Messages

831

General Mach Discussion / Re: Shuttle Express problem - help please

« on: December 13, 2009, 12:19:32 AM »

Well, I can report progress!  Today I downloaded the latest Mach3 lockdown version, uninstalled the pervious driver and deleted all the files having first taken a backup of the config xml.  Re-installed Mach3, now find the rather than having to load the Shuttle plug-in it is part of the release.  After carefully checking that the Shuttle Express works as intended following the instructions, I set it up and try it out.  Now works much better but I still find that the X direction it moves in response to the jog wheel is counter-intuitive: the crossfeed screw turns anticlockwise when I turn the jog wheel ckockwise and vice-versa!  Z feed works fine.  In the latest version the check-box option to reverse the feed has been removed as well!

So question: is there a way to fix this please or do I have to get used to it?

Thanks,

John.

The shuttle always moves all axes in the positive direction when you turn the jog wheel CW, and negative direction when you turn the jog wheel CCW.  There is no way to change this without modifying the driver.

Regards,
Ray L.

832

General Mach Discussion / Re: A Simple But Useful Probing Trick

« on: December 13, 2009, 12:17:18 AM »

Hi Ray,
I got my flexible probe last week and Rufi sent me the code for the dspmc to do probing. I hope to be able to set it up and run some probing next week.
The flexible probe I got from Arnie/Zarzul here from the bargain basement. It is a solid looking device and it come with both the probe tip and the tool setting tip so it should be a good match for your probing macros.
It also came with a nice little silicone seal so when you us eit as a tool setter it won't get full of coolant. If the probing works as well as you say and the dspmc code is up to snuff, I will buy a second one so that the tool lenght setter is set up all the time and I can just pop in the flexible one for probing. I have seen where you do a lot of probing to setup jobs and I am hoping as well to get away from a mechanical edge finder.

Keep up the good work for those of us who can't seem to write a macro unless it is macroni and cheese.

Mike

Mike,

I actually haven't had a chance to try Arnies probe yet, but I hope to finally do so tomorrow, with the new macros.  And, I hope to take my first cuts with my new quill drive, and try out the *killer* endmills I got - supposedly able to do 1/2" slotting, over 1/2" deep, at 100 IPM!

Regards,
Ray L.

833

General Mach Discussion / A Simple But Useful Probing Trick

« on: December 12, 2009, 10:20:52 PM »

I just finished cobbling my probing macros to implement a two-pass approach - I first do a "high-speed" pass to find the edge quickly, then back up a short distance, and do a second "low-speed" pass to locate it very accurately.  This completes the overal probing operation more quickly, and with a better result.  I'm doing the "high-speed" at 10 IPM, and the "low-speed" at 1 IPM, and getting +/-0.0001" repeatability!  With a flexible probe, I hope to be able to increase the high-speed feed rate considerably.

Regards,
Ray L.

834

General Mach Discussion / Re: Tool probe macro

« on: December 12, 2009, 09:44:42 PM »

EVERY Code statement that performs a move should be followed by:

While (IsMoving())
   Sleep 10
Wend

This will ensure the move has completed before the next statement is executed.

Regards,
Ray L.

835

General Mach Discussion / Re: Idea for CNC Mach controlled Quilting Machine (No costly stitch regulator)

« on: December 12, 2009, 12:11:06 AM »

In fact, if you used a brain to scale the blended velocity, and feed it back into the SSO, that might just do what you need with almost no effort.

Regards,
Ray L.

836

General Mach Discussion / Re: Idea for CNC Mach controlled Quilting Machine (No costly stitch regulator)

« on: December 11, 2009, 11:47:46 PM »

OEM DRO 813 gives the blended velocity, which should be what you need.  Depending on what kind of update rate you need, you might be able to use a VB macropump to read that (update rate would be about 10X/second in Mach3 v3, and 20X/second in v4), and adjust the Spindle Speed Over-ride (OEM DRO 74) to modulate the spindle speed output to control the stitch rate.  If the update rate is too slow, you'd have to either move it into a brain, or a plug-in.  Under v4, plug-ins will be pretty easy to write.

Regards,
Ray L.

837

General Mach Discussion / Re: It's Always Something! Now Probing Doesn't Work!

« on: December 11, 2009, 08:15:31 PM »

Ray, what plugin are you using? Tried going back a few Revisions on the plugin?

Hood

Hood,

I'm still using the same software I've been using for most of the last year.  Nothings' changed.

Regards,
Ray L.

838

General Mach Discussion / Re: It's Always Something! Now Probing Doesn't Work!

« on: December 11, 2009, 07:23:41 PM »

Hi Ray,
  Did you by chance go back to the original configuration before *doing some cleanup and improvement* ?
Seems a very odd coincidence that this went wacky right at the changes.
I know little about programming but had mine do CRAZY stuff after experimenting with many macros, brains and VB.
I had to wipe it out and start over on one PC.
From reading most all of your posts, I'm sure you know what you're doing.......just chiming in.
I hope it's not the SS. Keep us posted as to what you find.

Thanks,
RC

RC,

I'm not even making it as far as running the macros.  I have a PROBE LED on the screenset, and it was not registering anything.  But I moved the probe to another input, on the SS port 3, and it works properly (and the macros work!). 

It appears my SS is going wonky on me.  It's been getting progressively more flaky the last month or two, and it's now locking up Mach after only a few minutes of use.  Looks like it's dying on me....

Regards,
Ray L.

839

General Mach Discussion / Re: It's Always Something! Now Probing Doesn't Work!

« on: December 11, 2009, 04:58:53 PM »

Looks like my SmoothStepper has gone partially belly up - some inputs no longer work.  I moved the probe over to port 3, and it's working fine.  Port1 pins 13 and 15, and perhaps others, are toast.  Odd, since nothing's changed in there in months.

Regards,
Ray L.

840

General Mach Discussion / It's Always Something! Now Probing Doesn't Work!

« on: December 11, 2009, 02:01:44 PM »

Yesterday, I spent some time doing some cleanup and improvement on my suite of probing macros. Today I thought "I'll just wander up to the shop, and spend a
few minutes testing them out on the machine!" After all, how hard could it be??  Well, today Mach3 is apparently not disposed to paying any attention whatsoever
to the PROBE input. The hardware is all working just fine, but nothing I do will get Mach3 to recognize that the PROBE input is changing state. Even
defining the PROBE input as Emulated doesn't work! I've tried two different versions of Mach3 (020, and 032), and neither one works. 020, of course, has
been working just fine for most of the last year, but no more.

What the hell is going on? Can this be yet another XML glitch?

Regards,
Ray L.