Messages

5301

General Mach Discussion / Re: Changing computers

« on: January 23, 2013, 11:11:49 AM »

Jim,

I vaguely remember something that came up years ago where a PC, that had been previously used with a printer (connected to the parallel port) still had a document waiting in the print queue.

Windows, bless it’s little heart, chose every quiet moment to try and communicate with the now non-existent printer thus causing problems with the logic state of some of the parallel port output pins.

Just maybe, perhaps ?

Tweakie.

5302

General Mach Discussion / Re: I can only see 2 decimal places on feedrate window

« on: January 22, 2013, 01:47:57 AM »

Hi Ray,

You will need to use one of the Screen Designers - opening the .set file (typically 1024.set) the format of the Feedrate DRO's are shown as %4.2f - the 2f is the number of decimals shown - change this figure to 3f if that is the number of decimals you require.

Tweakie.

5303

General Mach Discussion / Re: delay in PWM pulse (LaserMode)

« on: January 20, 2013, 03:36:15 AM »

Not sure if it helps but this is Synrad’s approximation of the relationship between tube output power and PWM % (this curve may alter dependant on the PRF).

Tweakie.

5304

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

« on: January 20, 2013, 01:23:49 AM »

Hi Ken,

Welcome to the forum.

I have a sneaky feeling that we may be learning more from you than you will learn from us. 

Tweakie.

5305

General Mach Discussion / Re: PWM signal not showing correctly

« on: January 19, 2013, 02:49:20 AM »

Hi bdn,

Jeff (JJWMACHINECO) initially used a pot, fitted to his Z axis, but as you suspect it was not very long lived.
He then switched to using an encoder and more details of his work are some further links to follow are here;  http://oplaser.co.uk/opsupport/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=491

Tweakie.

5306

General Mach Discussion / Re: Cambam to Mach3

« on: January 19, 2013, 01:59:30 AM »

excellent attempting the z axis jog tonight and hopefully carving some designs out...wish me luck

Good fortune my friend. 

Please post some pictures of your work.

Tweakie.

5307

General Mach Discussion / Re: Cambam to Mach3

« on: January 17, 2013, 10:58:25 AM »

As far as I know there is not a window (within the standard Mach screens) that shows the design. Although, someone may have produced a special screen set which incorporates a compiled GCode simulation of the design but I am not aware of anything.

Within Mach3, Config / System Hotkeys Setup - click on Z++ then press the page up key, click on Z-- then press the page down key (these come up as scan codes 33 & 34 on my machine). If that does not solve the problem then I will have to put in some more thought  

Tweakie.

Addition...

I may be misunderstanding exactly what you mean by 'design' the Mach display window will show the intended toolpath as well as the current tool position so in the case of a profile then the full outline should be shown in the screen.

5308

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: DC-K40 Laser conversion issue

« on: January 17, 2013, 10:01:52 AM »

Thats great, I am really pleased that you have got it working 

For the long-term, there are a couple of other points you may wish to consider…

It would be prudent to use and opto-isolator (or similar buffer) in the TTL connection to your laser PSU. This would offer a reasonable degree of protection to your controller / computer should the PSU suffer a catastrophic failure. This may also prevent the TTL logic conflict if your ‘Test’ button is used.

If using the Z axis Direction pin (rather than an output#) it may be beneficial to include your spindle relay (normally open contact) in series with the PSU protection circuit. This will prevent the laser being turned on (accidentally at start-up) unless a GCode M3 command has been issued – it will also allow (depending on the Mach3 configuration) the laser to always be turned off at program end or if the e-stop or limit switches are invoked.

Personally, I now much prefer using the M10P1 / M11P1 command set with an Output# as this is a much neater and safer way of operation.

Tweakie.

5309

General Mach Discussion / Re: Cambam to Mach3

« on: January 17, 2013, 09:58:23 AM »

Hope this is of some help...

The Mach3 Toolpath window shows the actual Toolpath rather than the design.
The Z axis can be jogged with the Page Up / Page Down keys.
The depth of cut is set within CamBam.

Tweakie.

5310

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: DC-K40 Laser conversion issue

« on: January 17, 2013, 08:27:56 AM »

Connect the GND directly to GND and not through the spindle relay connection.
 
For the TTL - either choose an LPT Output pin that is not used by your stepper motors (for M10P1 / M11P1 control of the laser) or the Z axis Direction pin if you are taking that route.
If your pin 4 is Z axis Direction then Mach3 will set this pin high or low depending on your GCode Z axis +/- moves. In turn the laser beam will be switched on or off.

Tweakie.