Messages

5711

General Mach Discussion / Re: CNC Dictionary

« on: December 30, 2011, 07:12:35 AM »

"WTF" comes naturally with my engraving. 

Tweakie.

5712

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

« on: December 29, 2011, 09:32:54 AM »

Hi Brian,

My electromagnet was a gift from Andrea (Robotmar) http://www.robotfactory.it/Cnc_indexMain.htm (look under Micropunti) who had the first successful results using a magnet with the Mach Impact / Laser plugin. He shows the construction on his website or in this thread http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,16446.0.html but other than that I have no specific technical information relating to the field properties / iron saturation etc.

Hope this helps,

Tweakie.

5713

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

« on: December 29, 2011, 07:35:49 AM »

Initially there was failure.
I mapped my B Axis direction pin to Output #1 (which is my spindle relay) and used the relay to fire the magnet. Unfortunately my version of Mach doesn’t like any Output # being repeatedly turned on and off rapidly as it introduces extra delays while it, presumably, catches up. This has caused missed pulses and ‘patterning’ indicating the repetitive nature of the problem and shown in the first picture.

Then there was success.
To be fair, Mach had never intended for an Output # to be cycled in this manner so I constructed a separate magnet driver circuit which is driven directly from the B Axis direction pin and this performed perfectly. The image produced is ‘dot-perfect’ to the laser produced image and was made from exactly the same GCode in exactly the same time frame of 80 minutes.

Tweakie.

5714

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle moving slowly from right to left

« on: December 29, 2011, 05:30:25 AM »

Hi Ben,

I am really pleased that you found the problem and it is working OK. 

Tweakie.

5715

FAQs / Re: Problem with setting up mach3

« on: December 28, 2011, 12:20:51 PM »

How do I know what the right port adress is?

Start/Control Panel/Performance & Maintenance/System/Hardware/Device Manager/Ports (LPT1 : LPT2 : COM1)   

Thanks for your help btw, also now before when I would push the keys to move my table, the numbers on the xyz axis would grow and shrink according to which key I pushed, now that won't even work. Any suggestions?

Check your keyboard settings are correct for your country in Control Panel under Regional and Language Options.

Tweakie.

5716

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

« on: December 28, 2011, 12:03:29 PM »

Hi Dan,

Thanks for taking an interest in this and I am sorry if I don’t always manage to explain everything very well (there is a big difference between what is stored in my head and what actually manages to escape  )

The Mach plugin and the DotG program really operate in entirely different ways and I think it would be ‘apples and oranges’ to try and make a direct comparison mainly because each would be good at what it does best.
My earlier examples with the plugin were at 0.1mm stepover whereas the previous cat is at 0.4mm stepover. This has been done deliberately so that the dots are visible and can be compared with a subsequent magnet produced image (using the same GCode). The attached, enlarged, pic shows the dots better.

It is perhaps interesting to note that, as far as the professionals are concerned, it is usual when creating laser produced images from halftone to de-focus the beam so that the individual dots blend and produce a smooth result.
There is a quite lot of useful info relating to halftone on the PhotoGrav site if you are interested http://www.photograv.com/index.htm

Tweakie.

5717

FAQs / Re: Problem with setting up mach3

« on: December 28, 2011, 10:58:54 AM »

Check with Device Manager to make certain that you have entered the correct port address for both LP1 and LP2 into Mach3 (and that both ports are enabled) and whilst in Device Manager also check the setup of the serial port COM1 is correct.

Tweakie.

5718

FAQs / Re: Problem with setting up mach3

« on: December 28, 2011, 03:27:21 AM »

You need to provide a lot more details of your controller / motor drivers / setup / etc

Tweakie.

5719

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

« on: December 27, 2011, 12:02:34 PM »

This image is 106mm x 130mm and comprises entirely of laser dots on some scrap MDF. It took 80 minutes to complete but the interesting thing is that the same GCode could (theoretically) be used with an impact magnet and again it would take 80 minutes to complete. Higher resolution and larger images would, of course, take longer but I still have a bit of reserve as far as the speed settings are concerned. It is all a matter of putting theory into practice  

Tweakie.

EDIT. I have attached the .jpg / .bmp and GCode if anybody would like to try it.

5720

General Mach Discussion / Re: limits tripping

« on: December 27, 2011, 09:16:55 AM »

Hi Bob,

Yes I think it is electrical noise as well.

Lots of people have had this same problem and the cures have turned out to be various. A forum search should turn up lots of information but try re-routing your spindle cable away from other wiring, make sure you don't have any 'earth loops' or 'GND loops' and if you are using a VFD that it is properly earthed (at one point only).

Just a couple of things to try.

Tweakie.