Messages

331

General Mach Discussion / Habla Español?

« on: April 20, 2006, 01:14:59 AM »

So it seems that Mach has been translated into a myriad of other languages but what about Spanish?  I want to start teaching  my buddy Pancho, Mach 3 (I know that is a scary thought by itself).

If there is no Spanish version, I guess I can somehow fumble through with my lame-ass spanish and try and show him but a Spanish version would sure make life easier.

Gracias Amigos!
Señor Sid

332

General Mach Discussion / Re: What's the best way to determine motor velocity?

« on: April 20, 2006, 01:08:37 AM »

DUDE!!!  Now were cookin' with Gas!  Yeah, I would like to create some kind of limit to the amount of FRO.  Lemme play with the machine a little and let you know what my max is.  Thanks Brian!

Regards,
Sid

333

General Mach Discussion / Re: What's the best way to determine motor velocity?

« on: April 19, 2006, 10:51:11 AM »

Fernando,

Thanks for your reply!

One one think that this is the case, but it does not seem to be true.  I could be mistaken but it seems to me that I iif I set the motors to 100 IPM in the tuning screen, I can make the motors move faster (& miss steps) than 100 IPM by runing a program using an FRO of F200. 

That's why I asked the original question because it seems this is either a bug or I am doing something wrong (which wouldn't be the 1st time  )

Perhaps most 'seasoned professional CNC-ers, don't even bother with FRO above 100%.  But if that's the case why even have that as a feature?
Sid

334

General Mach Discussion / Re: What's the best way to determine motor velocity?

« on: April 19, 2006, 08:29:49 AM »

Hey Brian!  ok 100 IPM but then if I use a FRO ove say 200% that will cause the motors to miss steps.  So, how to prevent this?  Is there a way to set a limit to the max FRO or is it something that just has to be remembered manually?

Thanks,
Sid

335

General Mach Discussion / What's the best way to determine motor velocity?

« on: April 19, 2006, 01:17:58 AM »

Just kinda curious what your take on this is?

When I tune my motors on the config screen, I get then going till they start missing steps (around 130 in/min), then back it off untill they run without missing (120 in/min).

This works fine assuming I don't Feed Rate Overide more than about 120%.  If I go above this FRO then I miss steps.

So what's best, tune your motors to a velocity that takes into account a max FRO of 290% (which would then cause everything to run super slow at 'normal feed rates).  Or just forget about FRO's above a certain ceiling level?  Is there a way to set the max FRO someplace?

Thanks,
Sid

336

General Mach Discussion / Re: Homing "Z" first then "X" and "Y" together?

« on: April 13, 2006, 05:51:40 AM »

Dude,

Have you tried using Safe Z? Read it to learn about "SAfe Z" by checking out this thread?     http://machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=463.0  Message line="Safe Z turned off-ignoring safe z move" but it's not turned off[/url]

I think that will make it do what you want.

Sid

337

General Mach Discussion / Re: Message line="Safe Z turned off-ignoring safe z move" but it's not turned off

« on: April 12, 2006, 12:53:30 PM »

 

Art,

You hit the nail on the head.  The Safe Z parameter on the settings screen refers to Machine Coords.  I did not know this and thought it referred to coords determine by my fixture offset.  When I made the Safe Z setting correspond to a safe machine coordinate it works perfect!

Awesome!  Thank you!

Regards,
Sid

338

General Mach Discussion / Re: Message line="Safe Z turned off-ignoring safe z move" but it's not turned off

« on: April 11, 2006, 11:47:18 PM »

Art!  Wow!  Cool! Thanks for your reply!

I'm not sure if I totally understood your question so, sorry in advance if I didn't check the correct thing.

If you are referring to the LEDS located next to the Zer X, Zero Y & Zero Z buttons, then my answer is... the machine exhibits this behaivior regardless of whether or not those LEDS are Green or Red.

Sorry if I am over explaining or repeating myself but here's what I do.  I Ref all to Home, then I go to one of my Work Offsets (in the middle of my table and start a cut.  Since I am new to G-Code I usually discover problems in the code and have to stop, edit my code, click go to Zero (my tool offset)  and start the cut over to see if I fixed what I screwed up this first time around.

Clicking Go to Zero will yield 1 of 4 results...

1. SAFE Z NOT CHECKED on CONFIG/LOGIC- X & Y simultaneously move to Zero, Z axis moves to Zero last (after doing a little thrash dance on the part).  I understand this is "normal" program behavior but, I wish you could change it around so Z moved first.

2. SAFE Z CHECKED on CONFIG/LOGIC - Message shows in status box saying "Safe Z turned off, ignoring Safe Z move". Machine goes to Zero in same manner as Example #1

3. SAFE Z CHECKED on CONFIG/LOGIC - Message shows in status box saying "Safe Z turned off, ignoring Safe Z move".  Interestingly, the Z axis DOES move first in this case, however, it blasts right past the Safe Z setting (on the settings screen) goes past the home switch, hits my stop, misses a few steps and decides to return (down) to zero (which by now is no longer really zero sice I missed a bunch of steps when I ran into the stop)

4. SAFE Z CHECKED on CONFIG/LOGIC- it works perfectly.  Clicking go to Zero causes Z axis to raise to safe Z setpoint (I have it set @ Z +.5000" ) then X & Y go to Zero and finally Z goes down to Zero- AWESOME!  (when it happens).

Don't ya just love unidentifiable intermittent problems?

Thanks for any help or advice.

Regards,
Sid

339

General Mach Discussion / Re: Message line="Safe Z turned off-ignoring safe z move" but it's not turned off

« on: April 11, 2006, 01:13:27 PM »

Thanks for the reply Brian!  Basically a Go to Zero command makes all axis go to Zero BUT, X & Y move first and leave Z wherever it is at.  This is a problem if say for example you have a problem and want to restart your program from Zero but you need your cutter to raise up to clear the part to get to Zero without damaging anything.

In other words, IMHO, after clicking go to Zero, the first thing that should happen is that the Z axis should go to Zero THEN the other 2 axis should do their thing.  By default it doesn't happen this way in Mach 3. 

Supposedly, if you use Safe Z, click go to Zero will First raise your Z axis to  the coordinate that you set on the settings page- then move X & Y to Zero.  It worked this way for me a couple of times and now it does not.  I get a message that says "Safe Z is turned off (which it is not as far as I can tell) - Ignoring Safe Z move.  Then the machine proceeds to go to Zero, scraping my Router bit all along the part in it's undying quest to reach 0.

Thanks again for your reply!

Regards,
Sid

340

General Mach Discussion / Message line="Safe Z turned off-ignoring safe z move" but it's not turned off

« on: April 10, 2006, 08:09:05 PM »

At least I think I have it turned on.     On the Config/Logic menu, Safe Z is checked.  On the Settings page I have a value set.  Where else does one need to turn on?

Funny thing is, I did have it working and then loaded a different .tap file and poof- weirdness.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Sid