Messages

2381

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Advice needed - wiring solid state relay

« on: August 18, 2017, 05:41:33 AM »

The MCTC4825JLB that you have linked is a temperature controller rather than just a solid state switch.

I use SSR's on my machines to control spindle, laser, etc. and I find the a.c. type of SSR more useful than the d.c. types. The SSR's that I use are like those in the attached picture.

This type of SSR can be operated by 5 Volts at <10mA and can switch up to 480Vac at 25 Amps (large heatsink required for large currents). The big advantage of these a.c. SSR’s is that they switch at the zero crossing point of the mains waveform so can switch loads without creating noise spikes as may be caused by a standard relay.

Wire sizes required are related to Voltage and Current (Watts) and would be the same for an SSR as a standard relay.

Hope this helps.

Tweakie.

2382

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mill Spindle Speed Control - DC Motor

« on: August 18, 2017, 05:22:15 AM »

Hi Keith,

Welcome to the forum.

For spindle speed control Mach3 sends a 0% to 100% PWM signal at TTL level (5V or 3.3V peak). The PWM duty cycle is controlled by the Gcode S### command and turned on / off with the Gcode M3,M4 / M5 commands.

It is up to a connected board (BoB or motion controller) to convert this PWM signal into the 0 to 10 Volt (or whatever) signal required for a VFD.

Hope this helps.

Tweakie.

2383

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.

« on: August 18, 2017, 04:38:36 AM »

I needed to engrave a number of assembled parts which were too deep to fit beneath my laser nozzle. The solution would be a time consuming disassembly and re-assembly of the items or modification to my laser lens system.
As the combined mirror / lens assemblies (usually fitted to the commercial laser machines) are cheap to buy (from China) I decided to give it a try. Making a small bracket to fit the new mirror / lens assembly to the machine (in place of the existing lens assembly) replacing my vertical laser beam with a horizontal laser beam and creating a new Mach3 profile to swap the Z axis with the Y axis everything worked beautifully.
There are safety issues with having a horizontal laser beam on an open frame machine and I have not yet worked out the best / most foolproof solution but I am working on it.

Tweakie.

2384

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Advice needed - wiring solid state relay

« on: August 18, 2017, 01:57:06 AM »

Hi AndyMenzel,

What is your question ?

Tweakie.

2385

FAQs / Re: Intermittent inaccuracy

« on: August 15, 2017, 11:13:31 AM »

The problem appears to be during the Jog cycle, when the steppers make a sudden noise and stutter.

That sounds like you have one or more stepper motors stalling.

Try reducing your Velocity and Acceleration settings by 50% in Motor Tuning (save the changes for each axis) and see if this cures the problem. If it does then experiment to find the fastest, reliable speeds that suit your machine.

Tweakie.

2386

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Tool Zero Code w/ Wait for Probe Confirmation

« on: August 15, 2017, 02:01:55 AM »

I think you will find that the above script only zero's the Z axis but it does show adding a message box.

If it's of any interest the full article for X - Y - Z zero position setting is here http://www.cooperman.talktalk.net/files/17.htm

Tweakie.

2387

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Triple edge zero finding plate problems

« on: August 14, 2017, 06:59:11 AM »

Hi Ian,

I am pleased to hear that all is now working well and congrats on converting that script from Imperial to Metric 

Tweakie.

2388

Tangent Corner / Re: My Electronic Juke Box.

« on: August 13, 2017, 08:00:44 AM »

Well the idea brewed for a while and then developed. This thread referrs:
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,32912.0.html

Tweakie.

2389

FAQs / Re: Stepper pulses

« on: August 13, 2017, 02:27:50 AM »

The maximum pulse frequency is set by the Kernel Speed.
The actual number of pulses can then and often is, reduced by the Feed-Rate and the Axis Velocity set in motor tuning. The actual number of pulses per axis are also tied to the slowest axis when more than one axis is moving at the same time.

You perhaps need to connect a o'scope to an axis step pin - then you can observe this and the cyclic pattern of pulses that have been removed from the fundamental frequency in order to create the desired Feed-Rate.
All this is a lot easier to see than it is to describe.

Tweakie.

2390

FAQs / Re: Stepper pulses

« on: August 12, 2017, 06:50:33 AM »

The cyclic variation in Step Pulse frequency does not, as far as I am aware, affect any stepper motor drivers so it should not affect your OSD. It is just something you should be aware of when counting pulses or measuring the frequency.

Tweakie.