Messages

3151

Forum suggestions and report forum problems. / Re: Computer slow, clock skew after installing

« on: May 12, 2008, 08:36:37 PM »

Have you optimised your PC for Mach? May not be necessary but you can start by turning off everything in your start-up. Have a look at the optimisation file in downloads, documentation.  Maybe you have another application or service running in the background Mach doesn't like.

Brett

3152

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: RC helicopter rotor head and mechanics.

« on: May 12, 2008, 08:29:45 AM »

Thats Great!!!! Nice helicopter, nice rotor and very nice job!   

Brett

3153

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridge Port 2, Mach CNC fair price suggestions?

« on: May 09, 2008, 09:11:38 PM »

Got any pics of it Scott?

Brett

3154

General Mach Discussion / Re: General Q's about Mach3 and AD sureservo drives and smooth stepper

« on: May 07, 2008, 05:42:05 AM »

Thanks for the info!  I see the benefit of the gear ratio if using small servos.  I don't predict having such a ratio with the large servo's I intend on using.

These are 5500 RPM servos with constant torque of 13.8 Nm (122 in. lbs) and peak of 36Nm (318 in. lbs). Hes guessing his gantry weighs about 400-450 Lbs. His roll out is 5.4 inches instead of 5 and it is 25-1 gear boxes.

Brett

3155

General Mach Discussion / Re: General Q's about Mach3 and AD sureservo drives and smooth stepper

« on: May 05, 2008, 11:18:13 PM »

Hey Jeremy,
   

25:1 gearbox ratio sounds really steep

Remember, this is a torque multiply er. To get good accels you will need lots of torque. Rapids are nice especially on long tables but accel rates make for shorter cycle times and less rounding in corners. Also depends on what kind of tolerance you need to hold. Achieving good accels and rapids is doable with much smaller motors if you can tolerate a larger following error.

If I can achieve the speeds in the video, I would be happy.  I wasn't sure of the speed of the machine in the video, but 1200 IPM looks fast enough for me. 

I think in the video it is running at much lower speeds than 1200 IPM. I'm thinking around 600 but will find out for sure.

When you say 5" pinion roll out. I assume you mean 5" per 1 rev?

Exactly. confirmed it today. It is 5.4 roll out.

Have you any experience with Automation Direct sure servos?

I haven't but lots of other members here have.

Does the smooth stepper connect to the PC via USB?

Sure does.

Are the parallel port(s) of the PC used for any Mach3 purpose if I choose a smooth stepper?

Not at this time.

What is the number of I/O's available with the smooth stepper?

The exact same configs. that 2 parallel ports will give you.

Are there areas of functionality that do not work properly when using the smooth stepper?

There are a few tiny bugs that are being worked out and I'm sure Greg will see this through. I'm certain it will be as functional as the parallel port(s) soon. If I was a betting man I would say even better in more ways than just a higher pulse stream.

1) How I would write via modbus from the PC/Mach3 to the PLC?  For instance, suppose I wanted to write a 1 to modbus address 40500.  Where and when is this called?  In Gcode? fixed parameters?, macro's???

I'm just now playing with Modbus a tiny bit. There are videos that will help with this and lots of post. Look here for the videos. http://www.machsupport.com/videos.php

Brett

3156

General Mach Discussion / Re: Keypad for jogging axises?

« on: May 05, 2008, 02:55:16 PM »

Not sure. A friend of mine has used the x keys with great sucess. Did you program it?

Brett

3157

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Hitachi seiki VK-55 retrofit advice?

« on: May 05, 2008, 01:06:46 PM »

Hmmmmmmmm, lots of questions to ask. You need to find out what type control signal the drives will take. Are they not analog? I doubt they are step and direction.

Brett

3158

Works in progress / Re: 'Thermwood SuperController V6' screen for 3-axis mill

« on: May 05, 2008, 12:34:49 PM »

Good looking clean control. I like it. I also like the space ball.

I made the mistake of starting this one from scratch so it is going to be great fun copying over the diagnostics and settings screens which I intend to keep pretty much all of the same info as the standard screen.

I feel your pain there. This is a link to one I'm mimicing. http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,6204.0.html  The original is on the first page I think. I'm using a touchscreen to save money and I/O.

Brett

3159

Works in progress / Re: 'Thermwood SuperController V6' screen for 3-axis mill

« on: May 05, 2008, 11:30:11 AM »

Looks good and simple. Do you have a panel or pendant with all of your buttons and pots? What are using to handle I/O? I know what you mean about sticking with what you know. I'm working on a fanuc look alike for myself. That is one of the many cool things about Mach. Can be tailored to suite all.

Brett

3160

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Writing coordinates to a file

« on: May 05, 2008, 09:38:18 AM »

I'm not sure so you may want to wait on someone who is. I think to write to a file you'll have to do that in VB or maybe flash.

Brett