Messages

6771

General Mach Discussion / Re: Shopbot with Mach3 Proxmity switch hookup

« on: April 13, 2011, 08:23:16 AM »

You are quite right Hood, it doesn't necessarily have to be a NOR though as any inverting logic gate would do. In effect it would turn the logic of a normally closed contact into a normally open contact. (quicker to snip off the pull up resistor but it depends on personal courage  )

Tweakie.

6772

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Diy Laser cutter MK1

« on: April 13, 2011, 07:08:06 AM »

I think I will wait for you to kit it.

The Replikit laser cut kit for the Snipe sells for £39.95 plus p&p.

Tweakie.

6773

General Mach Discussion / Re: System grounding questions

« on: April 13, 2011, 05:16:51 AM »

Jeff,

In Canada, is your neutral (white) at the same voltage potential as the earth wire  ?

Tweakie.

6774

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Diy Laser cutter MK1

« on: April 13, 2011, 04:59:30 AM »

Get it all bolted down then lets see some pics of the stuff you make, please.

How do ya fancy building one of these ? I have dug out some rough dxfs for it.

One of what ?  (no picture file attached)

Tweakie.

6775

General Mach Discussion / Re: Parallel Port woes - need advice

« on: April 13, 2011, 03:47:20 AM »

The only suggestion I can make is that you check your port address in device manager and that it is correctly entered in Mach. (in my case the address is 0378)

Tweakie.

6776

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Enroute 4.2 to Mach 3

« on: April 13, 2011, 03:34:27 AM »

Hi Rob,

I have no experience of Enroute but in the past, when trying different software, I have always found the Fanuc post processor to work OK with Mach.

Hope this helps.

Tweakie.

6777

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: One handed wireless Mach3 Controller

« on: April 13, 2011, 02:38:14 AM »

Thank you for posting the information.

Tweakie.

6778

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach Just Stops

« on: April 13, 2011, 02:29:41 AM »

Dave,

Just the top box.
Interesting to see if the problem is noise related or if this makes any difference.

Tweakie.

6779

General Mach Discussion / Re: Shopbot with Mach3 Proxmity switch hookup

« on: April 13, 2011, 02:20:44 AM »

Hi John,

I think you have just discovered the reason your proximity switches were disconnected in the first place.  

The C10 pull up / pull down unfortunately applies to all input pins and adding a resistor will not solve the problem.
As I see it you could either.........
1) Do a bit of sugery on the BoB to remove the pull up resistor which is associated with the pin you use for the estop or possibly.........
2) Swap the estop switch from one with normally closed contacts to one with normally open contacts and reconfigure your active hi / low within Mach (incidentally I use normally open contacts on my estop and limits).

Given the choice I think I would go for the surgery but then electronics is my thing.  

Tweakie.

6780

General Mach Discussion / Re: 3 Parallel Port cards??

« on: April 13, 2011, 02:00:22 AM »

No reason why you cant just take them all to +5 Volts.

There are some occasions when I wish to disable just one axis.

When working on long jobs (longer than the working table) I produce the artwork in one piece and with a pause in the GCode at the appropriate point I disable the Y axis, release the work (which remains in the same place) whilst the table is moved by hand to the new location. The work is re-clamped, the axis enabled and the job restarted. I have tried various other methods and this system works best for me when making long signs.

When I use the laser head, the Z axis carries the focus lens assembly and once set remains the same for the entire job. I use standard engraving GCode and therefore any Z commands will alter the focus so disabling just the Z axis prevents this.

There are other occasions but it is one of those things that once you have it then you find the uses for it.  

Tweakie.