Messages

5201

General Mach Discussion / Re: Z axis help

« on: July 26, 2011, 01:37:31 AM »

So as I understand it - the machine coordinates can be set for 0.00 at the most top of the Z axis and the negative number will represent the full stroke of the Z axis.

Not quite.

On my system (for example only)  Z 0.0000 is at approx. mid point of the full Z Axis travel.

Tweakie.

5202

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: subroutine

« on: July 25, 2011, 06:15:44 AM »

Looks like you have got it beaten 

Tweakie.

5203

General Mach Discussion / Re: strange self changing z axis value

« on: July 25, 2011, 04:00:56 AM »

Have you tried Zipp'ing the file to reduce the size ?

Then use the Additional Options below to post the file.

Tweakie.

5204

General Mach Discussion / Re: Slave not synchronized

« on: July 25, 2011, 02:32:40 AM »

Hi Jens,

Welcome to the forum.

Ideally all cable shields should only be connected to ground at the controller end. This avoids 'earth loops' which are notorious at collecting electrical noise and spoiling the step pulse train.

Try disconnecting your shields at the motor ends and also increasing the "Inputs Signal Debouncing/Noise rejection" setting in Config / General Config.

Tweakie.

5205

General Mach Discussion / Re: Z axis help

« on: July 25, 2011, 02:10:28 AM »

Hi Isaac,

Welcome to the forum.

When machining stuff the top surface of the part is usually set to Z Axis zero (0.0000) then any cutting into the work will be a negative number. Many of the free GCode creation programs produce the code this way whilst the 'professional' programs allow a choice of zero position.

Tweakie.


nb. There is a price to pay for any help you get here - you have to teach us all about flight simulators.  

5206

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Cylinder Heads

« on: July 25, 2011, 01:56:37 AM »

Great work Steve.

That "eagle eyed" Sam doesn't miss much. 

Tweakie.

5207

General Mach Discussion / Re: missed steps on Y axis

« on: July 24, 2011, 12:09:55 PM »

If you don't have any luck re-arranging your wiring ;
You could purchase a surge suppressor (these are commonly fitted across the switch connections inside the casing of power tools) and when fitted across the mains switching relay contacts it will reduce the noise spike considerably.
Personally I prefer to use an (SSR) solid state relay (which switches at the zero crossing point of the mains waveform) in place of the mechanical counterpart. These are extremely quiet as far as electrical noise is concerned and can, if necessary, be switched from an existing relay.

Tweakie.

5208

General Mach Discussion / Re: Computer problem after running mach3

« on: July 24, 2011, 11:51:06 AM »

Hi Nigel,

Sorry that I cannot suggest a solution.
I am sure you will get there in the end but just how complicated can things get ? 

Tweakie.

5209

General Mach Discussion / Re: Wireless Xbox controller cautionary tale

« on: July 24, 2011, 10:55:28 AM »

Hi Mark,

Thanks for drawing our attention to a potentially dangerous situation.

I agree with Jeff's comments 100% here.

If it is possible for something to go wrong then sooner or later it will happen and personal safety should always be paramount in our minds at all times.

Tweakie.

5210

General Mach Discussion / Re: Computer problem after running mach3

« on: July 24, 2011, 10:41:48 AM »

Hi Nigel,

I just made a special trip to my workshop to check the PC connected to my router which uses two parallel ports.

It has Award BIOS and under;
Integrated Peripherals
Onboard Super IO Device
Parallel Port mode

It allows selection of the onboard pp mode between ECP/EPP/SPP/ECP+EPP

My second pp card, as mentioned earlier, was set as EPP 1.9 during install.

Don't know if this helps.

Tweakie.