Messages

6501

Tangent Corner / Re: Kinetic Works

« on: May 02, 2011, 05:12:19 AM »

Cheers Jeff 

Tweakie.

6502

General Mach Discussion / Re: cnc for milling out a circuit board

« on: May 02, 2011, 04:22:25 AM »

I did a trial run on your GCode and the results are not good.
Your design lends itself better to acid etch than it does to routing mainly because of the fineness of the tracks. The loading which mechanical cutting puts on the copper substrate can approach the bond strength between the copper and the board when such fine tracks are milled and as can be seen from the photo part of the tracks are missing.
If you thicken up the traces, you may be in with a chance but, as it stands, this design would be extremely difficult to produce with a router.

Tweakie.

6503

General Mach Discussion / Re: dbounce

« on: May 02, 2011, 02:31:00 AM »

Hi Kevin,

It would be best if you used shielded wire for your switches and estop (shields connected to ground at the controller end only, preferably to one single point).

Tweakie.

6504

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to control air-solenoid valve with mach3 ?

« on: May 01, 2011, 08:33:05 AM »

Ton,

In this config. I have used Output#1 for the spindle CW and CCW and this is mapped to my Port 1 Pin 1. You can choose any output pin you have free.

Tweakie.

6505

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to control air-solenoid valve with mach3 ?

« on: May 01, 2011, 08:14:25 AM »

Ton,

I already had a spindle setup on my machine using the M3 and M5 commands for on / off. As the air application did not require the spindle I used the spindle 240 volt supply and spindle relay to power the solenoid via a small (wall wart) transformer. http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,12168.msg78104.html#msg78104

Tweakie.

6506

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Elephant Problem

« on: May 01, 2011, 07:59:10 AM »

I've disguised my real goal because I didn't yet want "the world" to know what I was doing

Sneakie.  

Glad to hear you have it sorted.

Tweakie.

6507

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Elephant Problem

« on: May 01, 2011, 04:47:30 AM »

Interestingly this is exactly the same issue I ran into when experimenting with inlay work. The solution I used was to thicken the line of the .dxf image then create one toolpath cutting on the inside of the line and then create the other toolpath cutting on the outside of the line. I used the toolpaths opposite to the way you would because I wanted my parts to fit together without any gap at all.  http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,12444.msg125920.html#msg125920

Tweakie.

6508

General Mach Discussion / Re: 500 line test designs??

« on: May 01, 2011, 02:05:43 AM »

Hi Zero Cool,

I think that is a really good suggestion.
I will have a look through some of my stuff to see if I can find anything. Perhaps other members could do the same.

Tweakie.

6509

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Epoxy Concrete CNC Mill Design and Method

« on: April 30, 2011, 06:27:56 AM »

A very ambitious project John. I look forward to seeing your progress on this.

Tweakie.

6510

General Mach Discussion / Re: cnc for milling out a circuit board

« on: April 30, 2011, 01:30:49 AM »

I see your problem now.

The ball bit is really not the best tool, an engraving bit with a small flat on the bottom is what you should be using. Although it would be possible to redo the toolpath with a smaller stepover, the GCode would take forever to complete and would probably still leave some copper where it is not required.

My best suggestion is that you obtain some engraving points similar to these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5x-Carbide-PCB-Engraving-Bits-CNC-Router-Tool-30D-0-2mm-/260776680711?pt=UK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&hash=item3cb7805d07#ht_2420wt_1139 they cost very little and will make a good job.

Tweakie.