Messages

5761

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Picture to Preudo 3D Engraving

« on: June 08, 2012, 11:09:19 AM »

Hi Alexus,

Sounds like you did not set the cutting depth correctly - check out the LazyCam tutorial, this should explain everything you need to know. http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,12078.0.html

Although I still use LazyCam, I mostly use VCarve Pro nowadays (around $600) http://www.vectric.com/WebSite/Vectric/vcp/vcp_index.htm

There is a trial version download on their website so you can evaluate it's capabilities.

Tweakie.

5762

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Can't get M11P1/M10P1 and E1P0/E1P1 commands to work

« on: June 08, 2012, 07:11:00 AM »

Hi Jii,

The M11P1 / M10P1 (and the E commands) are only activated coincident with axis movement.

For example....

M11P1
G01 X10
M10P1
G01 X0

Hope this helps.

Tweakie.

5763

General Mach Discussion / Re: Use an arduino to send estop texts to my phone

« on: June 08, 2012, 02:30:53 AM »

I made this more than 15 years ago for a different sort of application but something similar may suite your needs.  http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,21718.0.html

Tweakie.

5764

General Mach Discussion / Re: motor steping

« on: June 08, 2012, 02:27:39 AM »

Just a thought but if your controller has microstepping are both the X and Y drivers set to the same value of microsteps ??

Tweakie.

5765

General Mach Discussion / Re: Cnc code for laser switching

« on: June 07, 2012, 05:40:30 AM »

Never thought of  treating the laser power adjustment as a  toolchange, but it must get very tiring when you run a big project.

Hi Andre,

Like all things, there are advantages / disadvantages but you will find that laser output power will vary with tube temperature (I only cool the tube to ambient) so power adjustments are necessary from one day to the next for me. 

Tweakie.

5766

General Mach Discussion / Re: mach3 setting problem

« on: June 07, 2012, 04:14:15 AM »

Hi  CNCexplorer,

With a 0.9 deg. stepper direct driving a 13 t.p.i screw you would require 204.7244 steps per millimetre. Perhaps reduce your Velocity and Acceleration to say V=1000 mm/min and A=400mm/min and see if that helps. You could also try selecting the Sherline Half Pulse Mode in Ports & Pins and see if that makes any difference.

I realise the pic shows your prototype but you will be getting varying torque requirements from that build so you should not be expecting too much in the way of accuracy and repeatability  

Tweakie.

5767

General Mach Discussion / Re: z axis moving up

« on: June 07, 2012, 02:37:48 AM »

Hi Dray,

Have you tried changing you Step Active state (High or Low) in Ports & Pins : Motor Outputs. ??

Tweakie.

5768

General Mach Discussion / Re: Cnc code for laser switching

« on: June 07, 2012, 02:32:11 AM »

Hi Andre,

Ok, i have looked at the sample you attatched. It makes sense. I suppose Cambam cannot or does not have the ability to insert these codes automatically as it was made mainly for a rotating chuck with cutter, so its a manual process with notepad or a cnc code editor of trial and error if i`m going this route.

One route you could try is to load your completed DXF into LazyCam and use the attached post processor (unzip and place Laser.pst into the Mach3 folder then select it within the LazyCam, posting options) this will put the M11P1 / M10P1 commands in the right places.

My next question is the laser speed/intensity. I have changed my laser to work with 0-5volt with the "DC-03 DigiSpeed GX V3 (DC-03)" from Homanndesigns.com.
Before it was using the "H" & "L" inputs on the laser power supply. I believe its part of the pulley speed setup, but i dont understand  how it works. I know one must use the "S word" for adjusting the laser speed/intensity. One can make adjustments in % like 30% , 60% etc, so 90% will cut right through the wood and 30% will be good for engraving letters/text. So as you can see i have an idea, but to set it all up in Mach3 and the cnc code file is where i fall out the bus.

The PWM speed control is well documented on the forum so a search should provide all the details you need.

(Mainly because I use Art’s ‘Impact / Laser engraving plugin’ quite a lot – the Mach3 PWM output and the plugin don’t play nicely together so I have reverted to splitting my jobs into ‘engraving’ and ‘profiling’ toolpaths and then adjusting the power setting manually, treating it as a ‘tool change’).


Tweakie.

5769

General Mach Discussion / Re: Cnc code for laser switching

« on: June 06, 2012, 12:39:15 PM »

Hi Andre,

Just to keep it as simple as possible the GCode to cut a 100mm dia. hole would be something like the attached.

The purpose of the M11 / M10 code set is to switch the laser on and off coincident with axis movement so they must always be followed by an axis move.
(In my example code, I am using Output #1 so M11P1 switches the laser on and M10P1 switches it off).

Tweakie.

5770

General Mach Discussion / Re: Z-Axis zero help!

« on: June 06, 2012, 11:54:19 AM »

Hi  lxapilot,

If you zip and post (as attachment) a copy of the code you are having troubles with I can run it here. This should prove that it either is or is not a GCode / Mach3 issue.

(I never actually use offsets / machine co-ordinates as each job or fixture is generally always positioned in a slightly different place on the work table but there have been reported cases in the past where certain subroutines and offsets can cause conflicts).

Tweakie.