Messages

5121

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

« on: August 10, 2011, 08:10:12 AM »

Andrea is the expert on this, I am just a beginner. His site has more details http://www.robotfactory.it/

At the moment I am thinking that more force than currently available may be necessary for Marble, slate etc. but as said earlier I still have a lot to learn and a lot of experimenting to do.

Tweakie.

5122

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

« on: August 10, 2011, 07:17:22 AM »

Many, many thanks to Andrea (Robotmar), who has provided me with a couple of his magnets, I have now started out on the road of Impact Engraving.
It is extremely slow at 300mm/min compared with the laser but as nothing can catch fire (unlike the laser) the machine can be left unattended to just get on with the job. The initial results are extremely promising and now I have produced a “standard”, with which to compare my results, I can perhaps experiment with some different settings and magnet drive configurations.

Andrea has discovered a good combination here :-  the type of magnet, impacting the work on the return (spring) stroke and using one pole (phase) of a bipolar stepper motor driver as the power source. His method works beautifully and at the moment it is hard to see just where, or even if, any improvements to the system could possibly be made. Excellent work Andrea.

Something unexpected about this process is the sound – it sounds just like someone using a typewriter, an unusual sound to come from my CNC and a sound like I have not heard in years.

There is lots for me to learn here and I will post further results as I proceed.

If anyone else out there is using Art’s Impact/Laser plugin for impact work please let us know just how you are getting on with it and perhaps post some pictures of your work. Some information on your magnet and the drive source used would also be good.

Tweakie.

5123

FAQs / Re: z home switch

« on: August 10, 2011, 05:57:44 AM »

Hi Chieffy,

It could be switch bounce. Try increasing the Debounce Interval in Config / General Config and see if that helps.

Tweakie.

5124

General Mach Discussion / Re: what software has this interface?

« on: August 10, 2011, 05:03:59 AM »

I hear that you Guys in SA are rich compared with us poor Brits. 

Tweakie.

5125

General Mach Discussion / Re: Slave not synchronized

« on: August 09, 2011, 04:50:18 AM »

Hi Jens,

The grounding / earthing issue is quite complicated but everything metal that you can touch (which comprises equipment connected to the incoming AC mains supply) must be connected to earth. Sometimes the incoming mains supply comes with a good earth, sometimes an earth stake is fitted close to the mains inlet.
Earth and Ground should be treated as two separate circuits when connecting up your CNC.
You must try to avoid Earth loops which could explain this

I found, that if I put it into the same power outlet as the controller, the steppers gets a lot more noisy.

The same applies to Ground loops which is why GND connections are only made at one end of shielded cables.
It may save you some time if you have a local friend who is an electronics expert who can look at your system and help you eliminate any GND or Earth loops that you may have.

My steppers make a high pitched sound when stationary if that's any help.

Tweakie.

5126

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: G40, G41 and G42 have no effect.

« on: August 09, 2011, 02:01:59 AM »

Tweakie, Thanks for the information. I'm ordering Gearotic Motion right now. I guess that should solve my remaining misunderstanding about this project plus allow me to do a whole lot more later.

Thanks,
Jim Gray

Hi Jim,

You won't be disappointed, Gearotic Motion is brilliant and it just keeps getting better (Thank you Art).

Tweakie.

5127

General Mach Discussion / Re: New Hermes Vanguard 3400

« on: August 09, 2011, 01:50:39 AM »

Ashleigh,

You may find some useful information regarding your Hermes in this topic over on the Zone. http://www.cnczone.com/forums/engraving_machines/

Tweakie.

5128

General Mach Discussion / Re: Axis stay short of where they should go

« on: August 08, 2011, 08:15:31 AM »

Hi Yoram,

I expect you have already seen this post http://www.phlatforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=264&t=2984 but that type of backlash would perhaps be difficult to spot and may not occur at every move. Curious because I have never seen it before.

Tweakie.

5129

General Mach Discussion / Re: what software has this interface?

« on: August 08, 2011, 08:08:40 AM »

Hi Thys,

The icon is for vlc  http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Tweakie

5130

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: G40, G41 and G42 have no effect.

« on: August 08, 2011, 01:25:54 AM »

Hi Jim,

Before I started using Gearotic Motion I used Gear Generator for the profile then the free version of CamBam to create the offset toolpath (tool radius offset). This then ran just fine with Mach without using the three G's.

Tweakie.