Messages

31

General Mach Discussion / Re: shuttle mode, step/velocity and single step

« on: July 08, 2009, 05:38:09 PM »

Hood,
1   Can you give me your opinion about a shuttle for a lathe. Are two MPG's preferable, when you compare them with a shuttle or some sort of a joystick?
At this moment I have two MPG's installed and they work fine. So I wonder if a shuttle would give a better situation I have read a lot on the forum, but most of it handles about how to install such a device, and not what the benefits are.
2   The shuttle mode on the tab screen, what does it do? What can I do with my lathe, if I put it on (at this moment nothing).

gr jaja

32

General Mach Discussion / Re: shuttle mode, step/velocity and single step

« on: July 06, 2009, 10:22:44 AM »

Rich,
No Rich, you made perfectly clear what part- coordinates are.
Your story explains it all.
Thanks a lot.

Now I'm going to work with it, in order to get some real "grip" on it.

Thanks
gr jaja

33

General Mach Discussion / Re: shuttle mode, step/velocity and single step

« on: July 05, 2009, 11:14:33 AM »

Thanks Hood,
Have made a button with an OEM code and a hot key for the feed reset, works good.
The feed/rev is not yet working on my lathe. I have not been able to mount a optical device at this moment. But I could not wait testing mach3 on my lathe!
I will use your guideline as soon as the spindle feedback is finished.

Thanks again Hood.
gr jaja

34

General Mach Discussion / Re: shuttle mode, step/velocity and single step

« on: July 05, 2009, 09:21:00 AM »

Hood,

1    The whole morning I have been testing the lathe for real,, on some pieces of metal (don't know any specifications, its not to hard, that is all I know, could be steel 37).
Mach3 is so much better than my old program!
Sweat on the forehead. One mistake with the jog cycle. Made a 10mm step on the z-axis, and by mistake I also made just before on the x-axis.
So I tried to cut 10mm in one cut. The toolholder was not to tight, so it was pushed aside,,, the insert broke.
That leads to the question: is there a way of having different jog cycle steps for the z- and x-axis, so you will never use the one for the z-axis on the x-axis?

2   Also had i strange thing with a program wizard.
The program showed a F 42 value, but the feed read out showed it was in real 66 mm/min.
Could it be caused by the feed override which I did before on the manual screen? I think not, because for as far as I know, it is not possible to change the feedrate while a program is running.

3   Once I read on the forum (and I think it was your message) about the feed and speed values. Could you give me a guideline on this subject? I have been testing and trying, but it would be nice to have some sort of guideline on this. I know it depends on a lot of things like the construction of your lathe, the power of the steppers, the size of the toolholder and so on,,, but a rough guideline would be nice.

gr jaja

35

General Mach Discussion / Re: shuttle mode, step/velocity and single step

« on: July 03, 2009, 04:20:10 PM »

Thanks Hood,

There is another topic on this item, but the answer is not so clear to me.
"normaly you should have Machine, Part and User coordinate. where part is your G54 zero point and user is an extra coordinate used for set-up or manual operation."

gr jaja

36

General Mach Discussion / Re: shuttle mode, step/velocity and single step

« on: July 03, 2009, 03:47:10 PM »

Hood,
The mach screen 4 is fantastic! I have been experimenting with it the whole week.
But now another question appearred.
The "Part Coords." button, what is his function?
No matter what I do,,, it always has the same values as the Program Coords.

37

General Mach Discussion / Re: shuttle mode, step/velocity and single step

« on: June 30, 2009, 03:26:21 PM »

Thanks Hood,
Going to try it right away.

38

General Mach Discussion / Re: shuttle mode, step/velocity and single step

« on: June 30, 2009, 03:09:58 PM »

Hood,
Thanks to you, things are working good right now (but I'm still only cutting air).
At this moment I'm trying to connect some hotkey's to some buttons on the screen. It would be much more convenient.
Have read a lot on the forum, and I have also read the answer to the next question, but I still cannot find it.

I think I need screen 4 to make/connect the hotkeys, and screen 4 should be in the root of mach3 on my computer or otherwise it could be downloaded from the download page.
But I cannot find it overthere. Is it called screen 4?
Is it on: downloads>screensets
gr jaja

39

General Mach Discussion / Re: shuttle mode, step/velocity and single step

« on: June 28, 2009, 05:57:12 AM »

Again,, thank you Hood,

This debounce is a very good idea, going to try it directly.
Perhaps it can also shorten the time between turning the MPG and the moves of the motor, since the optical encoders have no hysterese at all, so no debounce time is needed, I think.

I have done the calibration several times to figure out which turning speed of the MPG was comfortable, so this is not the fault I suppose.
One detent (click) of the MPG in the calibration screen gives a calculated number of 4. So mach sees the 4 sides (flanks?) of the signal, which should be correct.
Don't know how the relation between this calibration and the: "count/unit" on the  Port and Pins configuration screen, Encoder/MPG's is.
Going to check it right now

gr jaja

40

General Mach Discussion / Re: shuttle mode, step/velocity and single step

« on: June 28, 2009, 03:55:19 AM »

Hood,

Thanks again for your answer, (I hoped your reaction should come quickly, and it did)
The size of the step was 1,000. The MPG has 25 clicks per revolution. So I think that every click should be one step (in single step mode).
It is also typical that it is not regular. It can make 9 or 10 clicks and move every click, and then suddenly it can make 3, 5 or even 7 clicks without moving.

But your suggestion in putting it in Multi Step mode 0.01mm and in Velocity mode, is probably the best for me too. I really don't know yet, as I have never used the program in real.
Today some more test and build up will be done.
Thanks, and I'll let you know
gr jaja