Messages

5201

VB and the development of wizards / Re: need help in vbscript

« on: March 11, 2013, 08:52:52 AM »

Hi  bry,

Welcome to the forum.

Check out the documents and video's section it should contain all the information you need to learn. 

http://www.machsupport.com/docs/VBScript_Commands.pdf  this will get you started.

Tweakie.

5202

General Mach Discussion / Re: Download Error

« on: March 09, 2013, 07:44:11 AM »

Hi Pete,

Welcome to the forum.

This is probably a pretty stupid answer but have you checked your 'C:/Documents and Settings/All users/Start Menu/Programs' for a Mach3 folder. If there is not one there then perhaps create a Mach3 folder and see if this solves the problem with the install.

If it still fails then perhaps try installing an earlier or later version of Mach3. ftp://machsupport.com/Mach/

Tweakie.

5203

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

« on: March 09, 2013, 03:32:21 AM »

Thanks Guys, but I can’t help thinking that Art deserves the credit here.
 
Although, over the years, I have made a few minor changes to the code (basically to suit the operation of my own machine) the Impact / Laser Engraving plugin was written by Art in 2007 – long before we even had a laser to test it with. He certainly has foresight and his software never ceases to amaze me.

My current worries are that I will become a Dinosaur - because this plugin works so well, I will never be able to leave Mach3 for Version 4. 

There was some discussion (in another thread) where I doubted that laser produced lithophanes could actually produce a resolution equal to spindle engraved versions but since getting hold of some genuine Corian to try - I now think that it is possible to get extremely close.
The big advantage is that the laser takes half an hour to produce a small, 0.1mm step-over, litho that may take half a day with spindle engraving.

Tweakie.

5204

General Mach Discussion / Re: F-Engrave - V-Carve Quesiton

« on: March 09, 2013, 02:25:14 AM »

Hi Zig,

Very nice work 

Have you set the tool diameter and angle correctly ?

You may also want to increase your Mach3 axis acceleration figures.

Tweakie.

5205

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Z position change after load the NC program

« on: March 08, 2013, 04:06:42 AM »

Hi Giana,

Everybody uses their machines differently but, because I do not use fixture offsets, I uncheck all the DRO related boxes in this part of the General Config. window - this maintains all DRO's at zero on startup and when loading new programs.

I don't know if this helps with your problem.

Tweakie.

5206

General Mach Discussion / Re: MI2000 CNC machine from 19's year

« on: March 08, 2013, 03:54:21 AM »

So i should take the multimeter and turn on my pc and take the measure voltage on the pc's parallel port connectiion?

Yes. 

Tweakie.

5207

General Mach Discussion / Re: MI2000 CNC machine from 19's year

« on: March 08, 2013, 03:23:57 AM »

Terry,

It is my thinking that the bank of opto-couplers (on the small board) would not be necessary if this CNC machine was serial controlled. 

Tweakie.

5208

General Mach Discussion / Re: MI2000 CNC machine from 19's year

« on: March 08, 2013, 02:35:59 AM »

Thanks for posting the pictures, they help a lot.

We have established (via PM) that the e-stop is not latched in the stop position and that the stepper motors lock when the machine is switched on. This means that you will only have to find the step and direction pins to get the axes moving – there should be no drive enable signals to worry about.

The first thing you will need to check is the parallel port on your PC.
As a general rule older equipment (such as your CNC machine) uses the 5 Volt TTL standard and more modern equipment (perhaps your PC) can use the 3.3 Volt TTL standard.
From a fresh start of your PC and with no software running use a multi-meter to check each of the PC parallel port pins with relation to pins 18 to 25 which are GND (with luck you will find one that it TTL(high). If it measures approx. 5 Volts then everything is OK but if it measures approx 3.3 Volts then, in my opinion, you will need to use another PC or fit a new parallel port card to your PC which has 5 Volt outputs.

The CNC machine’s step and direction pins could be any combination of pins 1 to 9, 14,16,17.
Probably the most common usage is X axis 2,3 – Y axis 4,5 – Z axis 6,7 but your machine could be any combination and it is a laborious process to find the correct combination however, with patience it is doable.

Tweakie.

5209

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

« on: March 07, 2013, 12:03:21 PM »

The Parliament Building is probably the most photographed building in Hungary. It's symmetry is just outstanding.

This laser produced rendering is just 50mm square and I think, makes for a good example of the detail that can be reproduced within lithophane’s in general.

Produced from a standard JPG image which I cropped to make it rectangular then using the Mach3 Laser / Impact plugin I scaled it to fit the Corian blank, set the max. laser power to approx. 30% and hit Cycle Start.

By the time I had finished off a can of beer it was done.

Tweakie.

5210

General Mach Discussion / Re: MI2000 CNC machine from 19's year

« on: March 07, 2013, 07:15:01 AM »

It's a long shot, but it may give some clue as to the communication protocol and possibly identifying the pins for the step / direction setup.
I have spent some time, as I suppose you have, searching the net for information on this machine but found nothing of any help at all.

Tweakie.