Messages

211

General Mach Discussion / Re: Electrically preloaded Dual motor drive for Rack & Pinion

« on: May 23, 2014, 11:02:44 AM »

Precise and Rack & Pinion don't really go together, certainly not in your typical home built machine.

Regardless, the OPs idea would be best acheived with a microcontroller, however it would also need stepper drivers that are capable of having the motor current varied on the go, which I think would be the biggest stumbling block.
Any delay in changing current levels could result in a jolt as backlash changes direction (motors would go from pulling apart to pushing together, or vice versa), which could lead to missing steps/jumping issues.

Just spring loading the pinion onto the rack, or using a anti-backlash pinion are far simpler solutions.

212

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Acroloc with Fanuc 6MB to Mach3

« on: May 08, 2014, 01:41:54 PM »

KFlop support is excellent. There's a yahoo group, and a forum on cnczone, where Tom Kerekes will often respond (often within hours!) to any questions you may have. The only drawback to the KFlop is that you have to do a little bit C coding to get it to do exactly what you'd like it to, however they provide plenty examples, and Tom will help you with anything you're not sure about.
If you do go the KFlop route, I'd also suggest adding a Konnect, as you quickly run out of digital IO just relying on the Kanalog (it only has 8 digital INs and 8 digital outs, which isn't that much by the time you start counting all the critical IO that needs to be handled directly by the controller).

CS-Lab stuff is good, however I'm not sure how good their support is. It's all configured through Mach, so it's not quite as versatile as KFlop, but it's perfectly capable for most normal Mach controlled machines. Hood will most likely be along shortly singing it's praises and filling in the details!

I can't comment on Vital, as it's been a long time since I even briefly looked at them.


One thing to bear in mind, is if you do use Pokeys with other controllers, is there will be a delay between pressing a button, and the controller reacting. Mach3 only has a 10Hz update rate, so there is potentially a 200ms delay before the controller gets updated to handle the button press, then the controller itself may take time to respond to the update.
However, this shouldn't be a problem in Mach 4 as it has a far higher refresh rate.

213

General Mach Discussion / Re: Odd glitch in movement?

« on: April 25, 2014, 03:19:42 PM »

Could it be related to the different feedrates for G1 and G3s?

Going into the arc, lookahead will see the lower feedrate so will be able to corner sharper, whereas coming out the arc into the straight with the higher feedrate, it has to corner less to maintain/accelerate to the higher feedrate.

214

General Mach Discussion / Re: Odd glitch in movement?

« on: April 25, 2014, 12:02:47 PM »

Could be a lookahead/CV problem.
How are the arcs being created in the G-code?

Probably worth uploading the G-code you used for that, so people can see if the G-code is good.

215

General Mach Discussion / Re: Surely some Mach3 genus can answer this question?

« on: April 20, 2014, 07:04:03 PM »

Surely you only need to ask the same question once?

216

General Mach Discussion / Re: Setting up the following statement in Mach3 for a CNC3040

« on: April 20, 2014, 07:01:21 PM »

I've never used the parallel port, however I'm guessing they mean set the relevant pin so it's active high i.e. ActiveLow has a cross not a tick.

In all honesty though, the TB____  controllers are rubbish. Your time would probably be better spent upgrading to something more reliable.

217

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Question

« on: April 04, 2014, 08:07:24 PM »

KFlop can do closed loop with pretty much any kind of output that the KFlop is capable of providing.
It can also do dual closed loop i.e. the motor is run closed loop, but you also have scale feedback to verify position.

However it does involve doing some C programming, but plenty examples are provided.

218

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Denford Cyclone retrofit

« on: March 27, 2014, 01:27:17 PM »

It lives!

First job were the ER collet holders to fit the tool holders -

ER20 collet holder by mc_mtb, on Flickr


Ran it's first batch of paying parts earlier, and things went well. Still need to tweak the parts files to make use of the additional spindle power and speed, however being able to load the bar and walk away until it stops is good. Just need an auto-chuck and bar feeder now...

219

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lathe threading wizard issue

« on: March 25, 2014, 03:40:46 PM »

B******s.

I think I setup the KFlop/Macropump to copy the current turret position to that DRO....just checked and I have. Or more precisely, the KFlop plugin by default uses the userDROs 1001 and upwards for transferring values from the KFlop to Mach.

The 3 would be explained by the fact that's where the threading tool is.

I'll stick to manually editting the G-code until I get a chance to rearrange what DROs are being used.

220

General Mach Discussion / Lathe threading wizard issue

« on: March 25, 2014, 03:01:32 PM »

When I try using the Lathe Threading Wizard on the new lathe, it won't let me change the X Start value.
It's currently stuck on 3. If I try changing it, it'll very briefly stay after hitting enter, but in the blink of an eye it changes back to 3.

It was stuck at 1 when I tried it a couple days ago, but yesterday it changed to 3.
I can change the relative values manually in the generated code, and it works how it should, so it seems to be an issue with the wizard.

Anybody got any idea what could be the problem?
I'm running .057 incase it makes any difference.