Messages

6441

Tangent Corner / Re: Ooops !

« on: July 20, 2011, 05:47:57 AM »

Hi Mikee,

Can't help with the lathe project - I know nothing about lathes 

Still thinking about hexapods - it would be reckless to the extreme to have any machine in control of firing a laser and deciding the direction in which it is to be fired as even these little green pointer thingies are capable of damaging eyesight in an instant.

Tweakie.

6442

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: LC never produces valid GCode

« on: July 20, 2011, 04:43:54 AM »

Hi Hoagie,

That's what I did only I missed out steps 2 & 3 (only because it was an example and not code I was going to use).

I am not the best person to answer questions on LC as I don't actually use it any more but yes the G41 / G42 cutter radius compensation would have to be added to the code to obtain the correct size product. (To use the offsets function within LC requires the licensed version, I believe).

Tweakie.

6443

General Mach Discussion / Re: reset tripping randomly

« on: July 20, 2011, 04:06:19 AM »

installed capacitors .01 mfd on all inputs

Mark,

The capacitors you have fitted between the switch inputs and ground need to be 0.1uF if they are to have any effect on preventing electrical noise.

Tweakie.

6444

Tangent Corner / Re: Ooops !

« on: July 20, 2011, 03:45:23 AM »

Hi Mikee,

I think the guys who sorted out that hexapod know buckets more about programming than I will ever learn  

The laser tubes are made in great quantities in China however mine was bought in the USA and I believe it was actually made there.

I purchased VCarvePro earlier this year and it is just brilliant and so easy to learn. The down side is that it took most of my annual CNC software allowance to buy it. Unfortunately Aspire is out of my reach at the moment but that would be ideal  

Tweakie.

6445

Newfangled Solutions Mach3 Wizards / Re: Surfacing Wizard Help Please

« on: July 20, 2011, 02:44:02 AM »

dakmonf,

If it's any consolation I think we have all been there (in my case more than once).

Tweakie.

6446

General Mach Discussion / Re: Scan 3D in mach3

« on: July 19, 2011, 12:30:36 PM »

The Impact / Laser plugin that I use for laser engraving was developed from a Mach probing routine. The source code for this plugin is available from the plugin’s page and if you take a look at the code you will see that it is already two thirds of the way towards the probing routine shown in the video clip.
OK you would need to know a little C++ but it would not be rocket science for you to adapt this plugin to suit your own needs if you are determined enough.

Just a thought.

Tweakie.

6447

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: LC never produces valid GCode

« on: July 19, 2011, 02:55:18 AM »

LC has more little quirks than I could count, perhaps that's why it remained a beta.
You need to practice at it, experiment a bit, and it will work and produce very good results.

I just ran your example through LC and depth data seems OK.

Tweakie.

6448

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle not running

« on: July 19, 2011, 02:29:38 AM »

I will wait to hear how you get on with the VFD - Good fortune changing any settings without the manual. 

(I am really not sure I could program my VFD without the manual - the menu is quite extensive and contains stuff that I can only guess as to what it does).

Tweakie.

6449

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach doing it again

« on: July 19, 2011, 02:15:00 AM »

Sounds like it could be Direction signal problems.

If the direction signal is not present for a particular axis or is shorted high or low then that axis will only move in one direction.
If the PC parallel port output is only 3.3Volt on a direction pin and the BoB expects to see a 5Volt signals then again the axis may only move in the one direction.

Perhaps check your wiring and the pp output voltage 

Tweakie.

6450

General Mach Discussion / Re: Vortech router run Mach3

« on: July 18, 2011, 01:49:32 AM »

To add to the last posting..

Did you change any of these settings ?

Tweakie.