Messages

3881

General Mach Discussion / Re: g-code set up

« on: August 20, 2007, 08:14:00 PM »

Robert.
     There is a learning curve that comes with Mach. Thousands have made it through it though, it's not impossible. If you want to build your on CNC, this is as good as it gets. Otherwise, you may want to look at buying a system that is all set up. They generally come with a learning curve as well. You should see the stack of books you get with a Fanuc controller. My self and lots of others are here to help you as well as the videos and manuals. If you don't have the patients to learn, most will not have the patients to teach. Everyone that has replied to this thread has machines that are running.

OK, here is what scaleing will do for you. Say you have a part that is 5 inches by 5 inches. If you scale it to .5 it is now half the size. 2.5 inches by 2.5 inches. If the road runner is too large for your machine, you can scale it down so it fits. In the picture you will see a dotted line in the view. That is the machine boundries that are set by the soft limits. On the left you will see the scaleing dros. Click in those and type .5 and hit enter. Do all three axis and hit Regen toolpath under the toolpath screen.

Brett

3882

General Mach Discussion / Re: g-code set up

« on: August 20, 2007, 04:52:29 PM »

Good job Zealous. 

3883

General Mach Discussion / Re: possible controller?

« on: August 20, 2007, 04:45:45 PM »

Your welcome Bob,
    Keep us posted.

Brett

3884

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help with Motor tuning

« on: August 20, 2007, 09:34:10 AM »

LOL, no problem, it's all good. 

Brett

3885

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help with Motor tuning

« on: August 20, 2007, 09:29:56 AM »

Hey Native,
     If you have a dial indicator, check your steps per. This is the first thing to check. Next, check your backlash. Do you have more details of the part and what is happening? Can you post a picture of it? I have attached a bit from another thread to help.

Checking your backlash should be no problem if you have an indicator. Put the indicator on something solid. Jog your axis until you move the indicator to a reading of about half of its travel. Write down the reading on the indicator. Jog the axis in the other direction by a set amount, say .010" and see how much difference the indicator shows. If the indicator says you moved .005 and Mach says it has moved .010 then you have .005" backlash. You can check your steps per. with your indicator also. Set up as before., only this time run the axis in until it just starts to move the needle on the indicator. Write down your reading. Going in the same direction give the axis a move with Mach. If Mach thinks it moved it .010" and your indicator says it moved .010", your steps per are right.
 
Brett

3886

General Mach Discussion / Re: Accurate homing

« on: August 20, 2007, 09:18:27 AM »

Hey Eric,

Currently my lack in confidence at maintaining an accurate home is bringing me very close to abandoning Mach. This is because e-stop and Limit events are very common, and after which Mach requires re-homing.

Why are e-stop and limit events very common? I run for hours on end with no e-stop or limit events. I would guess that most users do.

1) Continuous absolute feedback. (Many (most all?) modern professional systems do this)
      Homing mechanism: n/a

Statement 1 is not true. Most all modern professional systems do use a homing mechanism. This is how they work. In the homing routine, they move until they see the switch, almost allways Prox. switches. Once they see the switch then they start looking for the index pulse of the encoder.

Mach doesn't currently support any of these options. I'm not putting Mach in catagory #3 because because #3 systems have been around for at least 10+ years (pretty sure 30+ years). AHHA systems, for example, don't loose home with e-stop or limit events. Now that I think about it, from my experience, Mach is the ONLY system I've seen with the capability to control professional systems that DOES require homing after an e-stop or limit event.

Really? Hmmmmmm, I have been doing CNC maint. for 13 years on large professional systems, Okuma Howa, LaBlond, Makino, Doosan, Mori Seiki to name a few. Any time there is a limit trigger or e-stop, you should re-refrence the machine before you try to continue. I have never heard anything else from any machine builder. Even the coustom built PLC based machines we have recommend this. I have had to spend many hours putting machines back together after a crash when the operator forgot this little step.

My machine homes accurately. Im not sure it would be closer if I used encoders and picked off of the index pulse. It's never been an issue for me as it will repeat, dead nuts using only prox switches reading the head of a screw on a stepper system. If yours doesn't, I think you have something in the system that is letting you down. I don't think it is Mach. Stranger things have happened I guess so keep us posted on your findings.

Brett

3887

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: 100 year old floor drain cover rusted away.

« on: August 20, 2007, 06:56:48 AM »

LOL 

Brett

3888

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problems with Homing and more

« on: August 19, 2007, 10:29:08 PM »

I think the .005 - .010 dif. is coming from backlash. When you home it, it goes till it sees the switch then backs off untill it doesn't. If you tell the machine to go to 0, it is approaching from the opposite direction.

1) I think G28.1 will do this

2) I'm not sure.

3) G53 Z0. is what you want I think.

4) Right beside the stop button on the program run page you should see a line number. This is a DRO. You can type the line number in (click in the box, type the number, hit enter) and click run from here. Even if your program doesn't have line numbers, you can count them or see what line it is on when you stop it. If you want to move it then pick back up on that line, type it in Line number and click run from here.

5) I think you are talking about the MPG screen. Hit your tab key to expand and collapse it.

Brett

3889

General Mach Discussion / Re: possible controller?

« on: August 19, 2007, 08:31:49 PM »

Hey Bob,
     I haven't had time to play with it.  The hot keys for joging are, x arrows left and right, y arrows up and down, z page up and page down keys. I hope that helps some. I might get a chance to play some the end of this week. I'll keep watching to see if you get it sorted.

Brett

3890

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: G100, Mach3: What's features are not working?

« on: August 19, 2007, 08:23:36 PM »

I tried a while back with no luck. It may be fixed now, not sure. Give it a try and see.

Brett