Messages

6971

General Mach Discussion / Re: Ballscrew mapping

« on: October 22, 2008, 05:38:03 PM »

Hmm........ ?
1?-So how you do use the pull down menu to enter hard data from a source other than feedback from  an encoder?
2?-If a curve is created based on a known start point along the axis, and you are not using encoders, will it still work?
RICH

6972

General Mach Discussion / Re: Ballscrew mapping

« on: October 22, 2008, 01:51:25 PM »

Haven't the foggiest. You won't find much if any info on it. I even went to the Wiki. Have been curious though and temped to fool with it just for kicks. Wonder if anyone has even used it yet?
RICH

6973

General Mach Discussion / Re: Rhino ST/5 or ST/6 Lathe and MACH3

« on: October 21, 2008, 11:32:39 PM »

Orin,
Looks like a small Sherline lathe tilt mounted. Looks like it has stepper motors and must have some type
of power supply / drives for the motors. The x axis will be operated with a reverse tool post as compared to
a front tool post ( but depending on the travel you should be able to use front toolpost if you desire).
 I suggest you download the Mach TURN manual as i will refer to it by page or chapter and contains much of the
info you will need to know.

You will need a computer along with the appropriate operating system ( page 2-2 ) along with MACH loaded on it.
Mach utilizes the PP port and sends the signals out to the drives via PP cable. So you will need to modify / provide for the cable hookup at the lathe box / somewhere and run wiring correctly to the drives or some kind of breakout board. You need to find information about the drives and how they should be wired as you will be defining what and where  pins go to and from . Just an high level overview see chapter 4 for specifics.

Basically you need a computer , software, cable, and some rewiring to utilize Mach talking as a "conventionally" set up lathe.

Mach will not run in DOS , and the on board computer is DOS based according to very brief look at site info. I know nothing about the RHINO on board computer so i won't speculate.
Maybe someone else will post and provide a different way to do it.
Hope this helps,
RICH

6974

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Converting seconds to milliseconds

« on: October 21, 2008, 10:03:31 PM »

aleks,
you can define the time unit in          config>general logic configuration    right hand side of the screen
check box for    "G04 Dwell in ms"

RICH

6975

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: OMAG Stone/Granite mill retrofit..........

« on: October 21, 2008, 08:31:03 PM »

Scott,
I must say that you have shown just how configurable Mach is and what can be done by a competent person.
Your post add's another dimension to what many hobbiest will never know. Hope your talents serve you well.
RICH
 

6976

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help Please

« on: October 21, 2008, 06:41:55 AM »

Sam,
There are some companies that have very strict house keeping and safety rules. You only walk between the
yellow painted lines on the floor, a person actualy just cleans up the machinies the floor all day, violate the rules and you can get fired. When you walk in the shops you would think nothing is ever made there! There is a "zero" policy gole on
cuts or accidents.......on & on. You would be in culture shock to work there. Hats off to a nice clean, well dressed,
organized shop as shown in the pictures. And yes, your mandated / given a small time at the end of the day to leave things in order. You should see some of the third world country shops as you would never even enter into the place.
Chips and no shoes and no safety glasses!
From Safety RICH,
RICH

6977

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help Please

« on: October 20, 2008, 10:27:32 PM »

JLIGGETT,
Your curves are actually made up of very short lines. I have attached what they look like in CAD.
You can tell this by the code / "small" xy moves in the gcode.
As stated by Zealous, if you use constant veloicity this should help the cutting, but idealy ,the curved sections should be one continous
arc to begin with.
Use a CAD program to generate the drawing and DXF it. I don't use Corel so don't know if there are any settings in that program which may help
when drawing it or exporting it. Others may have some suggestions on economical CAD programs or even free ones.
RICH

6978

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: trouble posting code

« on: October 20, 2008, 09:56:57 PM »

johannescnc,
You may want to get in the habit of saving the file as lcam at some point in the process. This way if somethinig goes wrong you can go back to that point in the process. 
Rich

6979

General Mach Discussion / Re: Re: Prices for one-on-one phone tech support.

« on: October 20, 2008, 08:45:31 PM »

Need to think hard about this as i see it from two different viewpoints, namely;
one is from a buisness point of view and the other is in the spirit of this hobby using the software.

I can invision a struggle in defining either one.
So here's a suggestion:

To provide a one on one line of comunication via telephone, electronic means, tutoring, or other means
in a way that minimizes the cost to a licensed user
so that
choice is provided at purchase time / over a span of tiime / or anytime
suplements the use of existing means to get personalized information
is taylored to each software
is taylored to level of expertise / and subject matter
addresses application outside of machining
provides for volunteerism
pricing structured over time
..........can add or modify to above..... concept must be clear 
with the concept in place focus can be placed on each specifics and becomes much easier

RICH
 

 

6980

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: trouble posting code

« on: October 20, 2008, 07:26:50 PM »

Hi All,
What version of mach and lazycam are you guys using?
It will not post code in lathe if you don't have a license. Do have a license?
You also need to create cut profiles or no code will be created.
What happens when you try to save the file as an .LCAM?
RICH