Messages

31

General Mach Discussion / Re: input needed on cnc4pc

« on: March 29, 2012, 07:57:38 PM »

I am sure they are out there, but I have never heard of anyone getting a PMDX board that was bad??



JAckal

32

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help on PMDX-125 & PMDX-107.

« on: March 29, 2012, 07:55:21 PM »

Libbit,
I am running a pmdx 126 & 107.  Steve helped me figure out the 107. There are some small changes needed to the .XML file they give you.

Just like Hood says.

You may have to call Steve instead of e-mailing him.

Jackal

33

General Mach Discussion / Re: I WANT TO KNOW SATISIFIED USERS

« on: January 20, 2012, 08:24:12 PM »

I did a retrofit and tried Mach because it was free.

If  the retrofit never got  finished, that is just one more item money wasn't wasted on.

The mill now works  great.    Autocad & Mastercam are used for the drawings & toolpaths, but Mach was pretty straightforward. 


Last week, the Mach License was purchased. It was the least I could do for a great product and all of the help here. It was a try before you buy, and that doesn't happen very often nowadays.

My own concern was finishing the mill & the electrical part.  The Mach 3  soft ware being  a  failure, never crossed my mind.

There are too many happy users out  there.

If I was to start doing some non-basic stuff, it might cause me to want for more.

After I have used Mach for a year, I'll start a thread on my 1st year experience with it.


Jackal

34

General Mach Discussion / Re: Milling letters/design on arched face surface

« on: December 23, 2011, 11:24:18 AM »

Dave,

Thanks for the link. If I can get that to work with my Mastercam/Autocad, I'll gladly donate more than $20 to help him out.

Looks great.


JAckal

35

General Mach Discussion / Re: Milling letters/design on arched face surface

« on: December 23, 2011, 12:56:38 AM »

Thanks for all of the info, guys.

Johnny quest,

That is cool & simple. The spring loaded tool follows the contour and still gives a good result in just 2 planes. Any stretch of the  letters/shape is unnoticed.

alenz,

I will have to try that little application.

Some of these items will work with the spring loaded tool, but some of the guys want some deep milling.

Fins on the side of the engine parts with their name some where in them.

Thanks again and keep the ideas coming,

Happy Holidays,

JAckal

36

General Mach Discussion / Milling letters/design on arched face surface

« on: December 22, 2011, 03:49:12 PM »

I have done a little bit of lettering/engraving on my mill. There are some motorcycle guys wanting me to engrave their gas caps & belt buckles.

How do you  engrave on an arched radius like this?

I have an old  Master cam program and can get the arch but the letters are giving me fits.

Thanks,
Jackal

37

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to reverse axis direction ?

« on: December 04, 2011, 07:24:02 PM »

I got it figured out.
After searching on Google,  the only similar problems were Gecko owners.

They said certain  Geckos required some of the  settings to  be checked "Low Active".

I tried and you have  to check both  Step & Direction to active low, on the motor output ports & pins..

Then on Soft-limits/Home  check the Home Neg box for both X &Y.

All is well now.

These are Gecko320x drives.

Maybe this will help someone else.

Jackal

38

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to reverse axis direction ?

« on: December 04, 2011, 04:34:44 PM »

Yes, the black spot is the tool position at Home.

I am looking at the table as if the tool is moving.

When the machine is homed out, to move it, your jogging is in a -negative direction.

To cut the red square below, all movements would have to be negative numbers:




Thanks a lot for the help,

Jackal


 

39

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to reverse axis direction ?

« on: December 04, 2011, 04:01:00 PM »

BR549,

How would I go about changing that?

Ger,

How can you tell  if it is rotated?

Will it stay that way in settings?

I checked the reverse boxes in the home/limits and it started to home out on the opposite  ends of the table. Also when the inputs or motor pins are checked active low it homes out on the opposite ends.

JAckal

40

General Mach Discussion / How to reverse axis direction ?

« on: December 04, 2011, 01:38:16 PM »

I have everything running ok except for the axis direction.

The following Pic will explain:





From the middle of the table ( Home all Ref) moves  X & Y to the home position.

To move away from home requires a Neg-  move on both X & Y.

I have tried  changing the input pins  to active low on home switches & homing limits to Neg/Rev and it tried to home in the opposite direction.

Do I need  to change the wiring polarity from the drives to the motors  ? Which wires on the Gecko need to be reversed also?

Maybe there is a setting in Mach to do this without changing the wiring.

Thanks for the help everyone. 

JAckal