Messages

5441

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

« on: May 31, 2012, 06:49:06 AM »

Appologies to John (Picengraver) I forgot to mention, in the previous post, that the original drawing was converted to a dithered image using his fine software PicDither – then the GCode was created with DotG.

Tweakie.

5442

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Constructing a Low Profile Tool Height Setter.

« on: May 31, 2012, 03:27:57 AM »

Good thinking Terry – I gave it a try first thing this morning.

My Z axis moves in steps of  0.001875mm (but the accuracy of micro steps are a long standing point of discussion).

Jogging with Mach set at 0.0010mm step size and zeroing at the exact point of electrical contact a further 2 steps were required to trigger the probe with the DRO reading -0.0037mm.

Tweakie.

5443

General Mach Discussion / Re: We all make mistakes.

« on: May 31, 2012, 02:04:30 AM »

 

Tweakie.

5444

General Mach Discussion / Re: We all make mistakes.

« on: May 30, 2012, 11:50:28 AM »

 

Tweakie.

5445

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Constructing a Low Profile Tool Height Setter.

« on: May 30, 2012, 11:48:20 AM »

Hi Ian,

Thank you for a very nifty bit of calculation (Hopefully that is the value that gets stored in my Var(2002)).

Tweakie.

5446

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

« on: May 30, 2012, 08:44:17 AM »

A picture of a very good friend, laser etched using GCode produced with the free software DotG.

Tweakie.

5447

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mirror image when engraving, why?

« on: May 30, 2012, 08:22:59 AM »

Hi joeqman,

I am pleased you got it sorted.

Never worry about wasting anyone's time - your solution will, in turn, help someone else and that is the way it goes.

Tweakie.

5448

General Mach Discussion / We all make mistakes.

« on: May 30, 2012, 04:20:32 AM »

I don't normally post pictures of the trash but this may be of help to others.

I recently replaced the flexible coupling on my Y Axis and everything was fine until I cut this piece (which was profiled in two passes with a 30 degree engraving point).
The new coupling was bored 1/4" and the motor shaft is 6mm - what I thought was tight obviously wasn't (but it is now  ).

Tweakie.

5449

General Mach Discussion / Re: z axis moving up

« on: May 29, 2012, 11:13:27 AM »

Hi Dray,

It sounds to me as though you may be loosing steps when the cutter enters the work, just one or two every now and again would soon mount up with 3D work.

If you have reduced your Acceleration try reducing your Velocity as well.  What are your current settings for the Z axis ??

Another possible cause of this type of problem is when the cutter is not tightly clamped in the collet and moves during the course of the work (although it is usually the other way around and ends up cutting deeper).

Tweakie.

5450

FAQs / Re: Steps per JACKED!

« on: May 28, 2012, 11:50:18 AM »

Hi Grietveld,

It makes no difference if you are using the demo version or the licensed version. I have never used the calibrate function so have no idea what went wrong in your setup.

Ideally you should be calculating your steps per unit from the known information about your machine.

Here is an example of the calculation http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,12512.0.html
And here is a download link for Al's calculator http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,16315.0.html

Tweakie.