Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Please help with lathe tool tables

« on: November 03, 2013, 05:00:18 AM »

I've been using MachTurn for several years but have just yesterday tried to make use of the tool tables. I've spent nearly 20 straight hours trying to make a run of 20 parts with three tools and am getting nowhere. Can someone point out what I'm doing wrong? Here is what I'm trying to do.

I set tool#1 in the tool window and I reference this tool to my part with skim cuts in x and z by setting the appropriate dro's on the manual screen. Then I put in tool#2 and I go to the offsets window where I set #2 in the tool number window and reference this tool to the same x and z surfaces. I press the 'touch' buttons which store the x and z offsets in the tool table. I look in the tool table and the offsets are there for t2 and zero for t1 as expected. I do the same thing for tool#3. I run the program and everything runs as expected. Then I put in a new workpiece and the problems start. I set tool#1 in the tool number dro on the manual page again and then I proceed to take skim cuts again on x and z and I reference the new surfaces in the dro's on the manual screen again. I realize doing the x again is likely redundant. Now when I restart the program, tool number one will not start cutting in the proper place in either x or z or both. I can try referencing tool#1 again and after several tries the tool may or may not start cutting in the proper place. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. It seems to only be t1 that has the problem. Once it is in the right place, the other tools are invariably correct. I've never had to re-reference t2 or t3. Can anyone tell me where I should be looking to fix this. Restarting Mach will let me re-reference t1 to the new workpiece but it seems I shouldn't need to do this every time is insert a new workpiece. - Terry

12

General Mach Discussion / Re: Is this a valid line of VB script?

« on: December 19, 2009, 04:26:41 AM »

I'm still confused though about what the two equal signs on the same line are trying to do. It seems that a variable 'wait' is being assigned the boolean result of Get OEMLed(11), but what is the "=0" at the end doing? - Terry

13

General Mach Discussion / Art...

« on: December 18, 2009, 09:29:53 PM »

Your new .exe nicely fixed the negative rpm problem in the lathe S true DRO and threading seems to also work well. Thank-you. I also run my mill from a second PP card in the same computer. After switching to V.032 with your 'fix' the mill spindle will now not spin up from from either the MDI or g-code unless it is first started at least once from the screen spindle start button. Then it will start up from either g-code or the MDI until the system is restarted again.  The spindle uses step and dir outputs and the 'disable relays' option is unchecked. The mill spindle works fine in V.029 but not in V.032 with the fix. I've really not tried it on the mill without the fix. - Terry

14

General Mach Discussion / Is this a valid line of VB script?

« on: December 18, 2009, 07:20:30 PM »

I'm troubleshooting an OEM macro (that seems to work in version .029 but not in version .032) with little VB knowledge. It contains a line that I can't figure out:

"wait = GetOEMLED(11) = 0"

Is this line with two "=" symbols valid and if so can someone tell me what it is trying to do?

Thanks - Terry

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: Whose Fault Is ThIs?

« on: November 30, 2009, 05:25:29 PM »

Thanks!!!

16

General Mach Discussion / Re: Whose Fault Is ThIs?

« on: November 30, 2009, 03:52:36 PM »

Brian,
    Could you please give us some details about what this bug is and in what verison it appears. I do alot of 3D machining and I have recently been chasing what appears what shows up as lost steps on Z. I've been assuming it was hardware related but maybe not. - Thanks - Tery

17

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problems threading on the lathe

« on: November 29, 2009, 02:13:38 PM »

Art,
      Just to clear up a little confusion, with this fix are the Turn Diagnostics still valid? - Thanks - Terry

18

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problems threading on the lathe

« on: November 27, 2009, 01:44:37 PM »

Peter,
    Did you check to see if if threading now works or if it hangs looking for an index pulse? - Terry

19

General Mach Discussion / Re: Indexing Problem with R.3.042.032

« on: November 25, 2009, 02:34:46 AM »

I'm seeing the same problem here. With .032 installed I'm getting a negative 500 rpm in the spindle speed dro while the set rpm and actual rpm are 1000 rpm. Going back to .029 the problem goes away. I've tried complete and clean installs as well as switching back and forth, but the problem follows .032. The index pulse is working OK but threading hangs after the spindle starts. - Terry

20

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problems threading on the lathe

« on: November 24, 2009, 08:57:44 PM »

Has anyone with lathe spindle control successfully updated to the latest lockdown? I have a Wabeco lathe that has never had a problem and I've been using the .029 release with no issues. The recommendation for improved threading seems to be to update to .032 the latest lockdown and so I did. After the update my spindle dro indicates -602 rpm when commanded to 1000 rpm and a tach measurement shows the 1000 rpm to be the actual speed. The index pulse is functioning. I'm using speed averaging and index feedback control. Threading doesn't work anymore. Going back to .029 solves the problem. I went back and forth three times and the spindle issues follow .032. At leat three others have reported similar issues and eventually went back to much older versions.
I was following the threading improvement progress in this thread which seemed to finally solve the lathe threading issues and so .030 was released as the new lockdown after the improvement were included into the .029 release. Unfortunately the guys working on the threading issues used manual spindle control and a few reports from others resulted in two more quick releases to .032 which is where we are now. I waited a week to see if any other reports came in before upgrading, and when I did I ran into spindle problems. It could be just my particular setup but I'm curious as to whether anyone else has gotten it to work with auto spindle control. - Terry