Messages

1091

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle?

« on: July 21, 2009, 08:14:56 PM »

Hello, thanks so much,

I guess you and Hood are right , but how to configure it to to run normally, slow, fast, and change the direction etc.. and if I can engrave ( write) on à piece of wood ? lathe.
Hoping am clear

Best regards
Robhi

You can pickup a nice DC motor and speed controller from surpluscenter.com for next to nothing.  Treadmill motors and controllers are quite commonly used for spindles.  Pickup a DigiSpeed from www.homanndesigns.com to interface the speed control to Mach, and you're in business.  Or, get a small 3-Phase motor and VFD.  That's the best solution, but more expensive.

Regards,
Ray L.

1092

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle?

« on: July 21, 2009, 05:23:15 PM »

Hello,
Thank you Hood and all of you,

So all what I need (for the spindle) is  one stepper motor and one G201 for example? and of course a head for connecting all together....LOL That's all what i need? am I right? or Need I something else?

Thanks
 Robhi

A stepper motor would be about my *last* choice to drive a spindle.  It won't be very smooth, it won't go very fast, and even a momentary overload will cause it to stop dead in its tracks.  If you try to run within the resonance range, you'll find greatly reduced usable torque.  A regular DC motor or servo would be a FAR better choice.

Regards,
Ray L.

1093

General Mach Discussion / Re: can some one look at this code for me

« on: July 19, 2009, 03:17:41 PM »

Can someone take a look at this code for me? I am trying to proof it, but all I am getting on my screen is a straight line for the tool path.It should be kind of a bullet shape. I cant find anything wrong that I can think of. This is a lathe program so if anyone wants to see if they can find my error. its driving me bonkers.

You have no Y axis moves in that file - only X and Z.

Regards,
Ray L.

1094

General Mach Discussion / Re: GO TO ZERO question

« on: July 18, 2009, 10:32:03 PM »

Go to Config->SafeZ Setup

1095

General Mach Discussion / Re: Brain Refresh Rate

« on: July 17, 2009, 12:54:30 AM »

That really depends on whose brain you're talking about.  I know mine runs slower and slower as I get older....  :-)

Regards,
Ray L.

1096

General Mach Discussion / Re: Is backlash causing these choppy cuts?

« on: July 14, 2009, 08:35:19 PM »

Yup, not good G-code.  Those should all be G02s or G03s, to cut real arcs.  What CAD/CAM are you using the generate that code?  It could be the CAD is drawing it that way, and the CAM will just follow the CAD.  Or, it could be an "optimization" in the CAM.

Regards,
Ray L.

1097

General Mach Discussion / Re: Is backlash causing these choppy cuts?

« on: July 14, 2009, 06:18:59 PM »

Backlash is not likely to cause such regularly-spaced defects.  Far more likely it's a problem with the G-code - instead of outputting an arc, it's outputting short straight-line segments, which your machine is faithfully reproducing.  Can you post a small sample of the G-code?

Regards,
Ray L.

1098

General Mach Discussion / Re: Trouble getting spindle speed to work

« on: July 13, 2009, 06:01:48 PM »

I would like to narrow this down to either an board issue, or a Mach issue. 

Is there a detailed specification somewhere of the outputs from Mach that will tell me what pin carries the PWM signal, and what the expected charicteristics of that signal are?

The C11 doesn't use PWM - perhaps that's your problem?  It's step/direction interface.  I had a helluva time getting mine to work (on several C11s), and finally determined, among other things, the F/V chip on the C11 was bad.  I replaced it, which got it working, sorta.  It's still never been terribly accurate or reliable, especially first thing in the morning.  It's about to be replaced with a DigiSpeed....

Regards,
Ray L.

1099

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 Shortcuts and New External Button Device

« on: July 12, 2009, 11:25:52 AM »

Hi Everyone,

I'm an electronic engineer and  producing small usefull electronic things.
I designed new Keyboard Shortcutter device. It's a small electronical board with 20 control line and USB compatible/Firmware upgradeable.
It will send shortcut keys to your computer when you solder your hard buttons(like start/stop/emergancy stop/directions) to board.

Now, My Question is:
- What is the usefull shortcut keys of Mach 3?

i will procude it for Mach also, If i find 10-18 important shortcut keys for Mach.
I hope it will help for you when making control panels for your CNC.

Thanks

I like that!   Will you be selling those?

Regards,
Ray L.

1100

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Success! Mini Machining Center under Mach3 control - Video link

« on: July 09, 2009, 12:05:10 AM »

Simpson,

Those resistors are intended to be heat-sinked, to keep the temperature reasonable.  I would expect probably up to about 70C to be a reasonable max operating temperature.

Regards,
Ray L.