Messages

6761

Tangent Corner / Re: Designer resource Sites

« on: December 14, 2008, 12:22:37 PM »

Hi All,
Check out this site. I think every program or calculator even created exist's in there all broken down by subject.
You could spend hours depending on need or interest.

http://www.martindalecenter.com/

RICH

MODIFIED: BTW I don't know why, but if i go to that site at work i get a work related warning me i will be reported to the
                boss ! Must be something in their stupid word monitoring.

6762

LazyTurn / Re: LazyTurn

« on: December 14, 2008, 11:57:44 AM »

Art,
What's your definition of the rough / finish pass?
Not sure you even need a second distinct step since it could be taken care of by tool selection and just posting.
IE; rough takes away the bulk stock as defined by slider / mouse selection / manual definition of extents with
whatever tool is chosen.  I would just create a tool with maybe different cut depths / parameters and rough away ( could be the same tool in the holder).
That roughing would be posted ( and if something were noted in the posted code, easy editing) . If the program were more advanced it maybe would tabulate / table  each of the steps your going thru and allow for modification to them.  
The finish is giving you the final profile tool passes based again on selected tool.

Can a different tool be selected for each of the three steps ( or will it be limited to first selected tool for
all of the steps?

Will any of the tools be usable for any of the steps?

I gather that your going to limit LazyTurn for the free version in some way and should you continue the
development would add additional features to it. As always, i remark that what is simple may be complex on the programing side.
 

A program can't anticipate what profile and combination of tools and steps the user will actually do to machine a profile.
Granted your not going to use a triangle to do a square groove, but, maybe someone will try, and tool misuse becomes apparent by the restriction of generated pass. Quess I'm just saying that a program shouldn't have to teach someone how to machine a profile. Even a simple profile could be machined numerous ways.

Just some thoughts,
RICH

6763

FAQs / Re: mouse movements

« on: December 14, 2008, 09:49:25 AM »

Julian,
Quit playing with your mouse when running a program.
Just for kicks, run the driver test, play with the mouse, notice the
spikes you get. All those spikes are interuptions to the computer processing.
Don't think you can do anything about it. Not as noticeable on a fast pc.
RICH

6764

General Mach Discussion / Re: MaxNC 10 on Waveform - No Y-axis movement

« on: December 14, 2008, 09:09:00 AM »

DAVID,
Did you get a manual for the MAX CN. The comments made in my other posting pertain to using MACH 3.
I don't know anything about the Max CN software, and after a quick site check, they only mentioned MACH2.
Since they have custom screens i was just wondering if you are are using the lathe screen for the mill.
RICH
 

6765

General Mach Discussion / Re: MaxNC 10 on Waveform - No Y-axis movement

« on: December 14, 2008, 08:43:50 AM »

David,
Since the x & z work, and you have swapped the one of those for a  check of the non working y axis,
suggests to me that you don't have the pins defined properely for the y axis. When in MACH go to:
- CONFIG>PORTS & PINS >MOTOR OUPUTS> enable y and check pins / active settings are correct
- CONFIG>MOTOR TUNING> check that you have done y tuning

If the step and direction signal is generated  anad confirmed out of the PP then next step may be wiring.
Repost if that dosn't fix it.
RICH

6766

Tangent Corner / Re: weeweechu

« on: December 12, 2008, 10:34:03 PM »

 
RICH

6767

Tangent Corner / YOU FIGURE IT OUT

« on: December 12, 2008, 10:19:11 PM »

YOU FIGURE IT OUT

6768

LazyTurn / Re: LazyTurn

« on: December 12, 2008, 08:53:12 PM »

Hi All,
 ART, I must admit the importing is really good and have been trying to break it.

Hopefully the following will provide some insight into the forgiveness built into Lazyturn.

 LAZYTURN IMPORT OF DXF FILES -  CAD DRAWING ERRORS
1.A vertical line going up or down at the end of the profile is accepted but not required.
2.Additional elements  ie; multiple lines / one drawn under the other will cause an
  error " self intersection in master file" and no rendered graphics will be displayed.
3.Lines vertical or parrallel not connected to the profile ( even as close as .0001") are ignored.
4.A vertical line touching the profile will cause part of the profile to be ignored. The part ignored is
  is to the right of the line. If the line dosn't touch the profile then the line is ignored.
5.Two vertical lines touching the profile will cause rejection of profile to the left of the lines and
   acceptance of the profile to the right of the two lines. I didn't check to see what happens as the
   gap between the two vertical lines is increased to some value.
6.A break in the profile continuity on a straight horizontal line from .001" to about .11" still provides
  for a rendered image. With the break exceeding .11" to .2"  it acts as a break in the profile
  and the left side of the profile is accepted / is the beginning of the rendered profile.
7. Space between intersecting circles .001" to .1"  still allows for a rendered graohic but a
    horizontal line is created to complete the profile. Greater than .1" and the left side of the profile
    is created as if it was the start of the profile at zero.
8.LazyTurn will reject lines in the lower half of the profile ( similar to 3 above ) including lines drawn
   through the profile, but, no negative y values are allowed, and if they exist you will get an error
   message telling you so.
9.When partial circles ( arcs not touching / terminating at a common tangent point) overlap, the amount of
   overlap modifies the profile similar to #7 above. Starting at a overlap tail of approx .050" only a partial
   rendered profile will be produced. Note that #7 to #9 are for circles which would follow some basic shape
   formula, thus a continous profile can be generated. This may not be the case for a non basic
   shape / non generic  math formula.

I am sure there are others that you can find and list. Lazyturn is very tolerant and seems to allow for
many common errors but nothing beats doing it right the first time. Don't take this as gospel but rather
what my testing with the attached file found.

RICH
   

6769

LazyTurn / Re: LazyTurn

« on: December 12, 2008, 07:15:47 AM »

Chip & RC,
Part of the overlap seems to be in the negative part of the profile.
And lazyturn doesn't like that. Good scenario for checking out the tolerance acceptance for
the import though. Will follow your lead though and will try a few things and come up with a list
of what seems to work and not work.

I just added lines or a point above and below the profile, attached or detached by some distance for rejection before. Using another program for comparison, that one will take the profile but will only generate gcode for a single profile cut and only for acceptable parts of the profile. So you have an instant visual reference of something wrong at any point along the profile.

Maybe Lazyturn can do the same or similar thing as it goes through clash detection and stop at the point.
On the other hand, it could turn into being a PITA. Need to think about this some more.

Will spend some time tonight fooling around and will then post.
Rich

6770

LazyTurn / Re: LazyTurn

« on: December 11, 2008, 07:14:59 PM »

Art,
Curious,
So will you be limited to picking just a single starting point or will it mature into a some range of the profile?
Maybe i am dumb, but can the other slider value be used to accomplish the above?

A "go to" option  / gcode move to the next selected section point would be nice.This move could be automaticlay put into the gcode ( and maybe thus labeled "(move to next point )" . Take this one step futher and maybe insertion of an entry move.

Maybe you can use the pointer values again to generate the  "go to" mentioned above.

Yes, very lazy here. 

RICH