Messages

8201

General Mach Discussion / Re: Prox Switches

« on: February 06, 2010, 10:05:58 AM »

The diode doesn't have to be anything special a 1Amp type 1N4004 or similar would do just fine. (It just stops the back emf from the coil damaging the PNP transistor when the load is disconnected).

Tweakie.

8202

Tangent Corner / Re: HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN MY NECK OF THE WOODS

« on: February 06, 2010, 09:46:59 AM »

Go on Rich - get on out there and build him a snow cat or something to trash. 

Tweakie.

8203

General Mach Discussion / Re: Prox Switches

« on: February 06, 2010, 09:41:40 AM »

With this type of sensor you cannot wire it directly to your BOB.
The easiest solution would, I think, be to operate the device at 12 Volts and connect the output (black) wire to a 12 Volt relay coil with the other side of the coil connecting to ground (blue) then, just in case there isn't one already fitted within the sensor, connect a diode across these relay coil connections (polarity + to black / - to blue). You can then use the relay contacts N.O. or N.C. (as you choose) to connect to your BOB and ground.

Tweakie.

8204

General Mach Discussion / Re: Prox Switches

« on: February 06, 2010, 08:12:42 AM »

Have you decided on the type of proximity switches you want to use (make and model) ?.

Tweakie.

8205

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Dixie Duke - A machine in the making.

« on: February 06, 2010, 05:39:05 AM »

Right on Sam - that's going to be some machine when it's complete.
Keep posting the pics of your progress with this one as I never got to see the final build pics of your router.

Tweakie.

8206

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motherboard for Mach3

« on: February 04, 2010, 12:20:23 PM »

The one I use is the GA-8 SIMLH P4 Titan-DDR Motherboard which works perfectly with Mach and my machines.
This is an old board which was bought second hand on ebay - most new boards do not have the parallel port nowdays (although I do use a PCI parallel port card the onboard port is still handy to have).

Tweakie.

8207

General Mach Discussion / Re: losing probe signals with USB game controller?

« on: February 04, 2010, 08:21:30 AM »

Is this line to be added or changed in the blue screen mods that I downloaded?  I haven't made any changes to what I installed.  What effect does the G90 code have in this instance?

If your machine is operating in Incremental Distance Mode when the Auto Tool macro is evoked then it will not work correctly.
The macro was designed to operate in Absolute Distance Mode and for this reason Greg suggested adding the G90 'to be sure to be sure'.

Tweakie.

8208

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: heeks cad and cam

« on: February 04, 2010, 07:02:04 AM »

Thanks for posting the link - This needs investigating further.

Tweakie.

8209

General Mach Discussion / Re: losing probe signals with USB game controller?

« on: February 03, 2010, 09:25:56 AM »

Not certain it is a bug as I have been running the auto tool zero for possibly 12 months now without issue and it has had plenty of use.

Greg has done a lot of work on this correcting possible problems that could occur, depending on the current Mach settings in force when the script is envoked and perhaps the best for me has been the addition of the G90 to this line Code "G90 G31 Z -15 F" &ProbeFeed 'Probing move at ProbeFeed rate.
Other related factors (which have been well discussed on the Zone)  include residue on the tool shank or in the collet, partially insulating the tool from ground and also how good is the earth connection of the spindle shaft through its bearings ?.

There are, I think, so many variables to be considered before assuming it is a bug (setting the Zaxis scale factor to 2 and then using auto tool zero should spell disaster).

Tweakie.

8210

General Mach Discussion / Re: mach 3 plasma troubles

« on: February 03, 2010, 09:08:20 AM »

Hi Matt,

Ive got as far as trying to cut a part and have two problems, im using a touch off switch on the z axis and when the torch comes down and touches the switch and resets the z height to zero for some reason mach is adding or subtracting seemingly random numbers from both the x and y position at the same time, so the machine then thinks it is in the wrong place so cuts to the side of the shape and then cuts the shape. Any ideas? The G code is exactly the sae as i used to use in the old version, it has nothing in it about the x or y axis?

As nobody else has chipped in my feelings are that you have a noise issue here. The routing of the switch wiring and screen grounding should be checked also any other wiring that could pick up noise. Ideally all wiring runs should be screened and grounded at a single point.

Hope this helps a bit.

Tweakie.