Messages

7631

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: My new CNC mill. JEH Guitars

« on: April 01, 2009, 03:28:20 AM »

H Jens,

Nice looking machine.

Tweakie.

7632

General Mach Discussion / Re: UPDATE to Mach Specific VB routines and VB Params!!

« on: April 01, 2009, 03:15:57 AM »

Thanks Scott for posting both documents - this will help me learn.

Tweakie.

7633

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Laser cross hair tool position.

« on: April 01, 2009, 02:50:08 AM »

Hi Guys,

I only use the laser pointer on a router where precision is not an issue however, a polarizing filter is still essential. The actual beam width, as far as I can measure, is 0.3mm but our perception of coherent laser light is something different. The surface finish of the work is a determining factor here and highly reflective surfaces produce a sharp and fine image whereas sawn wood produces just the opposite. On Traffolite, engraving laminate, I am confident I could achieve a repositioning accuracy (on an engraved line or edge) of better than 0.2mm.

In reality I align my router work to a pencil line (how accurate is that ?) but this laser device saves so much time and makes positioning so easy that it is now an essential part of the machine.

Tweakie.

7634

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: ATV part

« on: March 31, 2009, 03:12:02 AM »

Hi Sam,

The magical formula is to pass the parts onto Ed  -  he says that he loves polishing the stuff.   

Tweakie.


btw. Very nice work.

7635

General Mach Discussion / Re: init.m1s

« on: March 30, 2009, 11:21:13 AM »

Thanks Bill - I understand.

Tweakie.

7636

General Mach Discussion / Re: Z axis is dead

« on: March 30, 2009, 09:26:32 AM »

Have you checked that your GCode program does not have the feedrate set too high ? (there is probably more load on the Z axis than the X and Y).

Tweakie.

7637

General Mach Discussion / Re: init.m1s

« on: March 30, 2009, 09:07:55 AM »

Hi Bill,

Surely if you add a screen button and assign the script there you can run it at any time by clicking on the button.

Tweakie

7638

General Mach Discussion / Re: Large files

« on: March 30, 2009, 02:43:21 AM »

Jimpinder came up with a fairly simple way of dealing with long files and his solution is reprinted here.

If you want to run more than 500 lines of code, then you must use sub-routines, and an editor, like Microsoft Word, to split your code into 500 line chunks. Word is best at this, becasue it automatically numbers the lines, and as you chop 450 - 500 off, it renumbers.

I did this on a 5000 line code for drill and milling a printed circuit board, and it worked a treat. The main prgram just called the 10 subroutines in order.

When you  feed it into mach 3 at the beginning, then, as Hood said, it goes through all the lines, and the subroutines, and paints a full picture.

A bit messy, but it works. Thank goodness I don't use long program.

If you have Microsoft Word this looks like a possible solution.

Tweakie.

7639

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Miser engine

« on: March 29, 2009, 04:06:25 AM »

Good luck with the new job Vince.

Tweakie.

7640

General Mach Discussion / Re: HotKeys for Outputs

« on: March 28, 2009, 02:53:40 AM »

I think you need to use a script such as  ActivateSignal(OUTPUT1)  assign this to a button and then hotkey to the button but I am quite new to this so there may be a better way of doing it that I don't know of yet.

Tweakie.