Messages

5701

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Spindle water cooling system 2.2KW

« on: December 31, 2011, 12:34:20 PM »

I don't think you will have any problems at 220 Volts whether the water is marginally conductive or not.

I use a similar 3 fan radiator, circulating pump, flow sensor, silicone tubing etc. with distilled water and 30% antifreeze for cooling my laser tube which runs at 16,000 Volts. There are no problems (but I would not want to stick my finger, or anything else, into the water when it is running). 

Tweakie.

5702

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

« on: December 31, 2011, 09:05:29 AM »

Perhaps going a bit off topic but this halftone image was produced with the electromagnet although it could equally have been done with the laser by using the same GCode and for anyone old enough to remember them, the process sounds exactly like the old ASR33 Teletype’s although just slightly faster.

The GCode was produced with ‘DotG’ (http://dotg.weebly.com/index.html) and the image pre-processed with ‘Infanview’ (http://www.irfanview.com/) and the ‘Ximagic Gray Dither plugin’ (http://www.ximagic.com/) – All of these being free to download and use programs.

Like all halftones you need to be some distance from the image to get the best effect and the end result, shown here, is far from being perfect. It does, however, look exactly like the image shown in Infanview so now I have to experiment with different settings and gain some practical experience to produce an image and a group of settings that I am satisfied with. The final object of this exercise being an acrylic, edge lit display which contains a photographic image as well as text.

So far so good. 

Tweakie.

5703

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Taylor Hobson engraving machine converted to CNC

« on: December 31, 2011, 06:05:10 AM »

Thanks for sharing Brian, that's great work you have done.
How does the glass scale dro's compare with the Mach dro's - are there any small discrepancies of position ??

Tweakie.

5704

General Mach Discussion / Re: charge pump circuit

« on: December 31, 2011, 05:49:49 AM »

Hi Pradeep,

The Gecko circuit has been reproduced here as well  http://www.machsupport.com/documentation.php

Tweakie.

5705

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Spindle water cooling system 2.2KW

« on: December 31, 2011, 05:10:01 AM »

Hi Juan,

Thanks for the info, that is most interesting.

(I don't think I would want to put the 'Feser One Non Conductive' to a real electrical test though  )

Tweakie.

5706

General Mach Discussion / Re: Using Oscilloscope with Mach3

« on: December 31, 2011, 04:54:06 AM »

Hi Vogavt,

Just one tip - If you are using a mains operated oscilloscope (without an autotransformer or other means of isolation) make sure the earth connection of the probe is only connected to an earth point on your machine.  Shorting various unknown points to earth while testing can ultimately spell disaster. 
The portable, battery operated, hand held scopes are in may ways a lot safer to use when it comes to trouble shooting as they have a floating GND and the above does not apply. 

Tweakie.

5707

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Spindle water cooling system 2.2KW

« on: December 30, 2011, 11:16:03 AM »

Great idea Juan. Do you have any information on the temperature controller you are using ??

Tweakie.

5708

Tangent Corner / Re: X-Mass Gift for my son

« on: December 30, 2011, 07:36:38 AM »

Sorry to say this Brian but it looks like he is growing real fast.
From that last picture I think you are going to be building a new one for next year. 

Tweakie.

5709

General Mach Discussion / Re: Y-axis "creep"

« on: December 30, 2011, 07:28:38 AM »

Yes, config, ports and pins, motor outputs. Make sure that all your axis motors (X, Y & Z) step and direction, are either all active high or all active low.

I have found that if you have a mixture of some active high and some active low, it results in the creep which you are seeing.

Neptune,

Whilst I do not doubt you cured your problem in the way in which you say there is really no evidence to support the above statement. Mach allows a mixture of active HI / LOW without issue.

Tweakie.

5710

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle output messes up tool change

« on: December 30, 2011, 07:18:03 AM »

As Graham says, it would seem logical that a tool change would be prohibited whilst the spindle is actually running. 

Tweakie.