Messages

5231

Modbus / Re: My experiments with Mach3 ModBus and Arduino, Part I

« on: February 19, 2013, 02:47:11 AM »

Hi KM,

An excellent, informative and well prepared article - thanks for posting.

Tweakie.

5232

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

« on: February 18, 2013, 08:11:51 AM »

One more test using the dreaded Toner. 

Tweakie.

5233

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: February 18, 2013, 02:01:48 AM »

Hi Vaugolor,

Welcome to the forum.

If you post your question as a new topic in the General section, giving as much information about your machine/setup as you think is necessary you should receive some suggestions towards resolving your problem. (sounds like a stepper motor related problem to me).

Tweakie.

5234

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

« on: February 17, 2013, 12:35:02 PM »

Hi Dan,

You are not wrong - the mess was not as bad as I was expecting it to be, but I would not want to be doing this as my day job. 

Tweakie.

5235

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

« on: February 17, 2013, 08:27:24 AM »

Something that just had to be tried…

As mentioned earlier, others have a lot of success using lasers to melt / fuse printer Toner onto the surface of wood and I just wondered if it would work with copper clad PCB material.

There are a couple of difficulties to be overcome – firstly getting a thin and even layer of the toner powder onto the copper surface and secondly getting a low enough power level from a 40 Watt laser so as not to completely vaporise the toner.

Once these challenges have been overcome – it is a breeze.

Tweakie.

5236

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Mach3 adding extra loops in a string of arcs

« on: February 17, 2013, 04:11:11 AM »

Hi Guys,

Thanks for taking the time to explain the problem to a dumbo – finally I understand (or at least I think I do).

I fully appreciate that this is not the answer to the problem but for me the solution would be to CAM the tool radius offset profiles and leads (the downside is the cost of the CAD/CAM software, if you don’t already have it).

Tweakie.

5237

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to zero "machine coordinates" of cnc with no switches of any kind using Mach

« on: February 16, 2013, 04:17:35 AM »

Hi Bugatti,

Welcome to the forum.

If I understand your question correctly (and I often get this part wrong) I think you need to set the Origin (X & Y zero) within ArtCam at the bottom left hand corner of your stock.
Then, when the stock is placed on your machine table, jog your axes until the cutter is positioned to the bottom left hand corner of the stock (Origin) then Zero the X and Y axes DRO’s. Presumably your Z axis zero is the top surface of the stock so you need to jog your Z axis until the cutter touches the surface of the stock then Zero your Z axis DRO. Now jog the Z axis until the cutter is clear of the stock surface and you should now be ready to Run.
However, it is always worth checking the Program Limits in the Toolpath screen to make sure that the X, Y & Z ranges are within the dimensions of your stock before you begin.

I don’t know if this helps but this is the way I work, totally ignoring machine coordinates, homing routines, etc.

Tweakie.

5238

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Mach3 adding extra loops in a string of arcs

« on: February 16, 2013, 03:58:41 AM »

Hi Guys,

I am sorry to be an absolute pain but obviously I am missing something here. 

I ran the posted ‘fender jaguar.txt’ file last week and could not see any problems – could you please enlighten me on just what the problem is ?

Tweakie.   

5239

Tangent Corner / A Microscopic view.

« on: February 16, 2013, 03:06:36 AM »

An interesting video showing what happens when we machine metals (and presumably other materials)   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRuSYQ5Npek&feature=player_embedded#!

Tweakie.

5240

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Isolation Routing PCB's and Local System Rotate.

« on: February 16, 2013, 02:24:33 AM »

Hi Richard,

Thank you for the information, it is most useful to know what causes and cures problems as this will inevitably be of help to others that follow.

That damn Watchdog - I suppose it is of use to somebody 

Tweakie.