Messages

3431

General Mach Discussion / Re: A Few General Questions

« on: January 01, 2016, 02:30:11 AM »

I think Mach3 and the G540 would be a good investment.

The motors are locked when not in motion - you can also use an Enable signal which can be configured within Mach3 to either ‘lock’ the motors or ‘free’ the motors when in an Estop condition.
It is conventional to have Mach3 up and ready before switching the CNC machine on and the CNC machine is usually switched off before Mach3 is closed.

You will need 1 input for your slaved axis limit / home switches and 1 input for the other limit / home switches. Also 1 input for your touch plate and 1 input for your Estop (the Estop could be combined with the other limit / home switches but it is conventional to have it on it’s own input).

The Z axis touch plate has user configurable script (Cypress Enable) which is usually written to move the tool to a safe height after calculation and setting the Z axis DRO to a figure which would make the tool touch the work surface if goto zero is invoked.

Hope this helps,

Tweakie.

3432

Sieg Machines / Re: Laser Head for X3

« on: December 31, 2015, 11:38:01 AM »

Hi Biffo,

Metal cutting with lasers usually requires kilowatts of power together with gas feed and is, in general, a specialized type of equipment and to cut 2mm thick brass sheet would cost well in excess of $20,000 USD.

You need to Google the subject but I suspect that the smallest size units would probably be a fiber laser but even then I doubt it would fit to your X3.

Tweakie.

3433

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 Sewing Machine

« on: December 31, 2015, 02:48:52 AM »

Hi Jonjell,

I am sorry you did not receive any interest in your 2013 posting    but it sounds like you have succeeded without any assistance from others here   

I think many of us have tried using Mach3 for quilting and embroidery but, at one stage or another, have all come up against the 5 stitches per second barrier (4 stitches per second in my case).

Tweakie.

3434

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Diagnostics Page Tutorial?

« on: December 31, 2015, 02:18:27 AM »

Hi Nikki,

To my knowledge the ‘Input Signals current State’ and ‘Output Signals current State’ have always worked correctly but (dependant on which version of Mach3 you are running) the ‘Port 1 Pins current State’ do not always work.

Tweakie.

3435

General Mach Discussion / Re: Getting 2 different size cuts on each side of machine

« on: December 31, 2015, 01:56:13 AM »

I was hoping to post a picture here ...... I imagine it can be done but i dont see the option atm.

Click on the Reply tab  (rather than using Quick Reply)  then use Additional Options... to attach the pictures (size images to about 800 pix. wide).

Tweakie.

3436

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Newbie trying to understand mach 4

« on: December 30, 2015, 11:38:27 AM »

If you are having problems with the toolpath display not showing then it may be worth checking your graphics card specification to make sure it complies with the minimum requirements.
The official word is - Video Card with 256MB RAM(Large G-code files, especially 3D files will require a video card with 512MB RAM or higher).

Tweakie.

3437

General Mach Discussion / Re: Has to be a record (way too funny)

« on: December 30, 2015, 04:30:34 AM »

Geez you used to be able to load a DXF into mach2 and have it run what happened??? 

LazyCam ??

Tweakie.

3438

PoKeys / Re: Problems reading and writing the PoKeys57U virtual pins

« on: December 30, 2015, 03:28:58 AM »

Finally I solved using "ActivateSignal (OUTPUT20)" and wasting some of the outputs of Mach3, but I do not like the solution.
I'm not sure how this works. Do I have to open another post in another forum? Where?
Thank you

I don’t think it is all that important exactly where topics are posted but its perhaps nice to keep similar things together...

If its PoKeys related then start a new topic in the PoKeys section.
If its scripting (Cypress Enable) related then start a new topic in the VB and development of Wizards section.

Tweakie.

3439

Feature Requests / Re: Online Tool Height control

« on: December 30, 2015, 03:18:32 AM »

Just a couple of things to think about...

Engineering wise it was a bit complex but I had a similar issue where I needed to adjust the position of a Y axis during a Gcode run. I cant give you full details because it was a commercial venture but the Y axis was driven by two stepper motors acting through a differential gear - one motor did all the work (following the Gcode instructions) whilst the other stepper motor provided the + / - adjustment and was driven (controlled) by a separate PLC which took sensor information as it's input.

For a Z axis it may be possible to make a circular mounting for the stepper motor which is rotationally adjustable (by hand perhaps) for say 45 degrees in each direction and easily locked in position. This would provide 1/4 the leadscrew pitch in vertical adjustment of the axis. Greater rotational adjustment (within the limitation of the wiring) = greater vertical adjustment of the axis.

Tweakie.

3440

General Mach Discussion / Re: keyboard control

« on: December 30, 2015, 02:53:19 AM »

Hi Tom,

Welcome to the forum.

If reassigning the hotkeys does not work for you then there could be an issue with your Mach3 installation. A re-install of Mach3 may cure the problem.

Before uninstalling the existing version and installing new...

 Backup the following to the desktop, or even better, a USB drive:

XML(Profile) – This stores you’re settings for Mach3, if you lose it you will need to re-setup you’re ports and pins, motor tuning, etc.
Screensets
Macros/Brains



Tweakie.