Messages

6111

General Mach Discussion / Re: Rogue step pulses when system idle

« on: January 13, 2011, 11:49:37 AM »

Keith,

Electrical noise can be generated by (or from) the PC parallel port and on the ground return rather than any particular pin. This could easily be triggered by a mouse click as well as other things so noise should not be ruled out too easily. You could perhaps check for earth loops as an initial source of the problem.
Connecting a small 0.1uF capacitor from each input (limit switches, estop etc etc) to ground (at the breakout board) is well worth trying (inputs only).

Tweakie.

6112

General Mach Discussion / Re: Why is there no effort for the true closed loop control on the mach3 level

« on: January 13, 2011, 05:51:54 AM »

I agree and anyways if a position error occurs and is subsequently corrected (by closed loop) there is a good chance that the job has already been spoiled (obviously this, to a certain extent, depends on the 'steps per' or resolution of the machine). The secret to success is no error in the first place.

Tweakie.

6113

FAQs / Re: RESET- E-stop & Limit switch's issue

« on: January 13, 2011, 05:26:02 AM »

Bruce,

Sounds like you know what to look for, ground loops are so easy to create and cause so many problems. Noise spikes can be extremely narrow and although of high amplitude are still sometimes quite difficult to spot.

Tweakie.

6114

General Mach Discussion / Re: Why is there no effort for the true closed loop control on the mach3 level

« on: January 13, 2011, 05:08:50 AM »

Some have been able to use it successfully in production environments, but it is still a "hobby" control.

A bit more than 'hobby' today. One can do serious production with it IF you know how.

Cheers

I second this, in fact there are a great number of people using Mach3, in it's present form, for serious production.

Providing a CNC system is designed and built reasonably well there really is no need for closed loop operation - yes it would be nice but accurate, reliable and repeatable work can be achieved without closed loop.

Tweakie.

6115

General Mach Discussion / Re: Newby needs advice

« on: January 13, 2011, 04:54:22 AM »

Mikka,

I have seen adverts on eBay for spring loaded, rotary engraving tools (to fit most engraving machines) that are designed for engraving on curved surfaces but they do have limitations to character height / surface curvature etc. A rotary axis is another possibility, quite easy to set up within Mach but the mechanical aspects of fitting one to the machine (length of barrel etc.) may need some thought.

Tweakie.

6116

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 and CorelDRAW.

« on: January 13, 2011, 04:43:27 AM »

Kerry,

Do you use the standard DXF Tool or the Professional version ?

I am thinking that at $190 the professional version does seem a little steep. 

Tweakie.

6117

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Re: Impact engraving plugin

« on: January 13, 2011, 04:20:55 AM »

Stitos,

Having tried with a portable oscilloscope, it is obvious that a much more fancy digital, recording piece of equipment will be necessary here.
All I have been able to confirm, so far, is that the pulse width is indeed 40uS and the Pulse Repetition Frequency at white is 0% increasing with shade to approx 90% at black but I have been unable to accurately measure the gap (pause) between the edges (join) of each pixel in the image but this does vary with feedrate.
Not much help really but I will try with another scope when time permits.

Tweakie.

6118

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Re: Impact engraving plugin

« on: January 13, 2011, 04:18:53 AM »

Ntlaser,

Looking forward to seeing the pictures of your new machine.

Tweakie.

6119

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Re: Impact engraving plugin

« on: January 11, 2011, 10:04:52 AM »

Ntlaser,

Further to my earlier post - The latest plugin has not yet been posted to the downloads page so after you have installed the posted version download the file 'engraving nov11-2010' from here http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=16446.0;attach=23238 and copy the 'engraving.dll' file to your Mach3/Plugins folder. This will replace the previous version and give you the latest one. (not sure if that all makes sense but I have tried my best to describe the process  )

Tweakie.

6120

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Re: Impact engraving plugin

« on: January 11, 2011, 04:36:47 AM »

Stitos,

As soon as I can I will take some measurements with an oscilloscope and report back.

Tweakie.