Messages

4301

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: December 06, 2014, 08:02:19 AM »

Hi Guys,

Welcome to the forum. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience here, if you post any questions you may have in the relevant sections I am sure they will be swiftly answered. In addition don't forget to post pictures of your projects or things you make - we all love to see pictures. 

Tweakie.

4302

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Feature Request

« on: December 05, 2014, 01:03:57 PM »

Hi Steve,

Many thanks for dedicating the M62 / M63 commands, it is much appreciated.

Could  you please give me a clue as to how I turn ON / OFF an Output using the M62 / M63 commands. Obviously it is pretty simple but so far it alludes me.

Tweakie.

4303

General Mach Discussion / Re: Newbie here: need adivce on postprocessors compatible with mach3

« on: December 05, 2014, 01:57:14 AM »

Hi Arctic Monkey,

Most CAM software allows the Gcode for curves to be created from either arc's or arctangent's (G2/G3 or G1) where it is just a case of selecting the appropriate post processor within the CAD software before generating the Gcode.

The Tangential problem has been with Mach3 for many years now and it is unlikely to ever be resolved now that Mach4 is coming on stream. By creating a CAD/CAM 'lead-in' for any G2/G3 circles the blade direction is set during this lead-in whilst the blade is clear of the work and by making the lead-in have the same radius as the circle being cut the work is not spoiled as a result of unwanted cuts. It's difficult to describe this but once you have it working you will understand.

Tweakie.

4304

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Needing help with screens

« on: December 04, 2014, 10:47:18 AM »

SO does this mean that me still have the same problem in Mach4 as we had with Mach3 macros. The macros will NOT stay in sync as to Gcode and Lua AND order of execution AND we end up with a race condition. I thought we were going to fix that this time

(;-) TP

This is probably the secret that makes Mach4 faster - the first thing I discovered using the laser is that S codes, some M codes and macro's will execute before the end of the preceding line of Gcode. Delays within the macro's resolved the issue but defeated the object by slowing everything down. It's still early days yet and I am sure there will be a suitable solution.

Tweakie.

4305

General Mach Discussion / Re: Newbie here: need adivce on postprocessors compatible with mach3

« on: December 04, 2014, 02:41:03 AM »

Hi Arctic Monkey,

Mach3 can be operated in Tangential mode (see Settings page and also Mach3 manual) and the blade will follow an outline toolpath.
There is however a problem regarding G2 & G3 commands (where the blade may rotate whilst within the work) and a workaround for this is to create a ‘lead-in’ (within your CAD/CAM), which has the same radius as the circle being cut. It may sound a bit fiddly but it’s easy enough once you get the hang of it.

Hope this helps with your project.

Tweakie.

4306

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Ethernet Smooth Stepper.

« on: December 03, 2014, 07:57:21 AM »

Could have not been put better my friend.

Tweakie.

4307

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: First Build Jos 2006r2 with some mods

« on: December 03, 2014, 05:14:06 AM »

Excellent work Tom - that is going to be some machine.

Don't forget to post more pictures of your progress - we all love pictures.

Tweakie.

4308

Mach4 General Discussion / Ethernet Smooth Stepper.

« on: December 03, 2014, 03:13:43 AM »

Just a heads-up for those using the Ethernet Smooth Stepper.

The beta version of the ESS Mach4 plugin has now been released http://warp9td.com/index.php/sw

A huge thanks goes out to Greg for all his continuing hard work with this plugin, which is available free of charge, and I sincerely hope that increased sales of the ESS more than pay him for all the time he has dedicated to this product.

Tweakie.

4309

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 Laser config

« on: December 03, 2014, 02:19:44 AM »

Hi Hydro,

I am pleased to hear you have it all running.

Assuming you have home switches you can reference all home then apply the offset to position all axes to the desired position – the Mach3 manual has details of how this is achieved. http://www.machsupport.com/help-learning/product-manuals/

Having said that, I find the easiest (and quickest) way is to make a mechanical template (the dimension between the Z axis and surface of the work) then just use this to set the focus with relation to different thicknesses of work.

Tweakie.

4310

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: December 03, 2014, 02:08:26 AM »

Hi SW,

Welcome to the forum.

The Mach3 manual is probably a good place to start http://www.machsupport.com/help-learning/product-manuals/
There is also some more detailed information on the Gecko site here http://www.geckodrive.com/support.html

Hope this helps,

Tweakie.