Messages

4611

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.

« on: December 30, 2013, 07:01:24 AM »

Excellent piece of kit Craig, although a bit pricey for my budget I would love one of those. 

Tweakie.

4612

General Mach Discussion / Re: No motor movement

« on: December 30, 2013, 03:40:39 AM »

Windsock,

Do not pay any attention to the "Port1 Pins Current State" on the diagnostics page - they are not a good indication and seldom, if ever, work as intended.

Which version of Mach3 are you using ?

Tweakie.

4613

General Mach Discussion / Re: No motor movement

« on: December 29, 2013, 03:33:06 AM »

Corrected link;   http://cnc4pc.com/Tech_Docs/C10R10_USER_MANUAL.pdf

Tweakie.

4614

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.

« on: December 29, 2013, 02:04:31 AM »

Hi Jammer,

I think one of the the commercially available 'home energy monitors' would probably be a more suitable device for your particular application. (typically, something like this perhaps  http://www.amazon.com/Weanas-Energy-Voltage-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B00DTMQ1S6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387628051&sr=8-1&keywords=watt+amp+meter ).

Tweakie.

4615

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 and second parallel port card

« on: December 27, 2013, 03:04:48 AM »

When I entered the first address clicked apply Mach3 did not communicate with the card.  I then tried the second I/O address and clicked apply and this did not work either.  I then went back and input the first I/O address click apply and magically it worked.  At least until I restarted my PC and then it did not work.

Jude,

This has come up before but I cannot remember if a solution was ever found - I will do a bit of searching and see if I can find the post.

Tweakie.

Addition;
Found the post I was remembering but it's not much help - http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,25612.0.html

4616

FAQs / Re: Mirror milling

« on: December 24, 2013, 02:11:18 AM »

Do you mybee know how to kontrol spindle in PWM mode. if I have on PWM mode it runs on full speed. komand M5 doesentz help.

Hi Gregor,

If you return to the main page and enter    pwm spindle control    in the search box it will throw up lots of information on how it has been done.

Tweakie.

4617

FAQs / Re: Mirror milling

« on: December 23, 2013, 11:05:12 AM »

In Config / Ports & Pins / Motor Outputs change the 'Dir Low Active' state for the axis that is machining backwards

Tweakie.

4618

Screen designer tips and tutorials / Re: Mach3Screen, Screen4, MachScreen current program state?

« on: December 23, 2013, 02:09:47 AM »

Is it sound practice to install version Mach3 R3.043.066?

Hi Peter,

In my opinion it is best to stick with the version you are using which works unless you have some particular reason to change to a later version.

Tweakie.

4619

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 CRASHING

« on: December 23, 2013, 01:58:23 AM »

"Mach3 CNC Application has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available."

This sounds very much to me as though it is a Windows / PC problem rather than a Mach3 problem. Have you made any changes to your PC setup or added / enabled any new software / hardware etc. ?

Tweakie.

4620

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.

« on: December 21, 2013, 07:04:23 AM »

Knowing how we all like gadgets I thought you may be interested in this little device I put together last week. It is essentially a basic (and more robust) version of the commercially available ‘home energy monitor’ but it’s my hobby to always build as much of my own stuff as I can so thought I would share the experience.

Simple and quick to construct using a combined voltage / current meter display (bought via the bay from China at about £7 inc. postage) 13 Amp plug, socket and cable plus a project box enclosure.

Its purpose is just to get an idea of the combined electricity running cost of the laser, air supply, cooler, extractor etc. under average / normal operational conditions for different types of job.

The first picture shows the readings I get with my Koi air pump, cooling system and laser running at low power during an engraving job. My compressor (only used for cutting thick stuff) and ducted fume extraction system were each measured separately.

As Watts = Volts x Amps my machine, during the average engraving job, uses (237 x 1.7) 402.9 Watts which is 0.4029 kW per hour of job time. Adding to this the figures obtained from the fume extraction system and using the price per kW hour from my energy provider I can get a pretty good idea of the machine running cost (at least as far as the electricity usage is concerned).

I don’t intend for the gadget to be permanently left in circuit, although it may be handy to monitor any possible voltage drop on my supply at peak usage times, it is just used to establish the average electricity usage for different types of jobs.

The second picture shows the readings I get when cutting thin acrylic.

Tweakie.