Messages

4111

General Mach Discussion / Re: Please Help!!

« on: August 10, 2014, 05:09:10 AM »

Hi John,

Strange one this...
HDPE normally cuts like butter with excellent surface finish even without using a specialist cutter.
My guess is that you have a mechanical issue with your machine where something is loose (perhaps loosened in transit).
I would be inclined to first check that the spindle motor is firmly attached and everything there is sound then check the grub screws locking the drive components for the X and Y axes and finally check (by trying to move by hand) there is no backlash (slack) in any of the axes.

Tweakie.

4112

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Making MACROS turn on OUTPUTs faster by inlining your code!!

« on: August 10, 2014, 03:12:47 AM »

Having slept on this puzzling issue for a couple of hours I was keen to carry out more tests this morning and these are my findings…

1) After regenerating the tool-path (just to be sure) the result was identical to the previous test sample.
2) From another ‘comparative test’ the results from a ‘multi-line’ generated Mcode were identical to the results from an ‘in-line’ generated Mcode – there appears to be no measurable difference in the Mcode execution speed.
3) The ‘gaps’ and ‘tails’ (see previous photo) are not what they seem (and certainly not what I had first thought, in fact quite the opposite) - the ‘gaps’ have been caused by the laser turning ‘off’ too early and the ‘tails’ have been caused by the laser turning ‘on’ too early.
4) Although my Gcode consists basically of…
          Axis movement
          Mcode
          Axis movement
the Mcode has been executed some 10mS ahead of the first axis movement being completed.
5) I take back what I said about Mcodes never being fast enough for laser use and ‘humble pie’ comes to mind.  

This situation may change with later revisions of Mach4 and Darwin but currently these Mcodes are too darn quick.  

Tweakie.

4113

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Making MACROS turn on OUTPUTs faster by inlining your code!!

« on: August 09, 2014, 11:36:12 AM »

Hi Scott,

Sorry to say this but there is no noticeable increase in speed over the 'multi-liners' (sent to me by Craig last week).

Even slowing the feed-rate down by 1/4 to 1000mm/min this is the result - the gaps represent the 'turn-on' delay and the tails the 'turn-off' delay.

If the Mcodes were gated to an (any) axis movement (as Art did with the M10/M11 set in Mach3) then the situation may be different but I think this needs to be done within the core rather than as an external Mcode.

Damn lasers, you just got to love them really.  

Tweakie.

EDIT;  Please disregard this post - Now I have had more time to look at this picture, something is not quite right so I may have jumped to the wrong conclusion. I need to re-run the test in order to get more information regarding the 'gaps' and 'tails' in relation to the toolpath.

4114

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Making MACROS turn on OUTPUTs faster by inlining your code!!

« on: August 09, 2014, 11:11:02 AM »

Thanks Scott it works just fine now  

I don't think Mcodes will ever be fast enough for laser use but now they are working I will give the 'in-liners' a try and report back.

Tweakie.

4115

General Mach Discussion / Re: Transformer DIY qquestions

« on: August 09, 2014, 02:25:44 AM »

Excellent video - pleased to see you have it all working OK 

Tweakie.

4116

General Mach Discussion / Re: Transformer DIY qquestions

« on: August 09, 2014, 02:16:05 AM »

The 34.2 Volts is correct. When rectified and smoothed the dc voltage will be 1.4 times the ac voltage.

Tweakie.

4117

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Making MACROS turn on OUTPUTs faster by inlining your code!!

« on: August 09, 2014, 02:05:05 AM »

Hi Scott,

Agreed, running M770 / M771 in the mcLua editor works but entering M770 or M771 in the MDI or within GCode does not work here.
Obviously I am doing something wrong but so far it has alluded me. 

Tweakie.

4118

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: DC-K40 Laser conversion issue

« on: August 09, 2014, 01:33:12 AM »

Hi Derrick,

If I am understanding correctly, you are using LPT Pin 7 as your laser trigger.

How is that configured in Mach3 Config / Ports & Pins / Motor Outputs ?

Tweakie.

4119

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: DC-K40 Laser conversion issue

« on: August 08, 2014, 12:48:51 PM »

Hi Derrick,

Sorry to hear that you are still having problems with this.

I need more details, could you post (or email me) details of your connections (circuit) perhaps a diagram and pictures. The problem will be something simple but, so far, it is proving illusive to find. 

Tweakie.

4120

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Making MACROS turn on OUTPUTs faster by inlining your code!!

« on: August 08, 2014, 08:36:29 AM »

Something's not quite right - they will not turn Output 0  on/off here. 

Tweakie.