Messages

4261

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Some Lithophanes...

« on: October 09, 2012, 01:35:27 AM »

As always, excellent work Arbo.

Tweakie.

4262

General Mach Discussion / Re: Setting up Problem

« on: October 08, 2012, 10:10:18 AM »

Download and run Parmon http://www.geekhideout.com/parmon.shtml

This will test if your parallel port is operating correctly.

Tweakie.

4263

Tangent Corner / Boo Boo !

« on: October 08, 2012, 07:37:42 AM »

I read this the other day and I still can't stop chuckling.

Mazak Renishaw.
Been working a lot on a Okuma mx45, where you have to turn a key on the handwheel to go from the handwheel to rapid motion, then had a job over on a Mazak vtc..... That key on the handwheel did not have anything to to with rapid motion, it realeased the tool... It dropped the renishaw! Lucky for me it was only the probe that broke!

Tweakie.

4264

General Mach Discussion / Re: Setting up Problem

« on: October 08, 2012, 07:28:16 AM »

That whittles it down a bit then - some possibilities are…

A bad installation of Mach3
A damaged parallel port or LPT cable.
Incorrect configuration of the Ports and Pins within Mach3.

Are you using Win XP ??

Tweakie.

4265

General Mach Discussion / Re: Setting up Problem

« on: October 08, 2012, 05:18:03 AM »

If your meter is connected between the correct X Axis 'direction' pin (whatever it is) and computer GND then the voltage should change between your 4.3V and 0V (approx.) when you move the X Axis in opposite directions. This should occur irrespective of anything else connected.

So try closing Mach3, disconnecting the CNC machine from the PC then restart Mach3, check your ports & pins configuration again and measure the voltage on your X Axis direction pin at your LPT cable. Does it now change voltage level when you jog the X Axis ??

Tweakie.

4266

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Re: Impact engraving plugin

« on: October 08, 2012, 04:58:03 AM »

Hi Pasquale,

I don’t know if this will be of any help to you but I recently made a small change to the Engraving.dll to add an option (primarily for my laser use) to alter the formulae by which the pixel dot density is calculated. This may be of benefit with your slower axis speed.

Details of this change and the latest .dll are here. http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,12444.msg157668.html#msg157668

Tweakie.

4267

General Mach Discussion / Re: Setting up Problem

« on: October 08, 2012, 03:52:19 AM »

Hi Khinhaw,

Sorry if I did not explain properly. If you are not using a Maxnc controller then DO NOT use Maxnc mode. You will just be wasting your time and achieve no useful results.

Measure the voltage on your X Axis 'direction' pin at the LPT output. Moving the X Axis in one direction should produce 5 Volts then moving the same axis in the other direction should produce 0 Volts. If you only get 3.3 Volts here then it may not be sufficient to drive your BOB so fitting a 5 Volt output Parallel Port card may be the way forward.

Have you tried changing the Active Low / Active High settings for your 'Step' pins ??

Tweakie.

4268

General Mach Discussion / Re: Setting up Problem

« on: October 08, 2012, 03:01:07 AM »

Hi Khinhaw,

It is my understanding that unless you are using a Maxnc machine controller then you should forget about checking this mode in the setup (it allocates its own pin configuration irrespective of what you have set in ports & pins).

Try using Sherline 1/2 pulse mode and see if that helps.

Also check the output voltage on one of your LPT 'direction' pins to see if it is approx. 0 / 5 Volts as opposed to 0 / 3.3 Volts.

Tweakie.

4269

General Mach Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: October 08, 2012, 01:43:22 AM »

Hi Dale,

Welcome to the forum.

Many of the forum members here also use Vectric software so this is a good place to be for any assistance you require regarding the use / operation of Mach3.

As mentioned previously, post your question in the General section under a new topic and you will receive the necessary suggestions, advice etc. We all started out at the beginning so realise that there is a lot to learn.

Tweakie.

4270

General Mach Discussion / Re: i must be totally stupid and dumb

« on: October 07, 2012, 07:02:14 AM »

where is the READ information...LOL

Hi Belin,

Its not my fault that his website is messy but its all there somewhere 
I have not had too much success using F-Engrave for DXF work.

The list of image engraving software is probably endless but these I have used with success…

PicEngrave (nicely priced) http://picengrave.com/ (demo version available)
DotG (free) http://dotg.weebly.com/download.html (English version and manuals)
Halftoner and Reactor (free)  http://jasondorie.com/page_cnc.html

As for JPEG to DXF software there are many to choose from, some better than others. An Internet search for ‘Raster to Vector’ software should turn up a few.
The one I commonly use is Vextractor http://www.vextrasoft.com/?source=vextractor but it comes at a price.

Tweakie.