Messages

6021

General Mach Discussion / Re: Where Can I Buy Some C4....

« on: January 09, 2012, 03:17:53 AM »

If you need any help Ray then you need to be more specific about your problem. 

Tweakie.

6022

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Halftone.

« on: January 08, 2012, 08:09:03 AM »

And this is the same image processed with Halftoner using the 'line' option and cut into particle-board with a V bit (It really needs colour filling to enhance the contrast but I just don't have the time today).

Tweakie.

6023

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Halftone.

« on: January 07, 2012, 07:21:14 AM »

This is really a spin-off from Impact Engraving and my delving into half-tone techniques.
A pair of interesting little free programs I have stumbled across are ‘Reactor’ and ‘Halftoner’ written by Jason Dorie (Mach user). These are just so incredibly simple to use and yet produce some most unusual results. With the output in .jpg format from Reactor this can be converted to either a GCode toolpath or dot drill with VcarvePro or similar whilst Halftoner will output a Mach compatable GCode or a .dxf as you chose.

This styled engraving of, the now departed, Amy was made with Reactor as an outline toolpath but equally could have been done as a V groove.

Tweakie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoJDTPRqI6o&feature=player_embedded

http://jasondorie.com/page_cnc.html

6024

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

« on: January 06, 2012, 10:37:53 AM »

Nice, Tweakie. Where do you get all these pretty ladies' photos for your works

Does a clear acrylic become opaque at the impact points?

Dan

Hi Dan,

Yes, the impact creates a tiny conical depression which refracts the incident light and makes it opaque.

The lady is Lena Soderberg (we have discussed this one before) and her full length picture (which we can't show here) was featured as the centre fold in the Playboy magazine of November 1972. She is still an attractive lady to this day.

Tweakie.

6025

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

« on: January 06, 2012, 07:08:52 AM »

Thank you adprinter, most kind.

To answer a question, asked in email, the black in the previous image is created by the background it has been photographed against. Here is the same item photographed against a sky background.

Tweakie.

6026

FAQs / Re: Problem with setting up mach3

« on: January 06, 2012, 03:11:07 AM »

Chadgarber,

Please ignore my earlier post.
I have spent some time thinking about the troubles you are having and have concluded that it is not a Mach problem but rather an installation problem.
If you do have a corrupt installation of either Windows, Mach or CandCNC you will be chasing straws forever.

In your position, I would put aside the existing PC – obtain another old PC with a fresh installation of WindowsXP and nothing else, print out a hard copy of the CandCNC installation instructions then follow them to the letter, transferring your PCI parallel port cards to the new PC and installing / setting Mach as appropriate.

Tweakie.

6027

FAQs / Re: Problem with setting up mach3

« on: January 05, 2012, 05:43:26 PM »

At least you are making progress.
What do you mean by first and second numbers ??
From the  Resource I/O Range it is the first number in the range that is used.

Tweakie.

6028

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Impact Engraving.

« on: January 05, 2012, 06:43:45 AM »

This was created in acrylic from GCode produced with 'DotG' using an impact magnet. The image size is 105mm square and comprises of over 90,000 dots from over 270,000 lines of GCode and took just 2 ½ hours to complete at just over 9 dots per second. (for those that are old enough to remember - it makes a sound not unlike the ASR33 Teletype    ).
Like all things, practice and experience is required to get the perfect final result and it is evident here that my original image had just a little too much brightness and as a result some detail has been lost. Still practice makes perfect or at least I hope it does. 

Whilst Mach already has the Impact / Laser plugin, which relies on the LPT parallel port and the Mach engine for it’s timing DotG creates a ‘stand alone’ GCode and can therefore be used with USB and external motion controllers. Each has it’s own strong and weak points and I don’t think there is any direct comparison but it is always nice to have alternatives.

Tweakie.

6029

FAQs / Re: Problem with setting up mach3

« on: January 04, 2012, 11:41:44 AM »

In the Mach folder copy and save your .xml file for the profile you are using (mine is called ‘Mach3Mill.xml’) this has all your settings. Also copy and save ‘Mach1Lic.dat’ this is your license file. If you are using a special screen or have screen buttons programmed with your own macros then also save the .set file (mine is called ‘1024.set’).

These files should always be saved as a backup just in case.

Download the latest lockdown version from the appropriate page here and run setup over the top of the existing installation - see if that improves things and if necessary copy and paste the files saved above into your new Mach folder.

I think I have covered everything (long while since I did this).

Tweakie.

6030

FAQs / Re: Problem with setting up mach3

« on: January 04, 2012, 02:50:14 AM »

The numbered arrow keys behave differently if Num Lock is selected but other than that only certain keys are affected by the keyboard regional settings features within Windows.

Both port address you have given load and stay OK here - Check in device manager for device address conflicts.

Tweakie.