Messages

3331

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

« on: August 29, 2011, 10:58:15 PM »

Steve,
Thanks for all the posts and it's been fun following  along your path to completion of the engine.
Till the next one,
RICH

3332

General Mach Discussion / Re: Match 3 Information

« on: August 29, 2011, 10:49:24 PM »

Whitey,
The best advice I can give you is to find a local mentor on CNC. That person can save you hours of time in learning and point you in the right direction
to pursue any specific you may desire to any degree you wish. You need to learn some basics and be safe in whatever you do. I think that desire,
the ability to read with interest, and find joy in what you do will over shadow any preceptions on age.

Hopefull time is somewhat your owne, so maybe start by taking a very basic free course offered in the community on computers.
Here is one that i did a long long time ago........I knew nothing about programming ...so i went to the local library and went in the kids section,
read 10 kid books on computer programming in a short time, went back and took out another bunch of books and before I knew it, I was smarter than a 5 year old.

Don't try to absorb it all at once.....learn some of the computer basics, then maybe try out a free CAD program. You only need to learn how to draw a straight line, line on a angle, a circle and be able to join them together.

Hope this gets you going some, have fun,
RICH
 
 

3333

General Mach Discussion / Re: Video Edge Finder

« on: August 29, 2011, 06:32:13 AM »

Now that you have a camera all set up you may want to try out Copycat. Here is a link:

 http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,10498.msg65000.html#msg65000

The camera's resolution can be improved if you so desire by added a lense to the system.  Copycat also allows finding centers,
corners etc so scan the manual.

RICH

3334

Share Your GCode / Re: New User needs cad file

« on: August 29, 2011, 06:07:48 AM »

I posted a file which you can use along with the manual, here is the link:

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,12078.msg77415.html#msg77415
RICH

3335

General Mach Discussion / Re: need tech support will pay.

« on: August 28, 2011, 12:20:38 PM »

Creating a dxf file.....
The program you are using must have the capability to save the file in a DXF format. For LC it should be saved as a Version 12 DXF.
High level info on dxf files  can be found in the LazyTurn Manual Appendix "C". After your done drawing whatever ......say a profile...... you save as or export the file as a dxf with a name of you liking. All softwre is different, so see what choices your software provides on saving file.

Once LC is opened you can click the button for importing dxf file, but there are other steps that need to be done depending on how you want to machine the piece. So read the manual. If you have started LC out of Mach then all one needs to do is click post code and it will be read by Mach.

I am not sure what you mean by confirming the specs of your file. The size and shape of what you drew are what is used by LC  and depending on what system Mach defaults to it can be metric or imperial. Will also assume that the axis scale is set to 1 in Mach.

RICH

3336

General Mach Discussion / Re: need tech support will pay.

« on: August 28, 2011, 11:52:58 AM »

1) I can run my spindle, but have no idea how fast is moving. It will only run at at speeds no grater than 200; of course  i don't know how fast 200 is . But I can slow it down or speed it up with in the range ( 0- 200)
so when I try to run gcode that has s600 it sends the spindle into limit mode.

What and how are you sending feedback to Mach for the spindle?
Would help if you had a tach or something to read the rpm.

2) I have trouble understanding the homing settings; and how they relate to table size. Also the "go to zero" function. How does "0" relate to "home".
I've played with all the homing settings and have a good idea as to how they should work, but can't make all the connections fast enough.
The machine coordinates v/s the home coordinates; and how these relate to the soft limits.

There are few tutorials in Members Docs that should provide understanding.

3) Calibrating the steps to inches moved.

I did the auto function for this. but I know it is not accurate.

There have been post's on how to use Mach's calibration feature. Did you try a search?

4) lazy cam

I need to be walked through the process of importing a file into lazy cam, confirming the specs of my file ( size and shape or correct ) then exporting out the correct gcode for the file. [qoute]

There is a manual for LC in Members Docs.

3337

General Mach Discussion / Re: Damaging Geckodrives G540

« on: August 28, 2011, 11:40:24 AM »

Does this apply to all stepper motor drives

A stepper can also be a generator when the poles cut the magnetic field. If one holds it and turns the shaft at different rpms, the rpm to voltage developed will change and can be graphed. If the stepper is attached to the drive then it's delivered right back to the drive. Never had a problem here
and quite often turn the axis with the handles and the steppers are not disconnected from the drive. Can't say for the G540's as mine are G201's and have a cap
on each of them per Gecko instuctions.
RICH

3338

General Mach Discussion / Re: Damaging Geckodrives G540

« on: August 27, 2011, 07:22:25 PM »

Suggest you have a close look at every part of your wiriing and make sure the amperage and voltage delivery is correct for the motors and how you have them wired.
Once is forgivable and you may even get a new drive from Gecko, twice is dah, and three times ..........well you can fill in the words.
RICH

3339

FAQs / Re: Losing Steps or something

« on: August 25, 2011, 06:33:21 AM »

I wonder how many systems have this error which only appears with multiple repetitions and does not otherwise intrude

Say you had been missing a single step and your steps per are 20000. then a single step would be 0.00005" and likely the system dosen't even have the capability to do a single step. You can loose a step due to belt tension. In fact how do you really know the true steps per are not 20001 if you konw what whats implied here. How about steps per at 253000 or more.  So depending on the work being done wouldn't be noticed unless one did a lot of direction changes and even then that may not be the problem.

RICH

3340

General Mach Discussion / Re: cutting problems

« on: August 25, 2011, 06:20:36 AM »

is there a setting in mach 3 to overlap approach and depart curves as you explain or does it need to be written into the g-code

Check you software for the addition of leadin and outs to the profile.

RICH