Messages

851

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

« on: December 09, 2009, 05:39:51 PM »

Looks good Ray

Better take that handle off before it clunks you in the head, then again might knock some sense into you so maybe best leave it

Hood

Hood,

If the handle ever hit my head, all it would do is break the handle....  :-)

Regards,
Ray L.

852

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

« on: December 09, 2009, 02:55:56 PM »

I *finally* got off my lazy butt and built a quill drive for my BP clone, after doing X, Y and the knee about 18 months ago.  It uses the same servo motor as the other three axes, driving through a 2:1 GT2 belt drive turning a 20mm diameter, 5mm pitch ballscrew.  Before doing any tuning of the servo (and it's WAY off right now), it's already capable of over 200 IPM, and showing WELL under 0.0005" backlash.

Videos here: http://tinyurl.com/yazgvnv

Regards,
Ray

853

General Mach Discussion / Re: touchscreen monitor

« on: December 07, 2009, 01:28:39 AM »

For about $100 you can buy a touchscreen panel that you can put over your monitor.  On some monitors, there is enough room to put the panel inside the monitor case.  It connects by USB, and interfaces to the system as a HID device (mouse).  There are lots of them on E-Bay.

Regards,
Ray L.

854

General Mach Discussion / Re: VB, screen 4, etc

« on: December 06, 2009, 11:38:03 PM »

Do you know when all these great new improvements in V4 be available to start using?  Isn't MachScreen available right now?  If I were to start using it right now, would it change greatly in the near future?

v4 is still several months off.  Brian is right now working on the new VB interface.  Hopefully I'll have an "alpha" version to test sometime in the next few weeks.  MachScreen is availabvle now, and is not changing for v4, other than we may try to talk Klaus into adding another minor feature or two.

Regards,
Ray L.

855

General Mach Discussion / Re: Temperature Control via Mach3

« on: December 06, 2009, 11:03:01 PM »

I want to use Mach3 because I will be controlling stepper motors and other relays.
I was hoping to create a dedicated Mach screenset for the different functions, and basically want to
have one single software/control system running the whole process.
A G-code program will start/stop and hopefully interact with the sensors to adjust working parameters.
They are selling real neat little USB thermometers which can log the data. if I could somehow use a vb or a brain script
to read and report the contents of the log file

Hi Ray, that sparkfun product looks great and talking about forming Plexiglas, would it be possible to create a 180 degree u bend
using 3 inch clear polycarb tubing ?

@KTM  thanks mate I will have a look a modbus cause if I remember right there is a modbus 3rd party add on.

No reason you couldn't do a temp controller as a macropump.  It doesn't require high-rate control.  If doing a constant temperature, all you need is a single digital input that indicates when you're at, or above, your set temperature.

My Plexiglas forming experience is limited to vacuum forming 1/4" sheet.  Never messed with tube, and hope I never have to.  It's not easy stuff to work with.  I will tell you temperature control is *critical*.  There's a very fine line between too cool, which creates stress concentrations, and too hot, which results in lousy surface finish.  There is a nice PDF on the Rohm-Haas site with all the gruesome details on how to handle Plexi.  But don't expect it to be easy.  Doing it well is very difficult.

Regards,
Ray L.

856

General Mach Discussion / Re: VB, screen 4, etc

« on: December 06, 2009, 10:31:10 PM »

Abd to add to that, it seems that most of the functions will be the same. From what I've read, it seems that the main changes will be a new numbering system.

Not really correct....  v4 will still support v3 style scripts, and OEM codes, but in a legacy mode.  Continued use of v3 scripts will be discouraged, as the v3 mode will, at some point, be phased out.  The hope is, everyone will see how much better the v4 mode is, that they will, over time, move completely over to v4.  In any case, v3 development will stop, while v4 will continue to improve and evolve.

The new v4 VB interface and OEM codes are *completely* different, and VASTLY improved.  The VB function naming is far clearer, and FAR more consistent.  The VB interface and OEM codes will be documented, and explained in detail.  A VB include file will be provided with clear names for the OEM codes (you can still use the numbers if you prefer, though I don't know why you would...).  There are a LOT of nice new functions providing capabilities that do not exist in v3.  Overall, v4 will be MUCH easier to learn, MUCH easier to use, and MUCH better documented and tested.  Macros will be easier to write, easier to debug, and require fewer lines of code than for v3.

For screen editors, as far as I'm concerned the only one to use is MachScreen.  It is very stable, very easy to use, and is constantly being updated. It's just added the capability to import pages from another screenset file, which will make it possible for an OEM to provide a screenset file containing add-on pages to support their hardware or software that the user can add to his favorite screenset very easily.

Regards,
Ray L.

857

General Mach Discussion / Re: Temperature Control via Mach3

« on: December 06, 2009, 01:41:15 PM »

Wil,

Seems like a rather inappropriate use of Mach3.  Buy one of these:  http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=81  I put one on the oven I use for thermo-forming Plexiglas, and powder-coating - just a basic Kitchen oven with minor modifications.  With an internal fan to "stir" the air, I get less than +/-2F variation over the entire volume of the oven.

Regards,
Ray L.

858

General Mach Discussion / Re: how to hook up a e stop

« on: December 03, 2009, 10:28:56 PM »

BTW - If you have servos, hitting Stop will not generally cause lost steps.  With steppers, it pretty much always will, unless the machine is moving very slowly.

Regards,
Ray L.

859

General Mach Discussion / Re: how to hook up a e stop

« on: December 03, 2009, 10:25:57 PM »

Hi this is larry again thanks for the input. Yes I just whant it to pause the mach program when I push the estop button.  Also I know there will be some los of steps even a hundred steps is okay. What i will be able to do is reset the cutter at the home position and then tell the program to start from here or the next line and the machine should go to where that line is on the machine. Thenit will start the cut a few steps before it was stoped for what ever reason. I have had the machine lose 4 or 40 steps and ruin the work before I could run to the computer to stop it. It could have been save but I had no choice but to start over because I didnt know where the steps were. My board has a wire between to terminals and when it is unhooked or disconnected the board losses power. It is a  ( pc4cnc board ) What I realy need to know is if I have a pulse sent back into the computer will it tell the pause button to pause the machine . And howwould I do that  thanks for the help so far...

FeedHold will NOT stop the machine instantly, only STOP will do that.  FeedHold will often continue running for several seconds after you press the button.  If you're OK with losing steps (and you really have no choice....) your best bet is a hardware switch that disables the drives directly, without involving Mach3, and a separate input to Mach to issue a FeedHold.  You will have to manually figure out where to restart from in any case, because you cant simply restart from any line of the program.  RunFromHere is *supposed* to let you do that, but there are frequent reports that it is not very reliable.  Usually, it's best to back up to some previous rapid move, and manually ensure that coolant/spindle/whatever are in the correct state before re-starting the program.

Regards,
Ray L.

860

General Mach Discussion / Re: Whose Fault Is ThIs?

« on: December 02, 2009, 10:23:11 PM »

What manual are we talking about?

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,12730.0.html