Messages

11

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / A golden anniversary wedding gift

« on: October 31, 2010, 11:29:21 AM »

The attached photos show a golden anniversary gift.  The images were processed from grey scale photos. The greyscale was modified to correct for proper depth of cut (The images look horrible after this process). The processed images were then passed through a raster to Gcode generator (DeskCNC). The Gcode was then passed to my 12" by 8" home brew CNC machine. The carving was done using jewellers wax. The images are double sided.  The carved wax pieces were then cast in 18ct gold using a lost wax process. The surrounding heart was also carved in wax but using convetional 3d CNC cutting. The resulting gold pieces were then assembled and mounted on polished Labradorite, it represents our homeland of Newfoundland. The labradorite is mounted on a block of acrylic to represent an iceberg. The lettering was done on the CNC machine. To make the wax carving I ground my own cutter, it worked surprisingly well.

Mike

12

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: LazyCam, post and other questions

« on: April 13, 2008, 11:48:30 AM »

Ok, I think I am finally glomming onto the structure of the PST, it looks similar in function the equivalent in DesckCNC.

Thanks again
Mike

13

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: LazyCam, post and other questions

« on: April 12, 2008, 05:25:22 PM »

Chip, another qustion. I can't find Mill Example.PSt on my system is that available on ArtSoft site or should it have been in the updates for Mach3?

Mike

14

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: LazyCam, post and other questions

« on: April 12, 2008, 04:14:52 PM »

Thanks Chip,  Not sure I completely understand.. Am I correct in saying that [Gmode] is a variable containing what was the last G code issued? 
******Chain Start ****** I have never seen come up in the Gcode.
It appears that your note 10 didn't make it in your reply, perhaps it's redundant in as much as the lines where the 10 is appended are appear to be self explanatory. 
If I do not want a particular code in the posted header I guess I simply do not include it in the PST files i.e. just don't put G43 in the Tool Change section? 
I take it that the ******'s are simply separators, seems a cumbersome way to separate out sections but if that's the way it's done who am I to question it.
Are there any more header words like ****tool change***** and ****chain start***?

I do hope that Lcam will be polished up a bit, it's not that far away from real useful. Right now the quirks in it make it more something to play with than to make
stable predictable Gcode.

Mike

15

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: LazyCam, post and other questions

« on: April 10, 2008, 06:38:57 PM »

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I am running v3.038 of Mach3.  Had a quick look at the zip file. I will have some questions but in the meantime I searched my system for any *.pst files associated with Mach or Lcam, could not locate any! Does that mean Lcam is not using any post processing? or is there a set of defaults that are introducing the G43 and G91.1 etc? I don't quite follow the make up of a pst file, it seems like a very cumbersome way to pass setup parameters to a a program but that doesn't mean to say I think it should be done differently  just that I can't quite figure out the format.  i.e.  G(mode), how does that get translated and what does it actually produce in the Gcode listing? Does the postprocessor require all the asterisks to space sections out?

Mike

16

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: LazyCam, post and other questions

« on: April 10, 2008, 05:14:40 PM »

Thanks, I just downloaded the doc.zip. Give me a chance to read and wait for a million more questions, I just know there is a pony in there somewhere

Mike

17

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: LazyCam, post and other questions

« on: April 10, 2008, 10:40:01 AM »

Thanks for replies and getting me shifted over to this part of the Mach forum. I'm having some difficulty navigating back here and being able to post further queries. Any, way the Lcam Samples directory does not address any of the questions I posed. The subdirectory contains a number of DXF, PLT, HPGL and HPG files, nothing to do with PST files. I am still left without an answer as to how to inhibit the default post processing that Lcam insists on doing as it post it's code. Also the process of saving a file in order to preserve any settings is all very well but I generate many new files and it would be real convenient to have a set of default parameters that are mine and not those of some "best guess" by a hard wired program. I'm sure there must be some way to do this already built into Lcam.

Mike

18

LazyCam (Beta) / LazyCam, post and other questions

« on: April 07, 2008, 04:26:42 PM »

I finally found out how to post (the "new" post button is real small on my monitor)
I did post questions re Lcam on the Yahoo group and normally a responce is real quick but it
seems the guys over there are very busy discussing Acceleration, newtons, g forces
and the relative merits of same in 3D milling.

That post went as follows:

Is there a way to cancel the default post processor? I don't need the
G91.1, M9, G41 H3. I'm growing tired of editing those items out.

Also Lcam likes to insert a move to safe height at the end of each
pass through a multipath depth cut, why? again I am growing tired of
editing out this move.

Is there any further development happening with Lcam. I find a number
of irritating foibles with it which I know could be corrected and
make the Lcam even better than it already is.

I find that there are too many different places and screens that must
be visited so as to complete all of the information required to get a
good tool path. It's just too easy to make a mistake or forget to
enter all the info.

I'm no expert in CNC machinging but I worked in other areas where
human input is required, parameter inputs were always kept in one
place and usually kept in a logical sequence. Why is it still
required to enter a tool diameter in the offset screen and yet still
have to separately enter a tool in the tool window, would this not
normally be the same diameter as that use in the offset window?
Perhaps this is something to do with the use of offsets setup by appropriate G codes
 (Instructions in a manual would likely help here).

Has any one compiled a basic listing of how to setup Lcam? How does
one set up a personal safe height that Lcam defaults to rather than have
to accept the 1.0000 it now insists on presenting, is there a place
to change this?

How does one write ones own post processor, what is the format of a
post processor? Is it proprietry?

I bought a pro license sometime ago, the outlook for Lcam looked
pretty good then but progress appears to have stalled. I've had license for Mach for over three years .

I'm just hoping I will be able to navigate back to this thread to pickup any answers.
I'd much rather be unravelling some brass than wrestling with the labarynth of links
required to get around the internet to get answers. Once again a manual (hint hint) would be real peachy.

Mike

19

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: April 07, 2008, 03:50:22 PM »

Hi I'm Mike alias CncorBust.
Built my own machine - Table travel 12" by 8" Stepper driven. I can move X at 40" ipm and Y at 18" ipm. Cheap 20 TPI All thread on Y axis but I can keep backlash down to 0.001". X is ball screw but back lash is only slightly better than Y, just more consistent.
Work mostly in brass. Hate Steel, plastic is not much nicer.

Now I am trying to post a question about Lcam. Call me dense but damned if I can figure out how to post a new topic, seems the system is insisting that I can only "reply" to existing messages.

I posted my question on the Yahoo site but the folks there seem to bound up discussing the various merits of acceleration, G forces, Newtons etc..

I had several questions, my main question was how to tell Lcam to not insert G90.1, G40, G41 H3 as part of the post procssing, I don't need those codes and it gets irritatiing to have to edit them out. I'd also like to know how to write a post processor but that appears to be a closely guarded secret.

Any more talk of an interim instruction book on the care and feeding of Lcam? Yeah, I know there are some pretty good videos but they don't cover all the itsy bitsy steps in getting good Gcode out of Lcam.

Mike

Incidently I do have a license for Lcam and Mach3. I am also not so sure I will able to find my way back to this thread to pickup any answer that might be forth coming.

20

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Offsets not generated correctly

« on: January 09, 2008, 03:19:28 PM »

I see in an earlier post with a different post heading that calling the DXF in and immediately generating an NC file without making changes and subsequently feeding that NC file back into Lcam that some problems go away. I tried this and it does behave a little better but I still have a problem of a small missing segment on the larger version of my original file. The missing segment or more exactly part of a segment is the last in the chain before the tool is adjusted for the next depth of cut. i wonder if the library file that the program compiler is referring to is faulty.

Bill, I was taking some liberties with the size of cutter in respect of the small indents but smaller end mills are hard to come and even easier to destroy! I've learned to live with 0.01575 radii fillets. I haven't noticed that Lcam has changed the sizes of any of my files but I haven't been using it very much, I find it is still to unpredictable and still has too many ways to make mistakes whereas my other software seems to accept some cruddy drawings and still manages to give a good tool path with far less input and setup.

I'm still hoping that Lcam will develop as Mach has and become a real neat handy package so I try the odd file once in a while.

Mike