Messages

4391

General Mach Discussion / Re: Newbie Question

« on: July 24, 2013, 02:22:15 AM »

Hi Pete,

Welcome to the forum.

Does the Z axis motor 'lock' (as the X and Y axis motors do) when you apply power to the CNC machine ?

Tweakie.

4392

Tangent Corner / An unusual event.

« on: July 23, 2013, 03:54:18 PM »

Well, perhaps not unusual in the run of things but unusual for the south east of the UK.

Last evening, following a prolonged period of extremely hot weather, cooler air rolled in from the west causing a temperature inversion - the developing cumulus, at the lower level, cast it’s shadow onto the upper levels and is something I had not seen for many years.

These two pictures of the event were taken about 15 minutes apart and shortly before the start of the best thunder storm, which lasted for most of the night, I think I have ever heard and witnessed.

Tweakie.

4393

General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine stops in the middle of a program run

« on: July 22, 2013, 12:56:48 PM »

Pete,

Firstly, if you are using mechanical limit switches it my be worth just tapping the side of each one lightly with a small screwdriver handle (or similar) and seeing if this causes the 'limit switch activated' - switches can sometimes have loose or bad internal contacts which could be activated by vibration. Also, it would be worth checking all your limit switch wiring, connectors etc. for damage or poor contact (I am assuming you are using 'shielded cables' for your limit switch wiring - if not then you should be).

Secondly, try increasing the Noise Filtering values in your SS Config Dialogue.

Tweakie.

4394

General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine stops in the middle of a program run

« on: July 22, 2013, 02:21:43 AM »

Hi Pete,

Are you using an external motion controller (such as the SmoothStepper etc) with that laptop ?

Tweakie.

4395

General Mach Discussion / Re: DRO shows movement, but machine does not move.

« on: July 21, 2013, 12:28:55 PM »

Hi John,

With Mach3 running the axes should lock when power is applied to the machine.

Do your stepper motor drivers require an 'enable signal' ?
If so then check your 'Mach3 Config / Ports & Pins / Output signals' to see if it is set correctly. If you are using the parallel port for machine communication then also check the parallel port address 'Config / Ports & Pins / Port setup' to make sure that is correct.

If your stepper motor drivers do not require an 'enable signal' then the motors should lock when power is applied to the machine irrespective or Mach3 running or not - so the problem is most likely within your stepper motor drivers or their power supply. Perhaps checking all your wiring and associated connectors may reveal the problem also check your stepper motors power supply voltages.

Hope this helps.

Tweakie.

4396

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Motor Tuning Dialog Not Appearing

« on: July 19, 2013, 11:20:03 AM »

Pleased you got it sorted Tom.

Don't forget to post some pictures of the things you make with your machine in the show'n'tell section http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/board,43.0.html 

Tweakie.

4397

Post Processors / Re: Here's Delcam Featurecam Mach3 Mill and Turn Post Processors

« on: July 18, 2013, 08:11:06 AM »

Hi M5Boost,

Welcome to the forum.

Thank you for providing the post processors, should be most useful for those with FeatureCam.

Tweakie.

4398

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Motor Tuning Dialog Not Appearing

« on: July 17, 2013, 11:40:31 AM »

Hi Tom,

Welcome to the forum.

2. Copied the C:\Mach3 directory to a machine running Vista.

This is not the best way to carry out an installation.

Re-install Mach3, from the installation program, onto the machine running Vista.

Tweakie.

4399

FAQs / Re: Newbie needs help

« on: July 11, 2013, 04:13:36 AM »

trying to load uc 100 on to my Toshiba satellite laptop with windows 8   getting a usb driver error ??    Joe

Hi Joe,

Welcome to the forum.

Perhaps checking all the documentation on the UC100 website may help. http://cncdrive.com/UC100.html
Or else try contacting them directly (basically this sounds like a UC100 problem rather than a Mach3 problem).

Tweakie.

4400

General Mach Discussion / Re: goto zero z-position

« on: July 09, 2013, 11:29:05 AM »

OK, I understand now what you are referring to.
No, Mach3 does not do that unless the tool-path has been created with a sign making software as this is basically a job for the CAD /CAM software rather than Mach3.
I may be wrong but I believe that Aspire4 now incorporates this feature in it's gadgets. 

Tweakie.