Messages

31

General Mach Discussion / Re: Power Supply Unit

« on: February 18, 2011, 09:00:12 AM »

are you at the power supply level all ready. how does you machine work.

32

General Mach Discussion / Re: need help conveting hpgl files to work on mach

« on: February 18, 2011, 08:57:40 AM »

You know tweekie after I talked with you yesterday I was loking at the different codes 3 types of g code and the plgl code they all say the same thing basically. I was able to see the same steps and everything . The only thing that was different was that the hpgl code had a line withAA or  acute angle but now I am having trouble trying to figure out how to make one version tell the other what to do. like talking russion to a chinese. the machine code says error. once I can get over that the machine seems to go were its told.

33

General Mach Discussion / Re: Steppers out of sync and skipped steps?

« on: February 18, 2011, 08:47:22 AM »

hi  dan like tweekie said you have to have the pulleys tight on the shaft. the shafts have to line up.you cant have to much friction .Dont forget you are talking motors with oz. inch of torque not horse power.  If you dont get the machine right you will through up your arms and give up saying cnc is no good for you. And that would be a lye. If you get the machine working right you will be proud of it and will be boasting all over the place about how well you machine works. That is the reason there are so many people on these forums . WE ARE ALL PROUD OF OUR MACHINES AND THE WORK WE CAN DO.. It doesnt matter if you use wood or metal for the build as long as the electronics and mechanicals are the best you can do. So be paitient and take your time with the build in the end you WILL have a good machine. Check with a company called SDP/SI at www.sdp-sl.com they have catalougs with pullys belts etc. good place Oh and by the way hope you are using timing pulleys and belts other wise you will never time your machine...

34

General Mach Discussion / Re: If I don't have a none integrated graphics board what happens?

« on: February 17, 2011, 09:54:03 PM »

If you are doing a lot of graphics from the same computer then you should have a graphic card with memory I use ASPIRE and a couple of other cad programs and when I tried to use them the screen would freeze on me for maybe 1 or 2 minutes then move on to rhe next operation. the graphic board with the required memory I think 3 or 4 megs solved that problem. I do some 3d designing and carving though. the on board graphics card is not fast enough . That would be your biggest problem. Design programs reqire a lot of memory and spped to work well. I also have 1.5 gigs of on board memory. if you use windows 7 it is twice that . Just remember graphics mean graphic boards memory and more memory. Just my expereince.

35

General Mach Discussion / Re: Power Supply Unit

« on: February 17, 2011, 09:40:22 PM »

Hi do not take the plastic wrap of the transformer it holds the windings together. If you take it off the transformer will buzz as the current goes through it. the windings will not be held tight. Also if you take the wrap of and say some day you whant to take the transformer out to get it repaired it will fall apart on you... Oh and that transformer does not get hot neither does the capacitor or recifiers. Well not if they are big enough and they looik okay I have made the same power supply 3 years ago for my machine and they have never got hot or even warm. The geko drives for the motor though will get warm. Just warm. I have mine put on a 1/4 inch aluminum plate just bigger than the drives wide and long enough for all the drives on one plate. Put a computer fan at one end facing the plate even they  Havent got warm after that. only thing that gets warm are the motors.. and even after 4 or 5 hours they should not get to hot to touch. Just as warm as coffee.good luck.

36

General Mach Discussion / Re: Steppers out of sync and skipped steps?

« on: February 17, 2011, 04:46:47 PM »

Hi things I built a machine 3 yaers ago and I used one stepper for the x axis and one stepper for the y axis. the stepper for the x is 660 oz inch the other is 445. The gantry is aprox 100 pounds. I have a 7 to1 belt reduction. 3 to1 from motor to a jack shaft then 4 to1 on the second stage or from jack shaft to drive gear. It is rack and pinion drive. that gives 7 to 1 eduction for every 3.17 inches traveled. My machine has never missed a step. with the two motors as you have on each side you are lucky that the gantry doesnt twist it self apart. if each motor had its own driver then you would have no problem but with 2 motors an one driver or motor controer You are getting feed back lucky you dont blow the controller.  Better check to see if the magic smoke hasnt left the controller. When the smoke escapes it will not work again.....

37

General Mach Discussion / Re: need help conveting hpgl files to work on mach

« on: February 17, 2011, 12:10:16 PM »

My eyes are playing tricks on me I had your name right all along Sorry. I am older and my eyes somtimes sees what is not there. I am going from one computer to the next so It takes a few minutes to get back to you.

38

General Mach Discussion / Re: need help conveting hpgl files to work on mach

« on: February 17, 2011, 12:04:37 PM »

Thanks tweakie Sorry I have been getting your name wrong I thouhgt it was teetie  SORRY I hope you can forgive me. You dont find the round corners bad . Thanks. I already use aspire I have been for the last 3 years. I love the program. I debated over the cost but in the end I am glad I got it. It was running in minutes of putting it on the computer. learn curve very short. But back to the vynl cutting It is a vb run time component That I am missing. I saw that some were in one of the files. 99 % of what I will be cutting will be big thing like you are cutting. The only difference I want to cut stensils for painting on toys that I make for small children. also I need to do some plotting but aspire works good for it. acaully it is over kill. Sorry if I have been a pain in the you know were.  But I have been trying to make a post proccessor to convert the program to work with mach.  a man in holand did but I have been having a hard time trying to get a hold of him. He said It doesnt do the offsets. so he gave up. I have learned a lot in the last couple of weeks. But I am also about ready to take a break at it . This doing a proccessor is very complicated. One minute the numbers start to look like words and make since the next they fade away  and I seem to be looking at something all together differnt.  This cnc work is somthing else .I like the work you do

39

General Mach Discussion / Re: need help conveting hpgl files to work on mach

« on: February 17, 2011, 11:09:20 AM »

OKay.  I have lazy cam it just takes pctures or files like dxf etc and runs them trough lazy cam and outputs them as gcode. It doesnt convert files does it . Maybe I am missing something.  Is there a web site for that program that I could get the original program from. I have looked but havent seen it. There is a lot of target to gcode programs out there but they are  for  cuircut board use. I also found one that converts hpgl files but they convert the file to bit maps. Then they make a gcode from that. so they will not be able to do the corner offsets for vyl cutting. The more I check I have come to wonder if the ofset really is that much of a deal. I will not be cutting anything really small like 1/4 inch or so.  Maybe all I need to worry about is the overlap at the end of the line. Aspire has a lead in and a lead out so I can set the overcutt to .025 mm and the cut should be enough to make the picking easy . as the cutt will overap on the end. what do you think

40

General Mach Discussion / Re: need help conveting hpgl files to work on mach

« on: February 16, 2011, 10:37:36 PM »

Hi I think maybe it might need a licence code or something as it was saying only got so many day till it expires or need a licence.  I couldnt find the program on the web. do they still have a web site. I dont know. just scratching my head.....