Topics

11

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Helicopter Rotor Head

« on: December 10, 2007, 05:02:16 PM »

This is my first "Major" project.
A self designed Complete Rotor Head for a mini indoor helicopter (Walkera Dragonfly DF4)
All machined from bar and plate aluminium.
To give you an idea of scale... All the bolts are M2

12

General Mach Discussion / Drive Enabling

« on: December 10, 2007, 04:42:43 PM »

Hi,

I am currently using pin14 to enable all 4 drives.
When I press E-STOP the drives bvecome disabled as expected.
The trouble is this also happens when a program finished using either the M2 or M30 command or when I press the STOP button (not E-STOP)
This means that if I need to jog the table then I have to press the E-STOP twice to get the drives re-enabled before I can jog.

Is this the designed behaviour of MACH3? or do I have a wiring problem somewhere?

Am I overcomplicating things by having MACH3 control the drive enabling? Should I just have the drives "allways on" ??

Thanks
Simon

13

General Mach Discussion / Odd Startup Behavior

« on: December 08, 2007, 05:20:22 AM »

Hi,

I am experiencing an odd behavior with my mill...
For the first few hours every morning the following happens and then it seems to cure itself...

I turn everything on and home the mill, all OK.
I set the work offset and tranverse manually to the approximate start position.
I load the program and press start. All of a sudden the X axis is reversed and the cutter goes off in the wrong direction.
I stop the machine and try it manually and the X axis is reversed even when jogging using the keyboard.

I shut everything down and restart MACH3 and start the process again checking that the MDI input to the start position is OK.
the same thing happens 3 or 4 times and then after a few attempts it works properly.

Has anyone had this before?
Thanks
Simon

14

General Mach Discussion / Tracking down noise...

« on: November 24, 2007, 06:48:26 PM »

Guys,

All was working well on my 3 axis mill until I decided to try and be clever and add a 4th axis.

I have it all working again but for some reason I seem to be picking up noise on my limit switch signals.

I only have limit switches on the X,Y & Z axis.
I have connected them to +5v via a resistor as shown in the MACH3 manual.
They are using shielded cables.
I have a capacitor across each input.

I have had to raise the debounce level to 2500 in the config page to even run a program and it still keeps tripping the limits every now and again.

I noticed that others have reported problems with the flexible keyboards and will try a different keyboard but would like to find a way to measure the noise if I can.

I don't have a scope to test the wires with, is there any other way I can track down/measure the problem?

Thanks
Simon

15

General Mach Discussion / Output Problems

« on: October 11, 2007, 07:10:47 AM »

Hi,

I have MACH3 setup to output #1 & #2 on pins 16 & 17 respectively, they both run through an identical transistor/relay circuit and are used for spindle and coolant control. The circuits seem to work fine and switch as requested by MACH3.

The problem is that if I use both then it messes up the Z axis, sometimes it moves very jerkily and sometimes not at all when commanded.
If I use only 1 of the M03 or M08 commands then the Z axis runs fine, it doesn't seem to matter which I run.

I don't think it is a power problem as the switching circuits only take the 5v signal to switch the relay and they seem to be switching fine.

Has anybody come across this type of problem before?

Thanks
Simon

16

General Mach Discussion / Getting Outputs to work?

« on: August 10, 2007, 12:46:48 PM »

Hi,

I have 3 axis with enable, limits and home switches all working fine.
I am trying to get a couple of relays to work but have run into problems...

I have set the Output#1 & Output#2 pins to 16 & 17 respectively and have set the flood and mist commands to point to one of these each and removed the "disable" checkbox.
The lights on the diagnostic screen flash as expected when the buttons are toggled on.

The problem seems to be that I am not getting any volts out of either pin. I have checked with a multimeter on both pins and neither of them are giving out any voltage and appear to be permanently connected to ground?

Has anyone got any ideas as to what might be going wrong please?

Thanks
Simon

17

General Mach Discussion / Stepper Torque

« on: May 22, 2007, 03:37:07 PM »

Hi,

I have a 1.86Nm torque Size 23 stepper directly connected to a 10tpi leadscrew.
I am running it on a "Stepmaster" board, 1/8 microstepping using a 24v supply and have it set to 2Amp output which is what the documentation said to do.
It is working but I am underwhelmed by the available torque. The slightest touch on the loadscrew handwheel makes the stepper stall, even running it at low speeds. I have made sure that the slideway is free to move (i.e. the gib strips are not clamped down)

Have I set something up wrong? or have I seriously underestimated the torque I need?
If I put a spring balance against the bed, the bed can pull about 4 lbs which doesn't feel as though it is enough to me.

What is your experience?

Thanks
Simon

18

General Mach Discussion / Config Fonts Doesn't Appear to Work

« on: December 16, 2006, 05:00:38 PM »

Hi,

Sorry if this has been asked before but I am working on the principle that "The only stupid question, is the one you don't ask"

I have just installed my first trial of Mach3 and have stumbled into a (hopfully trivial) problem...
I have installed the program on my House PC to "get used to it" before installing it in the workshop.

My PC is set to 1280x1024 resolution, as this is the native res of the LCD.
I also have my fonts set to 120% (otherwise they are too small to see!)

When I open Mach3 the fonts do not fit in their boxes properly. So I tried the "Config... Fonts..." menu. This does not actually change the fonts in any window and it does not save the setting between 2 opens of the dialog. Well that is not exactly true... If you change the font face then it remembers it, if you change the size then it does not.

Am I missing something??

Thanks
Simon

19

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / MACH SDK & Visual Studio 97

« on: November 06, 2006, 03:36:48 PM »

Hi Guys,

I would like to develop a plugin but do not have the latest version of Visual Studio. I only have Visual Studio 97 which has VC++6

Has anyone got a sample plugin environment for VC6? or does MACH3 require a later version of VStudio?

Thanks
Simon