Messages

511

General Mach Discussion / Re: gecko540 problem under mach3

« on: October 09, 2011, 02:07:58 PM »

and that  is  the  problem because they say the do not know anything about MACH3 and setup.

I know I have to change the driver and see what will be  after . hood I request of you if you know some who jet driver ok? hood I have a question for you? if you know some driver that will be the best

There are literally thousands of people using G540s with ZERO problems.  It is one of the most popular, and robust, stepper controllers out there, and I have yet to hear a single complaint that was not tracked down to improper installation or configuration, or outright abuse.  I can assure you, whatever your problem is, it is NOT the G540.  There is something else wrong in your system, be it mechanical or electrical.

Regards,
Ray L.

512

General Mach Discussion / Re: I have a question about using Mach 3

« on: October 08, 2011, 11:51:54 AM »

Yes, that could be done with Mach3.

513

General Mach Discussion / Re: Skipping movements intermettently, & work offsets

« on: September 28, 2011, 09:34:02 PM »

Look at Config->Homing & Limits, and see what you "Home Off" position is set to.  That could explain why you can set it to 0.000 when homing.

Regards,
Ray L.

514

General Mach Discussion / Re: Changing Offset With G-code

« on: September 28, 2011, 12:29:52 PM »

RUT ROW, Ray that is a different story now. Changing the offsets in the MIDDLE of the program.  THAT will make keeping track of where you are a lot harder. ND make it a lot easier to crash the machine if you forget where you are OR forget what comp you have active.

 Normally all your work would be done from one datum point(origin). (simple part)

The only reason I could see for that is IF you are running your knee as the tool comp for really long tooling. Then it would make sense to use it as a knee mill is NOT blessed with a lot of Z travel for long tool comp. EVEN then I would just use a Fixture Change G54-G55 to a setpoint then when you need to return just G55-G54.


BUt as always your mileage may vary, (;-) TP

Terry,

I AM using the knee for tool comp.  I realize if I interrupt the program, I have to be careful about *which* zero I'm at, but that doesn't concern me too much, since I always start by touching off on the part anyway.  The only time I'd interrupt a program is if something has gone wrong, in which case, all bets are off anyway, so this, at worst, is a very minor additional inconvenience.

Yes, it would be nice if G10 allowed vars.  Then I would do exactly what you suggest.

515

General Mach Discussion / Re: Skipping movements intermettently, & work offsets

« on: September 28, 2011, 09:07:23 AM »

Well, the problem with the Bs has only happened twice out of four attempts, but yes, it was the same both times. That's as judged by two skilled pairs of eyes, not measured. The other fault occurred on the same rapid move both times, the first time losing the Y, the second time losing X,Y & Z. I will have to look closely to see what happens to the DROs. I want to run the B cycle whilst watching the screen, not the cutter, but I can't get to the engraver at the moment. At least I can cut fresh air instead of wasting components.

Please look at both machine position and work position after it screws up again.  If it's the problem I'm seeing, the offset between the two will remain correct, but the machine position will have shifted away from the physical machine home position.  This shift may occur on one, several, or all axes.

Regards,
Ray L.

516

General Mach Discussion / Re: Skipping movements intermettently, & work offsets

« on: September 28, 2011, 08:20:43 AM »

First, if you accelerate a stepper beyond its capability, you will not generally lose one, or a few, steps.  It is entirely possible for an entire move to "disappear".  Once you exceed the motors capability to accelerate, the motor will stall, and just sit there buzzing.

"When I start up on one profile the machine zero is at the machine home, but on the second profile, made from the first with mods for three axes instead of four, the machine zero is different and the Y axis, which was not changed, hits the end stop when zeroing, which it never did before." - Now this does sound like exactly the problem Brian and I are chasing right now - the Machine Position DROs are getting changed spontaneously.  In my case, I set the Z axis Machine Zero to the top of my quill travel.  But, after the fault occurs, I will find that at that same physical machine position, the Z Machine Position DRO will instead read +0.500" or more.

When the "B"s are incorrect, are they *always* incorrect in the same way?  i.e. - Is it always the same segments that are missing?

Regards,
Ray L.

517

General Mach Discussion / Re: Skipping movements intermettently, & work offsets

« on: September 28, 2011, 12:23:10 AM »

Hmmmmm......  I wonder if this is related to the problem Brian and I have been fighting for the last week.  I've got a couple of programs that will, occasionally, cause Mach3 to spontaneously change the machine coordinates for one or more axes!  I can induce the problem with some regularity here, while Brian has only seen it once (just today!).  However, this is running with a SmoothStepper, and we suspect this is the result of a synchronization issue between Mach3 and the SS, though we can't prove it.  What I see, quite consistently, is one or more axes will "freeze" momentarily when the offsets get whacked.  After than, the program continues to run, but, of course, the machine is no longer where it's supposed to be, because Machine Zero has been shifted.

Another problem I've seen that could be relevent is that under some, as yet undetermined, circumstances, it appears Mach3 is violating acceleration limits.  I have a test program that runs perfectly doing all moves as 50 IPM G1, or doing all the moves as 200 IPM rapids.  But, do the moves as 100 IPM G1s, and the servos fault all over the place (and the ONLY time I've EVER seen my servos fault is when I've crashed the machine HARD, so this is NOT a machine problem).  Since your machine is (I think) stepper-driven, if the acceleration limit is not being respected, it is entirely possible the motors will not move at all at times.

Regards,
Ray L.

518

General Mach Discussion / Re: Changing Offset With G-code

« on: September 28, 2011, 12:08:09 AM »

normally the finished face of the part is Z0 and any stock is allowed for in the set up of the Z datum. E.g. touch on with datum tool zero out Z then adjust Z datum by the stock amount to be removed.  This way any following tools can be set from the top face.  Or if working with standard tools with known tool lengths they can just be put in and used without needing to set new offsets.

Graham

Graham,

I would normally do that, but sometimes the facing operation comes in the middle of the program, not the beginning.

Regards,
Ray L.

519

General Mach Discussion / Changing Offset With G-code

« on: September 27, 2011, 09:58:18 PM »

I frequently do things in a sequence that would make it desirable to change work offsets on-the-fly.  For example, I might face-mill the entire top surface of a piece of stock, before machining in all the features.  It would be convenient to reset the Z zero to the "new" top of part, after doing the facemilling.  I am doing that now, using the sequence:

G91
G10 L2 P1 Z-0.025 (Assuming I faced 0.025" off...)
G90
...  (Other operations here)
G91
G10 L2 P1 Z0.025 (Restore original offset)
G90
M30

Is this the right way to do this?  Is there a better way?

BTW - Got a full enclosure, and flood coolant going on my knee mill!  Woo-Hoo!

Regards,
Ray L.

520

General Mach Discussion / Re: hopefully getting this worked out

« on: September 26, 2011, 11:48:14 AM »

Man!  I'm sitting her reading this thread and wondering what has gotten into everyone?  This seems to me like a simple mis-understanding blown WAY out of proportion!  Brad seems to me like a stand-up guy that has, through no fault of his own, found himself in a peculiar situation, and everyone is treating him like public enemy number one!  I just don't get it.  This is usually such a friendly forum....

Regards,
Ray L.