's timing was a little off so Mach does an ancillary cut to make sure the time is correct, this cut is above the threads. When I do internal threads it does the same ancillary cut to check the timing but it's moving X at a taper and it doesn't clear the threads, it's actually messing them up. So my question is how come it does that taper move but hits the internal threads and ruins the them?

53

General Mach Discussion / Need HELP Steppers Stalling on Shallow Moves

« on: August 22, 2009, 08:14:31 PM »

OK, ever since I converted my Bridgeport to CNC the X and Y axis lock up when trying to make shallow moves at the same time. So let's say when trying to go from Y0.2 X0.1 to Y8 X.2. I think it's because the machine is trying to move that shallow sliver of a move of X over such a long distance. I noticed it during drilling cycles originally. And before you ask I've tried everything slowing down the motor in motor turning and changing the accerlation down. The motors are more than strong enough 1200 oz. steppers at 150 IPM it can pull me across the floor without missing a step, but even then I tuned them down to 70 IPM as my top speed and of course it still happens.

Some things I noticed months and months ago when trouble shooting it, I readjusted my Y gibs, they were a little loose. I eneded up just forgetting about it and just altering my Gcode to make each move separately until it gets to where it's going. Instead of X2Y2 on one line I would say X2, [new line] Y2, just to be safe. The weird parts is I use this mill all the time doing very complex 3 and 4 axis stuff and it never messes up until I get to shallow moves on a drill cycle; that is until yesterday I was doing some pocketing where there were some extremely shallow moves and it messed up, luckily I was there to Feed Hold and resetup.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm just worried that it's going to mess up somthing real important.

54

General Mach Discussion / How to Home a Single Axis

« on: July 02, 2009, 06:03:11 PM »

How can I home a single axis, not just G53 Z0 for example, but home it like when I first start the machine and it hits the home limit switch and rebounds and then zeros out the Machine Coordiantes for that axis. Thanks.

55

General Mach Discussion / Multiple DRO entries Help

« on: June 26, 2009, 02:54:40 AM »

When I first turn on my Bridgeport I home it. The sets the machine coordinates to X0 Y0, then I jog over to my vice which is at somewhere X7 Y5, I then zero my DROs so I can use it at the vice and reference what I'm cutting. But sometimes I use a vice stop for stock I use inbetween other programs.

SO my question is if I zero out my DROs for one thing, then load another piece of stock is there a way to set that new stock at X0 Y0 without losing the original X0 Y0 which is at a different location, then later after I machine the new part I can go back to the original X0 Y0 I set earlier. And if that can be done can I do it for let's say 5 different locations? I guess this would be like for setting jig locations, but I need them to read X0 Y0 because that's what I program in my CAD for the corner of the stock.

56

General Mach Discussion / Threading Wizard HELP -- Simple I think goes to wrong point.

« on: June 12, 2009, 07:02:37 PM »

OK, so I'm sure it's been covered but I can't find it.

I'm using the threading wizard in Mach 3.042 and when I go to run it, it move the carriage past the physical limts in the X6" and Z6" range. I have no idea why it's doing that and it crashes my carriage. The G code doesn't mention these coordinates so it must be some code. Please help. It does it for the first move.

Here's the code, oh I don't have any offsets set whatso ever I just zero the tool to the right coordinates. And I'm working in Inches. Oh and another thing the only werid setting I have is the IJ mode is set to absolute instead of incremental for my Dolphin CAM. Thanks.

G0 G40 G18 G80 G50 G90
G00 G53 X0.1 Z0.1
T202M6
G00  X1.795
G00 Z0.5
G00 X1.77
M03 S1000
M08
G76 X1.7316 Z-1 Q4 P0.03125 J0.001 L45 H0.01 I29 C0.025 B0.0001 T0
M9
M5
M30

57

General Mach Discussion / Spindle Index RPM not Matching Actual RPMs HELP

« on: May 26, 2009, 07:12:45 PM »

So I've finally got my 9x20 lathe CNC conversion done. I set up the spindle index but it doesn't regist the True RPMs. At 200 RPMs it reads 200 RPMS, at 2000 it reads 270 or so. What is the problem.

I'm using a 2 7/8" diameter disc with a .125" wide slot. Is the slot too wide or too narrow, could that be the problem? Any help would be apprecaited, thanks.

58

Mach Screens / Screen4 Huge Problem Solved

« on: May 21, 2009, 06:58:34 PM »

I have been trying to design a screen for years now and I never could complete one because object (buttons, graphics or anythine else) would jump around the screeen changing position for no reason. I tried everything changin video settings and other stuff. Turns out the screen has to be able to be viewed in it's entirety. What I mean was my monitor was set to 1024x768 and so was the mach screen, since the Screen4's program borders would make not all of the layout of mach viewable without using scroll bars it would get confused about actual pixel screen position. Needless to say all I did was increase my monitor resolution so the entire thing could be see and low and behold no more problem. I finally got a screen exactly the way I want it. Hope this helps someone else.

59

General Mach Discussion / Stepper Motors Stall During a Certian Move HELP!!

« on: May 06, 2009, 04:45:38 PM »

So my Bridgeport Conversion is done and I've got it SUPER accurate, but I have a problem with the X and Y motors stalling during some moves during drilling operations.

I've tried everything loosening gibs, slowing the motors down, changing acceleration and all that. I know it's not a problem physically with the machine as it only happens when moving from one hole during a drill cycle of 10 holes. It's weird I can cut pockets that are PERFECT no error in size down to .0000 so when both axis' are moving together it's fine but during some drill cycles and it's happened with different gcodes where the x and y move to a new coordinate to drill, the motors stall. I hope I'm explaining this correctly.

Here is the gcode and I've highlighted where it locks up. Thanks.

60

General Mach Discussion / Hot Button to return Z to Machine Zero Help

« on: May 06, 2009, 04:37:40 PM »

SO I make buttons all the time using a keyboard emulator so I have hot buttons, but I need one to return Z to Machine Zero for a tool change. I'm sure it's a simple code if anyone can give it to me, thanks.

What I usually do when I first start up my mill is home to reference all to machine zero, then I go abou settig up my piece and REZero the Z to my wokpiece. So I need to know the code to have my Z return to MACHINE Zero.