Messages

8371

General Mach Discussion / Re: can you move the motors manually

« on: February 21, 2009, 08:28:06 AM »

Hi Josh,

As RC has said - I have fitted toggle switches to the enable lines of all axes and this is great for manual repositioning.

Tweakie.

8372

General Mach Discussion / Re: dual arm control

« on: February 21, 2009, 02:53:59 AM »

Ben,

Do you need complete positional control of the two Z axis or is is just 'pen up / pen down' as you would have with a plotter ?.

Tweakie.

8373

General Mach Discussion / Re: dual arm control

« on: February 19, 2009, 09:05:49 AM »

Hi Ben,

Whilst Mach is capable of controlling 6 Axis the software to produce the necessary GCode for positioning and controlling your two arms would be extremely specialized. I have no knowledge of any such available software so I think you would have to write your own GCode for anything you intend to produce. Simple stuff is OK but you would have to be extremely serious to write GCode from scratch for complicated products.

Tweakie.

8374

General Mach Discussion / Re: G31 Bug?

« on: February 19, 2009, 03:29:11 AM »

Hi Himy,

After trying many possibilities it only happens when 'Machine Coordinates' are checked. So uncheck and problem solved perhaps ?.

Tweakie.

8375

General Mach Discussion / Re: G31 Bug?

« on: February 19, 2009, 03:19:44 AM »

Update.

Restarted Mach and it works fine now - stops as it is supposed to. Could it have been something left in a buffer from the previous program ?.

Tweakie.

8376

General Mach Discussion / Re: G31 Bug?

« on: February 19, 2009, 02:59:34 AM »

Thought I would try this and mine does the same - 'no probe, no stop'.

Tweakie.

8377

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Billet Alum Dash

« on: February 19, 2009, 02:53:43 AM »

If the rest of the Dart looks as good as the dash it will really be something. Good work Ed.

Tweakie.

8378

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: 3 Axis Stepper and Spindle Control Circuit Diagrams

« on: February 18, 2009, 03:43:47 AM »

Hi Prof,

On the electronics side of things :-

As your motors are only 600mA and 800mA I think they would get hot if they are drawing 10Amps.
Yes you do need current limiters.

The formulas you need are:-

E=I x R and W=V x A

so at 12V, 600ma a series resistance of 20ohms, 7watts would be required and for 12V, 800mA a series resistance of 15ohms, 9watts would be required.
As high wattage resistors are relatively expensive Tom has used bulbs in his design, which is what I suggest you use.

Hope this helps,

Tweakie.

8379

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: 3 Axis Stepper and Spindle Control Circuit Diagrams

« on: February 18, 2009, 03:15:53 AM »

Glad you got it working Prof.

As for setting up the motors - all the info is in the support doc. Here is a link:-

http://www.machsupport.com/docs/Mach3Mill_Install_Config.pdf

Tweakie.

8380

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Putting Mach 3 to good use.

« on: February 17, 2009, 03:38:33 AM »

What material are you using for these mounts Ron and how much do they weigh please ?

Tweakie.