Messages

7401

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

« on: September 01, 2010, 03:44:23 AM »

It's only a baby Dan, weighing in at 25 Watts.

Tweakie.

7402

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

« on: September 01, 2010, 02:40:22 AM »

I am still awaiting the delivery of the power supply, so I can try it out, but this baby could spell the makings of a whole new machine.

Tweakie.

7403

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: 3D Printing.

« on: August 27, 2010, 08:23:54 AM »

Thanks for the links Martin.

As we have seen there are so many different ways / methods of 3D printing it would be really nice if we could get together a group with each working on a different method. Not as a competition but more of a combined technology sharing exercise and of course all driven by Mach as the common factor.

Tweakie.

7404

General Mach Discussion / Re: twinned motors; 2 sharing 1 driver

« on: August 27, 2010, 02:15:37 AM »

I think you have just wasted some electrons Bob. 

Tweakie.

7405

General Mach Discussion / Re: Just a THANKS

« on: August 27, 2010, 02:12:19 AM »

Hi Mike,

Very nice gesture.

Don't suppose you could buy some beers ?   

Tweakie.

7406

General Mach Discussion / Re: not circle that is a polygon

« on: August 26, 2010, 01:30:51 PM »

There have recently been a number of ebay listed pirated copies which I have reported and they have eventually been withdrawn but I suspect there are lots of copies in circulation which are "Licensed To: PAPA FABIO".

Tweakie.

7407

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: 6 axis CNC tube bender

« on: August 25, 2010, 11:27:29 AM »

Excellent. I could watch that working all day long. 

(I think we would need to have a lot of guards around a machine like that under our health and safety legislation).

Tweakie.

7408

General Mach Discussion / Re: not circle that is a polygon

« on: August 25, 2010, 08:47:20 AM »

I think that by using circular interpolation you will only cut a circle with 40 sides but the edge finish will be good. If you are getting a poor edge finish then it is something else which is machine related and probably, as Rich has said, mechanical.

These two discs have been shown before but the one on the left has been cut with straight but wobbly lines (bad finish) whereas the one on the right has been cut with 40 straight lines, using circular interpolation (good finish).

Tweakie.

7409

General Mach Discussion / Re: This motherboard is suitable for working with mach3?

« on: August 25, 2010, 06:52:41 AM »

Renato,

I can't remember if it was Rich or Gerry who had the brilliant idea.

Take a copy of Mach on CD when you go to buy the computer and explain you concerns to the seller. If the computer will run the 'Mach Driver Test' you buy it if it doesn't then you don't.

Tweakie.

7410

General Mach Discussion / Re: not circle that is a polygon

« on: August 25, 2010, 06:41:12 AM »

It is not possible to cut a true circle with a flatbed X-Y-Z CNC machine. Because the machine can only move in straight lines the circle must be comprised of straight lines and so is really just an approximation of a circle. (A CNC lathe would, of course be entirely different).
Mach outputs step and direction signals which are also a series of straight line moves - that is the way it works.
The circle quality starts to improve as you get more (shorter) lines up to the point where the GCode gets too long to be practical.

From tests using acrylic and relating to the optical quality of the edge I have found that a 50mm disc comprising 400 straight lines is about the minimum I would like to use. If the diameter of the disc is increased then so does the number of lines used and so on...

One trick with CAD is to draw many times full size then scale the GCode at run time.

Hope this helps.

Tweakie.