Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Re: Could this be done with Mach

« on: August 20, 2011, 12:18:15 PM »

Dave, yes the video shows a pre-rounding cutter. I would not need to use a pre-rough cutter because my turnings would have square and turned areas.

DaOne - do you have any ideas on how the g-code would be created? Or what the code would even look like?

Thanks,
Tom

12

General Mach Discussion / Could this be done with Mach

« on: August 20, 2011, 11:02:01 AM »

I am thinking about trying to build a Wood Lathe controlled by Mach. But I would need 2 cutters that are about 1.5 inches spaced apart following the same z axis but the 2 X axis would happen at different times. The 1st cutter would be a roughing cutter and would leave approx. .25 from the final dia. the other cutter is a finish knife that will take it down to the finish dia. They would both be tied to the same Z axis. This is how one of the commercially made lathes are. I have racked my brain but I don't think that Mach can do this. Can anyone think of a way that this might be done

Thanks,
Tom

Here is a link to a video of a commercial machine doing what I am trying to accomplish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEt6dFmcZYU

13

General Mach Discussion / Re: Micro stepping confusion

« on: June 23, 2011, 05:58:57 PM »

Thank you Gerry for explaining for me. I think I will look into getting the bigger pitch screws sometime in the future, for now I at least have a better idea of what is happening.  Do you know of somewhere that I can start looking for the screws, that wont cost an arm and a leg.

Again I would like to thank everyone that has replied to me, this forum is truly a wonderful font of information.

Tom

14

General Mach Discussion / Re: Micro stepping confusion

« on: June 23, 2011, 03:43:16 PM »

My screws are 16mm 5 lead import ball screws, at least that's what I think I remember they are.
I guess my thinking may have been wrong. I wanted alot of power so I thought that the bigger motors would be better. If I want to get a bigger power supply does anyone have a suggestion on what size and where I could buy one?.   I really don't want to have to buy all new motors.
 So what application would warrent the larger 1200oz nema 34 motors?

Thanks, for all of the advice, I am a woodworker by trade and the electronics stuff is really not my strong suit.

Tom

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: Micro stepping confusion

« on: June 23, 2011, 09:56:32 AM »

Here are the specs for my power supply.  Unregulated Power Supply 1440W, 72VDC/20A ,120VAC or
230VAC, here is a link to my motor specs  http://www.kelinginc.net/KL34H2120-60-4A.pdf

Thanks for the Help on this.

Tom

16

General Mach Discussion / Re: Micro stepping confusion

« on: June 22, 2011, 10:33:31 PM »

The max that my drivers are rated for is 80v. Would it make that much difference to go from 72V to 80V ?

Tom

17

General Mach Discussion / Solved Problem I think

« on: June 22, 2011, 05:25:42 PM »

I switched over to the Parallel Port and ran the same setup, same troubles.  But I think I have solved the problem.   I lowered the amp output on my driver to the lowest setting to 2.8 Peak amps and the machine is running with no problems I can push the speeds way beyond what I could before.  My question is why with the lower amp setting is it working?  I thought that the more amps I push to the motor the more power I would have, but I must have been off in my thinking. Hopefully someone can shed some light on this for me.

Thanks,
Tom

18

General Mach Discussion / Re: Micro stepping confusion

« on: June 22, 2011, 10:50:09 AM »

I have not tried the parallel port, from all of the posts that I have read the smoothstepper give better reliability.  My power supply is 72V but I will check what the output is when all of the axis are running, that might be part of the issue.

Thanks,
Tom

19

General Mach Discussion / Re: Micro stepping confusion

« on: June 21, 2011, 10:54:07 AM »

Thanks for the replys. I have set the Micro Stepping to 2000 re tuned the motors. I have the kernal speed at 35K The drive test ran good.  What are the best settings to have my smooth stepper at?  Also I ran the same test programs, if I run the toolpath on a 45 degree angle having the x and y move the machine runs great but if I run with the x axis running back and forth and the Y just doing the step over I get a lot of stalling of the x motor I just don't under stand why that would be happining.

Thanks Again,
Tom

20

General Mach Discussion / Micro stepping confusion

« on: June 20, 2011, 08:41:17 PM »

I am trying to get my homebuilt 24X36 Aluminum CNC to run without losing steps but I can't seem to get a handle on it.  I am using Keling drivers KL-9082 (http://www.kelinginc.net/KL-9082.pdf) with keling NEMA 34 1200 oz-in Steppper Motors, 72V power supply, PMDX126 BOB and a smoothstepper.

 I can get my motors tuned to run great when I am jogging, however when I try and run a 2 1/2 D  file the motors stall at different times. If run a program that does the carving along the x axis and the steps over in Y lots of stalling, if I have the program run on a 45 degree angle where both X and Y are both turning it runs 100% better.

When I look at all of the different setting for the micro stepping I don't know what is the best one. What would give me the best reliable performance.   I am trying to get my max cutting speed to be around 100 IPM my motors jog at 300 IPM no problem. Am I just expecting to much? I have been working on this for a year now and still can't get the performance that I want. I have tried so many different settings I am lost.

I have attached a photo of the router if that helps.

Thanks for any help

Tom