Messages

6471

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

« on: April 19, 2011, 08:31:55 AM »

Thanks Sam.
When I made the knob I could hear your words, saying "anno it"  

Tweakie.

6472

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

« on: April 19, 2011, 08:08:00 AM »

Over the winter months the Synrad RF Laser controller went through much testing and as luck would have it, performs better than I had even hoped - the inbuilt, hardware PWM of the PIC micro is just brilliant and so stable under all the test conditions.
Now on to the enclosure which is really just a front cover because the PCB will be mounted on the outside of the laser housing and this cover fitted over the top.

1) The enclosure cutout and window milled to size. This cover started it’s life as the lid from an IP65 enclosure.

2) The front panel (1.5mm engraving laminate) which has yet to be engraved. I prefer to draw my work on paper, others prefer to use CAD - whatever, the end result is still a toolpath for the CNC.

3) The knob - perhaps doesn't look like it but more work has gone into this knob than I care to admit. It was turned, CNC machined, sand blasted and then anodized. And, like most things, if I had a second go at it I could probably make a better job.
 
4) Still some way to go but this is how the parts made so far will fit together.


Tweakie.

6473

General Mach Discussion / Re: Reprap 3D printing machines

« on: April 19, 2011, 01:58:53 AM »

I just dont see what the difficulty in the interfacing can be. I have seen the repraps, darwins, mendels and makerbots. What makes them so capable that any sherline, 80/20, taig cant do? Primitive by my standards. Do I have to be first? I want to modify my A2ZCNC, it would probably be best as an extruder anyway

Someone has to be first, why not you ? 

Start a new thread, post details of your progress and many more will follow (me included).

Tweakie.

6474

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Epoxy Bearing Material and Method

« on: April 18, 2011, 11:12:44 AM »

Hi John,

I read your presentation but I am still unsure about what you put on the thread first to stop the epoxy sticking and how did you centre the sleeve on the rod while the epoxy cured ?

Tweakie.

6475

General Mach Discussion / Re: Steppers and mach out of sync

« on: April 18, 2011, 06:15:15 AM »

Yes.

Pins 18 to 25 are ground (negative lead of multimeter) connect the positive lead to a step pin and then jog the axis one way it should read approx. 5 Volts and the other way it should read approx. 0 Volts.

Tweakie.

6476

General Mach Discussion / Re: Steppers and mach out of sync

« on: April 18, 2011, 03:53:03 AM »

Hmmm, sounds about right then for motor current. I will give this matter some more thought. 

The driver board is not the best but it is not bad either so should work OK. There is an issue with some opto isolators requiring the full 5 volt TTL levels and PC parallel ports only outputting the 3.3 volt TTL logic signal. If you can, it may be worth checking your LPT port to see if the direction signal pins swing approx 0 to 5 volts when jogging an axis or if they only make 3.3 volts.

Tweakie.

6477

General Mach Discussion / Re: Steppers and mach out of sync

« on: April 18, 2011, 01:58:19 AM »

The basic setting up instructions for this board are here http://fozztexx.com/CNC/HY-TB3DV-M_3Axis_Driver.pdf  may be worth checking the settings against against your setup of both the board and Mach.

My guess is that you have tight spots or binding (perhaps lead screw, perhaps linear slide) which are causing the motor to loose the steps and thus produce the inaccuracy you describe. Providing the motors are not getting hotter than you can keep your hand on comfortably then you could try increasing the drive current and or increasing the drive voltage to 36 Volts.

Tweakie.

6478

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach Just Stops

« on: April 17, 2011, 01:18:41 AM »

Hi Dave,

I am glad you have got it sorted.

In an ideal world you should investigate and resolve the noise problem rather than just rely on the de-bounce but 500 is not over the top and many use a higher figure than this. 

Tweakie.

6479

General Mach Discussion / Re: Shopbot with Mach3 homing issues

« on: April 16, 2011, 08:42:45 AM »

John,

I don't actually use the "ref all home button" but this is a VB button which means that it's function is user configurable (Operator / Edit Button Script / click on flashing button). There is a chance that it is configured incorrectly for your setup of using a slaved axis.

Not much help really but that's all I know about it. 

Tweakie.

6480

General Mach Discussion / Re: Shopbot with Mach3 homing issues

« on: April 16, 2011, 07:07:50 AM »

John,

We all like to help and provide support on this forum but we do not in any way condone software piracy.

No offence intended but I am a bit concerned that you have one of the "Ivan..... " licensed versions of Mach3 - perhaps you would clarify this situation please.

Tweakie.