Messages

841

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to use the Run From Here option.

« on: December 11, 2009, 01:58:09 PM »

Oh, it's also smart to hit Stop before doing SetNextLine.  If you do it mid-program, without doing a Stop, Mach3 will still sometimes try to do some goofy prep move, which almost invariably involves jamming your tool at full speed into the side of a clamp or vise.  (I wonder how it always knows where they are??).

Regards,
Ray L.

842

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to use the Run From Here option.

« on: December 11, 2009, 01:54:59 PM »

Hi,

Same experience
So SET NEXT LINE is better (and works) i.s.o. Run from here? (did not dare testing it in live)

SetNextLine works fine.  But YOU are responsible for making sure you start at a reasonable point in the program, and any required setup is done (fixture selection, mode settings, spindle/coolant on, etc.).  Mach will simply start executing from the specified line without so much as looking at the preceding code, so it neither knows nor cares whether the machine is in a suitable state to restart from that point.  You must ensure that.

Regards,
Ray L.

843

General Mach Discussion / Re: It's Alive!! It's Alive!!! (Insert Maniacal Laughter Here...)

« on: December 11, 2009, 01:51:26 PM »

\I've got the commercial one sitting on my work table.  I had my own almost complete by the time it showed up, so never got it on the machine.

So......what ARE you going to do with the commercial one?

Good question....  Probably sell it.  I like mine better.

Regards,
Ray L.

844

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

« on: December 11, 2009, 11:48:03 AM »

If I'm understanding the problem correctly, you want to be able to program a path for Mach3 to follow, but the stitch rate has to track the velocity along that path, so you get a consistent stitch length, right?  If so, with encoders on both axes, it's a simple matter to combine the encoders to generate a single overal velocity signal.  You can use that to feed an "index" signal into the Mach3 spindle speed sensor input, and use the spindle output to drive the stiching motor.  Then you have the spindle PID to do the tracking for you.

Regards,
Ray L.

845

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to use the Run From Here option.

« on: December 11, 2009, 11:16:23 AM »

I do not know if I am lame, or there is a bug somewhere...
MACH+SS

I select a line, click run from here.... then if offers some coordinates for preparation move, but then the the machine does some weird movements... what can be the reason? It is e.g. at Z 2... prep move is for Z 3 *and some x y movements are involved* but then it lowers the Z first DOWN... WHY? I have broken quite some tools already and damaged a few fixtures thinking logically, but seems I miss a point or... ?

Oh, not to mention, if I want a run from here option with a program with subroutines, (G52 shift before each sub call) then things become even more strange...

hm, if I go on a line and click run from here what is mach supposed to do?
I think it should run from beginning to figure out where it has to be, and the selected line is the one to be executed, so it should move to the position of the end of the previous line... no? or something similar at least....

Please give advice.

Thanks

I have learned too many times, from painful experience, that if Mach3 wants to make a preparatory move, you should be afraid.  Be very afraid.  It seems, more often than not, it will make some nonsensical move that quite often causes damage.  It often doesn't even go where the dialog says it's going to go, so there's no predicting what move it will actually make.  And, I've had it try to make prep moves with the tool buried in the part!  I always just stop the program, and use SetNextLine to re-start it.  The odd thing is, it'll often want to make prep moves when it's already where it needs to be!

Regards,
Ray L.

846

General Mach Discussion / Re: It's Alive!! It's Alive!!! (Insert Maniacal Laughter Here...)

« on: December 11, 2009, 11:12:08 AM »

Cool, Ray. Looks like you rolled your own instead of using the "future commercially available quill drive" you talked about one time, or an Elrod.

Now, I'm looking forward to your solution for using the knee for tool length comp and the quill for most machining. Maybe with Mach3 v4 at the same time!! Then I'll do mine!

I've got the commercial one sitting on my work table.  I had my own almost complete by the time it showed up, so never got it on the machine.

The tool length comp is pretty easy.  It's not possible to do as I want with Mach3 v3, but Brian and I will make sure v4 allows it to be done properly.  In the meantime, I will create M-macros to take the place of G43 and G49, so I can get it going.  This will be very easy, and functionally just fine.  I should have it going sometime in the next week.

Regards,
Ray L.

847

General Mach Discussion / Re: Hard Limits and Soft Limits

« on: December 10, 2009, 10:47:44 PM »

Hood,

Thanks!  I'll give it a try!

Regards,
Ray L.

848

General Mach Discussion / Hard Limits and Soft Limits

« on: December 10, 2009, 05:49:28 PM »

Now that my quill drive is up and running, and after putting it off for FAR too long, I'm finally going to start putting limit switches on my knee mill.  But I'm not entirely clear on exactly how to set them up.  On the quill in particular, I want to preserve as much usable travel as possible (since there's only 5-1/8" to begin with) between limits.  So, my question is, how are limits normally setup?  I can see a couple of different ways to do it:

1) Setup hardware limits so they trigger somewhere inside the "hard" limits, allowing perhaps 1/4" or so for a "safe" zone?

2) Setup hardware limits to they trigger *just* short of the "hard" limits, then use soft limits to create a "safe" zone.

I'm assuming the safe zone should, ideally, be just long enough to allow the axis to coast to a stop from a full rapid before hitting the hard stop.

Are there other options?  How are limits normally setup and used?

Regards,
Ray L.

849

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problem enabling brains

« on: December 09, 2009, 06:08:39 PM »

I usually have trouble enabling my brain first thing in the morning as well, but that's a different matter....

I have to assume the Brains enables are stored in the XML file, so first check to make sure your XML has not somehow become read-only.  It may also have become corrupted, so if you have a good backup, I'd try copying that over and see if that fixes it.

Regards,
Ray L.

850

General Mach Discussion / Re: It's Alive!! It's Alive!!! (Insert Maniacal Laughter Here...)

« on: December 09, 2009, 05:47:55 PM »

Looks great !   What type of Servo Drivers are you using ?

Thanks,
JH

Servo motor is the HomeShopCNC.com 850 oz-in, with 500-line encoder.  Driver is a new Gecko G320 (G380X).

Regards,
Ray L.