Messages

3261

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: June 22, 2014, 07:53:07 AM »

Hi Art,

If it's any help, I did try it with Win7 32bit but could not get the DarwinTest.exe to run (maybe just me though).

Tweakie.

3262

FAQs / Re: new to cnc

« on: June 21, 2014, 11:22:59 AM »

The download link for Mach3 is here http://www.machsupport.com/software/downloads-updates/ please read the manuals, try it out and make sure it meets your requirements before purchasing the license.
Good fortune with your project.

Tweakie.

3263

FAQs / Re: new to cnc

« on: June 21, 2014, 06:28:33 AM »

Yes it will but, as you are probably aware, it requires unipolar stepper motors (5,6 or 8 wire) to be used.

More details here http://www.hobbycnc.com/products/hobbycnc-ez-driver-board-kit/

Tweakie.

3264

General Mach Discussion / Re: Using Corel Draw

« on: June 21, 2014, 04:42:05 AM »

Unfortunaley, Corel Draw is one of those application you either love or hate and I come down on the hate side.

You could export the Corel Draw HPGL print file then load it into LazyCam (comes free with Mach3) configure your cut depth then create the GCode file for Mach3 but it is a lot of messing about and the results may not be excellent (a lot depends on your file size).

Personally I would look for another CAD/CAM (many to choose from, some free – some expensive) which is easy to use and will create the necessary GCode via it’s own post processor (I now use Vectric Aspire - it has taken me a long while to save up for but it was, in my opinion, well worth the wait).

Tweakie.

3265

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: June 20, 2014, 03:10:51 AM »

Looks like I will have to wait until a build is released which runs with XP then. 

I think the Mcode issue is quite deep rooted as it appears that just one Mcode in a short program is OK but put two Mcodes (almost any Mcodes) in the program and the smooth motion is destroyed for the duration of the program run between the two Mcodes. 

I presume that external motion controllers, such as the ESS, will not suffer from this issue ?

Tweakie.

3266

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: June 19, 2014, 12:00:45 PM »

Hi Art,

Yes I am using WinXP sp3 -  I can't run v.1817 either 

Tweakie.

3267

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: June 19, 2014, 10:21:59 AM »

Hi Art,

Thank you for the information and taking the time to look at the problem.

I have now found that it has nothing to do with the spindle and think I can confirm what you have said. The following runs with rough motion until the M9 is encountered then it runs just fine (so it looks like it's a Mach4 problem).

code
m7
code
m9
code

Tweakie.

3268

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: June 19, 2014, 07:29:40 AM »

Hi Art,

I am having troubles running a simple code such as:-

G1 F300
M3
X10
Y10
X0
Y0
M5
%

I had to delete the M3, M5 macros from the Mach4 macros folder on order to get these commands to operate the spindle but now the motion is lumpy (almost single step mode). If I leave out the M5 then it runs just fine (starting the spindle at the M3) but of course the spindle is not stopped at program end.
I have a similar problem if ending a program with M30 (for the last few lines it runs lumpy) and I put this down to my PC being antique but now I am not so sure.

Does using the M3 / M5 combination alter the output stream from Mach4 in some way?

Any advice greatly appreciated as this issue has me stumped at the present.

Tweakie.

3269

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Laser Cutting.

« on: June 19, 2014, 04:36:12 AM »

Thanks Brett.

A few of the challenges I encountered with Mach4 v.1767 which may be of interest to others…
 
Initially my machine PC graphics card was not up to the task and had to be replaced with one that makes a better job of handling OpenGL. It’s a 10 year old PC and getting hold of a suitable AGP card was not that easy but where there is a will…

I work in metric so selected Metric Units in Mach4. As it turned out the Counts per Unit / Acceleration and Velocity for the X,Y & Z axes all had to be entered in Imperial units in motor tuning in order to get correct operation and axis movement distance. The A axis behaves differently and settings for this were entered in metric units.

Overall, setting up Mach4 is very easy to do but getting the M3 / M5 commands to talk to my VFD control was, to say the least, a real challenge. I got it working fine in about 5 minutes but did not record the settings, changed something else, it stopped working and then took me a few hours to get it working again (I have now written down my settings for future reference).

I forgot (read about it often enough on the forum but still forgot) to delete the M6 macro and the tool change ‘dance of honour’ tested my reactions – God bless E-Stop.

My old PC does not appear to have the computing power to handle the M30 command (stalling all motors during the GCode rewind operation) so M30 had to be deleted from my GCode programs to get them to run correctly towards the end. This needs further investigation on my part.

The Imperial / Metric bug, mentioned above, may have already been rectified in v.1817 but overall Mach4 v.1767 is just brilliant to use and it operated faultlessly during the couple of test runs I have been able to do so far.

Art’s ‘Darwin’, parallel port driver, performed beautifully during the tests with no faults or bugs to report. It is very easy to set-up and the motion produced is just so smooth it is difficult to describe the difference from Mach3.

As yet we do not have a dedicated control method for laser switching (the old M11P1/M10P1 commands have gone) but Art is working on it and I am sure he will think up something good once he starts using his Synrad. 

As soon as I get more ‘play time’ I will delve a bit deeper and see what I can and can’t do with the new toy. 

Tweakie.

3270

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: G-Code scaling program, mm to Inches and back

« on: June 18, 2014, 11:52:11 AM »

I am pleased that you got it sorted Greg. 

Tweakie.