Messages

5531

General Mach Discussion / Re: Strange shift in Z-axis during machining

« on: April 05, 2012, 08:18:17 AM »

Hi Chet,

Just a thought, but ambient temperature plays it's part in determining the maximum speed at which rapids can achieve without loss of steps.

I live in the south east of England and we never really get cold weather here (unlike Hood in Scotland   ) but I have just started using aircraft oil (Arctic grade) as a lubricant and this has made a tremendous difference to my router's reliable rapid speeds.

Tweakie.

5532

General Mach Discussion / Re: File loaded from Cut3D, now what?

« on: April 04, 2012, 07:06:53 AM »

Hi Tony,

The initial problem is not to get swamped in information but this is a good place to obtain the basics (and more) http://cnccookbook.com/CCCNCGCodeCourse.htm

Hope this helps.

Tweakie.

5533

Share Your GCode / Re: OWL mach 3 Engrave toolpath Gcode

« on: April 03, 2012, 04:53:51 AM »

Hi agguilar,

Sounds like an excellent way to make money provided the potential for the sales of GCode do actually exist.

It only takes a couple of minutes to Google for a free image then create a suitable toolpath using V-CarvePro but it would be well to check the licensing terms because many images are only free for non-commercial purposes.

Tweakie.

5534

*****VIDEOS***** / Re: Vinyl cutting.

« on: April 03, 2012, 02:27:46 AM »

Hi Vogavt,

Just a suggestion...

The Roland type blade holders and replacement blade are readily available on ebay.
A small ball bearing drawer runner / slide would be ideal - mount vertically to the Z axis, fit the blade holder to the moving part, use a self-tap screw as a bottom end stop and either a weight or spring to provide the contact pressure.

Tweakie.

5535

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Z axis motor mount........

« on: April 01, 2012, 08:33:22 AM »

Hi CNCexplorer,

No matter what you do, there will always be something better and so everything has to be a compromise. However, I would suggest that you go for 'fully supported' rails on the X axis (if not both X and Z) - there is not that much difference in price.

Although wood is easy machining if you start V-Carving then 'chatter' or tool vibration can spoil the work so rigidity is an important consideration here and unsupported rails (less than about 25mm dia.) can flex a lot more than you would think.

Tweakie.

5536

General Mach Discussion / Re: Timer not counting

« on: April 01, 2012, 01:56:31 AM »

Looks like a swap with the wife will be the best solution (a swap of the wife would have even more benefits, but not on the cards at the moment!  )

 

Tweakie.

5537

General Mach Discussion / Re: Timer not counting

« on: March 31, 2012, 02:30:39 AM »

Hi Daniel,

You could try the WinXP optimization procedure (pretty much the same as 2k) linked on this page http://www.machsupport.com/downloads.php
It may save you having to steal the boss's notebook. 

Tweakie.

5538

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

« on: March 30, 2012, 08:06:41 AM »

Hi Russ,

Sorry, I use the Google Chrome browser which incorporates Google Translate and although it makes a pretty poor job with Hungarian I just get by (well almost). Incidentally, there is a lot of useful stuff on their main website http://hobbycncart.com/ and I am doing my best to populate the English speaking section.

There is not yet any help file for F-Engrave but this is a US product and most, if not all of the functions are described in the video's on this page http://home.comcast.net/~sskroch/Fengrave/fengrave.html  

The .dxf import function will enable routing of designs but it does not clear all the areas of the relief down to base level so a little hand finishing may be necessary to make a perfect job. It does, however, work very well and for a free software, I am not complaining. 

Tweakie.

5539

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

« on: March 30, 2012, 04:25:03 AM »

Hi Guys,

I must admit that I have never tried 'relief routing' before but seeing Russ's excellent work I just had to give it a try.

This is 270mm x 50mm and made from Old English Oak (using GCode produced with the free program 'F-Engrave' mentioned earlier). The tool path geometry is just excellent and the program is truly a credit to it's author.

Tweakie.

5540

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

« on: March 28, 2012, 01:47:48 AM »

Hi Russ,

Looks like you are doing just fine without a help file 

Scott has said that F-Engrave is not yet perfect and I understand that the help file is still work in progress.

Tweakie.