Messages

371

General Mach Discussion / Re: Getting a rotary toolpath to show correctly in Mach?

« on: September 10, 2009, 07:18:50 PM »

Here is another view of the toolpath window in Mach.  Same as above.

They are a bit hard to see what is what when you cant 3D pan.

It should look just like the NCplot one (white wire frame)

As you can see the Mach view has the diameter scaled wrong.

Greg

372

General Mach Discussion / Re: Getting a rotary toolpath to show correctly in Mach?

« on: September 10, 2009, 07:55:11 AM »

Ok looks like I was wrong.

The free version does not have 4th axis capability.

I have the full version and I had to install the free version to have a look.

Sorry to mislead.

Greg

373

General Mach Discussion / Re: Getting a rotary toolpath to show correctly in Mach?

« on: September 10, 2009, 06:49:31 AM »

Looks like you need to do the "setup machine configuration"

Specifically 4th axis setup.

Greg

374

General Mach Discussion / Re: Getting a rotary toolpath to show correctly in Mach?

« on: September 10, 2009, 06:18:48 AM »

I think that is because you are setting Z zero at the job circumference in CAM.

Set it to be the axis centre and NCplot will display it correctly.

Greg

375

General Mach Discussion / Getting a rotary toolpath to show correctly in Mach?

« on: September 09, 2009, 11:29:51 PM »

I have been doing rotary toolpaths in Mach for a while but have never figured out how to get the toolpath display to show them in correct scale.

Played around with all sorts of different numbers in the "Rotation Diameters" on the settings page.  Including negative numbers.

The same toolpaths show nicely to scale in NCplot.  See Pics of NCplot (white wireframe) and Mach3 (blue wireframe).  Exact same gcode.

This example has a diameter of about 80mm and a length (of the cylinder) of 120mm.  In NCplot that is represented about right.  In Mach it never gets close.

Any clues?

Greg

EDIT: The mach pic has the cylinder standing upright and the NCplot has it lying on it's side.

376

Tangent Corner / Re: Anyone near USshoptools? Anaheim, CA or Warren, MI

« on: September 05, 2009, 05:54:23 AM »

That is right.  Metric collets will cover all sizes.

But having say a 7mm collet squeeze down to 6.35mm (1/4") is not to my way of thinking ideal.

That is the reason ER collets are also made in imperial sizes.

They are readily available in the USA.  Not in Australia.  Maybe not in the UK either. 

Greg

377

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Any text wizzards for marking parts using 4th axis rotation?

« on: September 05, 2009, 03:03:53 AM »

Here is where to find the Wrapper,

http://www.vectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2920

And it is free.   Works great .  I use it a lot.

Version 2 should be out soon.  Will be even better.

Greg

378

General Mach Discussion / Re: Backlash compensation for a rotary axis ?

« on: September 04, 2009, 08:51:01 AM »

Rich

Yeah there are a few utilities for doing bits and pieces on the cheap with a 4th axis.

The Indexer Wizards

Virtual Indexer Tool, for shopbot

D2nc

and my favourite, Wrapper, which is free.

Greg

379

General Mach Discussion / Re: Backlash compensation for a rotary axis ?

« on: September 04, 2009, 07:37:30 AM »

I have been posting some 4th axis stuff on the Vectric forum to encourage users to consider the possibilities of adapting Aspire to a 4th axis.

Anyway I made this little youtube video.  

Greg

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/yWFSdogFx_g&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/yWFSdogFx_g&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;</a>

380

Tangent Corner / Anyone near USshoptools? Anaheim, CA or Warren, MI

« on: September 04, 2009, 12:32:10 AM »

Anyone near USshoptools? Anaheim, CA or Warren, MI

I want a couple of ER11 collets and they want more than they are worth for postage to Australia.

They would only weigh a few ounces.  These things are tiny.   Postage to Aus should surely only be a few dollars.

I could stick some money in your PayPal account.

We can't get imperial size collets here.

Greg