Topics

11

LazyCam (Beta) / lazy cam & 3d dxf

« on: December 20, 2007, 01:40:27 PM »

Brian,

Is there any possibility of Lazy Cam being able to import 3D dxf's in the future?   

I have been using the video probing and would like a reasonable solution to get the 3d stuff into Mach.

By the way often times we forget to say great job,  GREAT JOB on all the work you guys have done!!!

Arnie

12

Works in progress / simple turn screen

« on: December 10, 2007, 03:29:32 PM »

Just thought I would share this turn screen that I am using.   It is simply a modified version of the original with a new page.  I made the new page show up first when opening the mach because it is generally the only one I use.
The new page is an auto & manual screen.
It has most everything you need to do manual control and auto all on one screen.  My pet peeve was having to swap from screen to screen to do many things in turn, this cures that problem.

Arnie

13

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Digitizing probe

« on: October 24, 2007, 01:31:32 PM »

I have just got my design version of a digitizing probe finished ready for the testing stage. 
It has been an interesting project. 
I still have to make a stylus for it but for now I will just use a allen head screw. 

I intend to try a production run of 10 of these and hope to keep the price down where my fellow hobbiest can afford these. 

I am looking for feedback on how to perform sensitivity, accuracy, and repeatability testing on this.

The probe body is made from 3 pieces, top cap, shell & bottom cap, these all screw together.

The electrical grid is made from a blank pc board with balls soldered on it.  The grid is attached to the bottom cap with several spots of RTV about 1/8" thick.
It's plane is adjustable through 3 set screws coming up through the bottom of the cap, these will deflect the grid a small amount for centering the alignment.

The rest of the contact is through the movable piece, not sure what it should be called.  It is made from plexiglass with brass rods for the contactors.

The shaft is a hardened steel shaft screwed into the top cap.

I deleted most of the pictures since the design has been refined. 

On the last post the first picture shows the assembly with a aluminum piece holding the brass rods,  this is just an alignment device used to hold the circuit board in place while the RTV cures.

14

General Mach Discussion / modbus serial plugin enabled Scratching my brain over Brains?

« on: October 19, 2007, 05:44:38 PM »

Well I am stuck and not sure where to go. 

I have a DL06 plc talking to Mach3 via serial modbus.  It seems to work just fine with a few exceptions in Turn, but when I enable serial modbus plugin, I can't seem to toggle outputs on the plc anymore or see plc inputs change.   Do I need a brain for this?  Not a brain brain but a Brain program, that reads the modbus address and ports that over to the input,  along with a brain output that takes a mach3 output and ports that over to the modbus via the brain.

Arnie

15

Others / Extra turn wizards

« on: September 13, 2007, 02:33:25 PM »

I posted these in the VB & Wizard area before and thought they should be moved to here.


Unzip and put in Mach3\turnaddons\MY TURN 
Put the bitmaps in Mach3\turnaddons\MY TURN \bitmaps


Left taper to Face
Right taper to Face
Parabola - use with care
End Groove - for o-ring groove on the face
ID groove - for internal groove for o-ring or snap ring

16

General Mach Discussion / Mitutoyo probe help

« on: August 31, 2007, 12:41:31 PM »

I just bought a probe from ebay and was wondering if anyone has any experience or info on this type.

It is a Mitutoyo probe head MTP-1M M2   Mod.#321-010A

I looked at the Mitutoyo web page but nothing there. 

Arnie

17

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Arnie's CNC router build (just getting started)

« on: June 04, 2007, 03:59:56 PM »

Well after cnc'ing my mini lathe and then my mini-mill it is now time to get going on something a little larger. 

I am just getting started on a cnc router.  I have one question right from the git-go.  My frame has a lot of twist-ability in it. I can lift one
corner about 1" before the other legs start to move.

I was planning on stiffening it up by welding strut criss-cross between the channel and the unistrut just below it, and probably diagonally
corner to corner on the channels, flush to the bottom of the channel.  Then strut every 12" parallel to the shortest side flush with the top of the channels.

Any other ideas on stiffening this up more?

I am sure I will have more questions as I go.  My rails are drilled and tapped 1 1/2 bars 4' long.  I got some matching linear bearings and poured some aluminum castings that I am almost done machining on my mach 3 enabled mini-lathe.

18

VB and the development of wizards / Here is a new Wizard for download ID groove

« on: January 03, 2007, 04:29:37 PM »

I just finished another wizard and added it to MY TURN wizard,  it is for cutting an internal groove, like an internal o-ring or snap ring.

Unzip and put in Mach3\turnaddons\MY TURN 
Put the bitmaps in Mach3\turnaddons\MY TURN \bitmaps

The wizard also has

Left taper to Face
Right taper to Face
Parabola
End Groove

19

VB and the development of wizards / New End Groove Wizard, along with my old Parabola and tapers upto a Face

« on: January 01, 2007, 12:26:51 PM »

Hi All,

Just finished my new end groove wizard and thought I would post it to share with you all.  I was very motivated, I needed to cut o-ring grooves in the ends of my dive light housing I am working on.

To use it you just unzip it and put it in a subdirectory under the TurnAddons folder,  I named mine MY TURN,  make sure the bitmaps folder is a sub folder of MY TURN, and your ready to go.

An alternate way, which is how I am doing it, is to use screentweek and append the screens from MY TURN into the fine turn wizards Brian & Kiran made, then go add your buttons on the menu page to select the correct wizard.

The first download is the zipped MY TURN wizard,  also attached is a picture of the dive light head with the oring groove cut into the end.

20

VB and the development of wizards / New wizard ideas for TURN - ID groove & end groove

« on: December 19, 2006, 10:35:40 AM »

I have done a couple of turn wizards and have some ideas for a couple more.

I was thinking of an ID groove,  this would be very handy.  I have a couple of occassions where I would use this.

The other one is a end groove,  I have been doing this manually.  I use it for placing an o-ring groove on the end of my underwater containers.

I haven't gotten much feedback on the other wizards I have already done, but I have used the taper ones multiple times they work well when you need to run the taper right up to a face or you can't overshoot into the X.

I think I will start on the end groove.