Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Re: Circles not round, rectangles out of proportion (slightly)

« on: April 04, 2012, 12:36:51 PM »

It's been a while but the last time I experienced a similar problem, I found that it was mill related and not my software. It was either something sticking or slipping, I don't recall exactly. My best guess is that it was at the motor - leadscrew coupler. But fortunately it was an easy fix once I located the problem.

12

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Skeleton Clock

« on: January 29, 2009, 11:06:39 PM »

Really nice, David. How did Roger like his clock?
All of your stuff is inspirational.
I just picked up a bunch of the Aluminum like you used on your Sherline. http://www.ldrider.ca/cnc/sherlinecolumn/sherlinecolumn.htm
I got it at a surplus for $1.25/pound, some 1 1/2" square, some 1 1/2" X 3" and some 3" X 3". It's like Tinker Toys for adults.
I'm using it for my CNC stand. It's all tapped for 8mm but I'm having trouble finding the bolts I want in metric so I'll tap them to 5/16", thanks.

Roger just loved his clock.

I got my last batch of 8020 from the 8020 Garage Sale store on Ebay. Really great people to deal with. You need to download the 8020 catalog to understand the various Series that they make so you avoid the metric stuff if it's not what you want.

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JetCam screen designer / Re: Discovered part of the problem with Jetcam

« on: January 16, 2009, 11:19:08 AM »

Mr Morrow,

You are 100% INCORRECT.
There are 2 button images because 1 represents the up position and the second the "pressed" position.
MACH simulates pressing using scaling.  Jetcam uses a second image.
MACH 3 "knows" how to split and display the images,  or at least it used to.

regards

Stan

It's not nice to burst my bubble so early in the morning.

But, why is it then that when I create a simple jpg button in a graphics program, and slip it into the Mach3 directory, if you click on it the button gives that depressed look ( no, not that kind of depressed - that's the kind I am now.)

I sure hope that you and the Mach3 folks get their wires uncrossed because Jetcam was the only real bright light on the horizon for cleaning up the Mach3 screens by us non-programming types. Many of us wasted a lot of time creating screens only to find that they wouldn't work.

14

JetCam screen designer / Discovered part of the problem with Jetcam

« on: January 15, 2009, 09:58:53 PM »

I just discovered a major problem with Jetcam. It may have been mentioned before, but I haven't seen it.

The problem that I have is the same that others have had. When you create a button in Jetcam, it is doubled when you open the screen in Mach3. I have seen all kinds of suggested solutions such as incorrect directories, incorrect versions of Mach3. It's actually much simpler. Jetcam is corrupting the button's jpg file. Just go look at the jpg with Windows Explorer. I even opened the original 1024 screen with Jetcam and Jetcam corrupted just about everything.

Mach3 just requires a garden variety jpg button file. To prove this to myself, I took one of the original Mach3 button files and renamed it. I then used a graphics utility program and created a new, replacement button and gave it the same name as the original Mach3 button and put it in the same directory as the original buttons. I opened Mach3 and I had a nice new button of my own design. I can't believe that this simple identification of the problem hasn't been identified before.

I love Jetcam's ease of use but the jpg corruption is a major pain. As a partial work around solution, I have been opening the original Mach3 buttons in a drawing program in order to determine the size and aspect ratio's. I then create new buttons and put them in Mach 3's bitmap directory with the others. A very slow solution to a problem that probably shouldn't exist.

I have created a completely new screen with Jetcam but of course all of the buttons are corrupt. My next project will likely be to go back and make replacement buttons with the button utility program that I downloaded. I'd love to get rid of the features of Mach3 that I never use. I also really dislike ( is "hate" to strong a word ) the cluttered layout and button with fake glare - for god's sake Polaroid made a fortune selling polarizing lens glasses to get rid of glare, why do we want to add it back and call it "coool". - My humble rant for the day.

I'd love to hear back from some of you other Jetcam users on this issue. By the way, I use the original Jetcam - the one where you can save files. I like it much better, once I got used to it, than the later release - the one you can't save files with.

15

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Skeleton Clock

« on: December 24, 2008, 02:25:15 AM »

That's just beyond cool.  How did you polish the aluminum? Sand to 1000 or so and put a buff wheel+compound to it?

Wet sand with 220 and then 320 and then some heavy polishing with tripoli and then buff with white on a soft wheel. A good bit of pressure with the tripoli is quite good at reducing the mill marks if they're not too heavy. It also is good at taking the sharp edges off. I now give part an edge polishing before wet sanding to get rid of the sharp edges. My poor cut to ribbon hands thank me now when I do that. Also some good rubber gloves help. I use to sand beyond 320 but not so much these days. I will likely go up to 600 on this one since it's a gift. Not much time involved.

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Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Skeleton Clock

« on: December 24, 2008, 12:14:53 AM »

Nice designs
Great job show us more
Randy

This one is still in progress; it should be finished by Thursday. When I finished the design, I wasn't sure if I really liked it or not.

It's called Roger's Clock - for my younger brother who also plays with a little bit of CNC stuff and appreciates all the effort. It's a little birthday / Christmas present for him for his desk at work. Sshhhh, don't tell him...

http://www.ldrider.ca/cnc/rogersclock/rogersclock.htm

17

Screen designer tips and tutorials / Re: Act! - idea for screen design program. Extremely simple

« on: March 20, 2008, 09:04:27 PM »

Yep Act is the way to go...following there guide lines for a Flash screen designer ...hope to have it finished soon...

Zealous, I checked out your website so I suspect that's where I'll find your new screen designer when it's ready. I'll keep an eye out for it. Is it Pack 3 or Pack 4 from your site ? Also, I clicked on Pack 2 but got the Pack 1 info. I'm not sure if that's intentional or not.

Many people seem to like the artificial glare on the buttons and dro's. Personally, I think it's a bit nutty, but that's just me. Will it be possible to design these elements without the glare ? Nice simple, matte finish, rectangular buttons & dro's would be great.

18

Screen designer tips and tutorials / Re: Act! - idea for screen design program. Extremely simple

« on: March 15, 2008, 05:47:53 PM »

When I first bought Act!, from the time I opened the box, I designed a complete client management system for our accounting firm in about 2 days. It was far more complex than what I see in the need to design screens for Mach3. I have no programming experience and none was needed as it was all just drag, drop and resize inside Act.

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Screen designer tips and tutorials / Act! - idea for screen design program. Extremely simple

« on: March 15, 2008, 05:26:06 PM »

For quite a number of years, I have have used Act! which is a basic client contact program. It's a flat file data base and is widely available.

What is so nice about it, and the feature that would work just beautifully for Mach 3, is their screen design feature. You can start with a blank screen, draw the boxes to any size and location, and then assign the data field that you wish to use in that box. It's just that simple. This is exactly how Mach 3 should work in my mind. I've looked at other possible screen design tools for Mach 3 but none of them are anywhere close to how Act! does it's screen designs. I would guarantee that the average user could learn to design a screen inside 20 minutes, and one that would work.

I'm probably dreaming to think that Mach3 could make a deal to use Act's screen designer tool set but there's always hope.

http://www.act.com/

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Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Robo-Clock , my first CNC project

« on: May 11, 2007, 10:41:53 AM »

Excellent job David. I hope it doesnt break from the weight of the plastic clock mechanism.

Quit peeking !