Messages

4411

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

« on: January 16, 2014, 01:46:59 AM »

Hi Stern-69,

Welcome to the forum. You should be up and running in no time with Mach3 and Design Spark as there are many different options for Gerber to GCode conversions.

Tweakie.

4412

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: 4th Axis problem

« on: January 15, 2014, 05:43:33 AM »

May I suggest initially checking that the steps per unit are correct for your rotary axis. If you command 360 deg. does it actually rotate 360 deg. ?

Tweakie.

4413

General Mach Discussion / Re: Replacing electronics on a CNC

« on: January 12, 2014, 11:41:19 AM »

My guess would be that so long as you have not badly overheated your stepper motors they are unlikely to fail.

Tweakie.

4414

General Mach Discussion / Re: Replacing electronics on a CNC

« on: January 12, 2014, 11:13:44 AM »

Hi Xxtoni,

My preference would be to spend a little more money and go for the Gecko G540 (or other of their similar products) http://www.geckodrive.com/geckodrive-step-motor-drives/g540.html

Backup, support and excellent documentation.

Tweakie.

4415

Tangent Corner / Re: Pyrography.

« on: January 12, 2014, 03:57:38 AM »

They look great, I'm wondering if I could use a soldering tool for doing this.

It may not be hot enough but why not just give it a try and see how it goes.

Tweakie.

4416

General Mach Discussion / Re: cnc /mach 3 freeze

« on: January 11, 2014, 02:03:54 AM »

If you need help on this one I can only repeat Hood's request;

What version of Mach are you using?
Can you attach your xml please.
Can you send a link to the machine you have so I can see specs.

Tweakie.

4417

Forum suggestions and report forum problems. / Re: crash at Exit

« on: January 10, 2014, 07:47:28 AM »

Apologies, my poor choice of words. By 'no problems here' I meant that I have no problems with my setup of using Mach3 to control my laser. 

Perhaps try using an earlier version of Mach3 (some have reported having problems with ver. 066, although not with lasers). Earlier versions can be downloaded from ftp downloads tab http://www.machsupport.com/software/downloads-updates/

As said I now use ver. 056 and this is just fine for me.

Hope this helps.

Tweakie.

4418

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Predator CNC Editor

« on: January 10, 2014, 03:39:33 AM »

When I took the BobCad class the instructor said to call BobCad and they would give you
that information,  They will sell me a service contract. 3 questions in 1 year for $200.00

Off Topic but is this what BobCAD-CAM call 'customer service' ??

Tweakie.

4419

Tangent Corner / Re: Pyrography.

« on: January 09, 2014, 12:17:50 PM »

Thanks guys. At the moment the resultant work is a bit scruffy looking but it can only get better.  

John, I am still experimenting with this and will provide more detailed info once I get a little further down the road.
The voltage I am using is adjustable between 1.5 and 2.5 volts and as we all know, at low voltage and high current the enemy is electrical resistance – even a fraction of 1 ohm can create substantial heating as well a voltage drop at the work surface – once I have this sorted I expect / hope to get some improved results. I am showing a reasonably steady 0.2 Amps current draw on the 240 Volt input to the transformer but output current has not been measured. Still not sure about electrodes, I am using copper at the moment but plan to try tungsten as well.

Tweakie.  

4420

Forum suggestions and report forum problems. / Re: crash at Exit

« on: January 09, 2014, 07:48:35 AM »

No problems here but I have reverted to using version 3.043.056.

Could you explain a bit more about "it does perfect but at exiting the mach crashes" how do you exit ?

Tweakie.