Messages

6511

General Mach Discussion / Re: Blank screen

« on: July 21, 2011, 03:20:25 AM »

Hi Ernie,

Are you saying that Mach did not load on your garage PC or that the program from the memory stick did not load ?

Tweakie.

6512

General Mach Discussion / Re: Unprogrammed Z axis down feed

« on: July 21, 2011, 03:16:09 AM »

I'm thinking it's a noise problem on the step input to the driver.  Probably related to power line conditions as it's very intermittent.  Since the last direction for the Z axis when cutting is down, any noise on the step input big enough to trigger movement is going to result in down motion.  I'll search the forum for advice on power line noise suppression.

Hi Peter,

What you say here makes sense but, depending on your steps per unit and microsteps, you would need hundreds of individual noise pulses on the step pin just to move the Z Axis 1mm. That being the case, that amount of noise would be extremely unlikely to affect just the Z Axis.

My suggestion would be that you check all your wiring thoroughly and if possible try another LPT parallel port cable and if everything checks out OK then suspect the Z Axis driver.

Tweakie.

6513

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

« on: July 21, 2011, 02:58:39 AM »

Hi Hoagie,

I don't understand either as I am not doing anything different to you.
Just a thought - are you setting the depth of cut for your selected tool#  correctly ? because this is what determines how many passes the tool path makes.

Tweakie.

nb. (Your code contains a G43 not the tool radius offset G42) 

6514

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: CNC Pipe Bender

« on: July 20, 2011, 10:53:10 AM »

Excellent !

Tweakie.

6515

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.

6516

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.

6517

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.

6518

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.

6519

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.

6520

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.