Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / probe guard

« on: May 04, 2014, 05:48:26 AM »

I've been working on and off for a while on a hardware gizmo for protecting ANY probe from getting crunched. It's currently bread-boarded and under test/development. Once OK - I'll go ahead and vero one but if there's sufficient interest I may have a batch of pro boards made up once it's completely tested.

Basically it's hardware that's added into the control box and then any move that is going to crunch the probe if not stopped will throw a limit (or e-stop).

It'll protect the probe during ANY and ALL types of move, jog, rapid, feed and EVEN (but of course) G31.

I'm aware there are some software attempts at this out there but IMHO they STILL depend on the control software (Mach/LinuxCNC, whatever) not doing anything bizarre. Because this is a hardware solution entirely independent of the control software it *should* be foolproof (that's where the work is at the moment - checking, checking and triple checking).

So - over to you - any interest?

Cheers

Ian

2

General Mach Discussion / Shield grounded at one end only

« on: February 07, 2014, 05:07:48 AM »

In every off the shelf parallel and serial cable I've looked at, both end shells are connected via the shield. I've just double checked my PC and printer and was not too surprised to find that the port receptacles on BOTH were connected to their respective chassis which of course in turn are both grounded. So it seems that off the shelf kit does not follow this ground shield at one end only philosophy.

And yet - when I look it up on tinternet - there it is all over the place - ground shield on signal wires at one end only....

Anyone care to shed some light/wisdom/knowledge/thoughts on this?

EDIT: Just to be clear, I understand the logic behind the one-end-only. My question is why doesn't this appear to be the case in "off the shelf" kit.

3

Mach Screens / screen designers

« on: October 03, 2013, 02:45:19 PM »

I'd be interested in your views about the currently available screen designers. What do you use? what do you think? Is there a place for a new kid on the block? or are you perfectly happy with what you have?

Cheers

Ian

4

FAQs / MOVED: Dro's do not match

« on: July 24, 2013, 03:43:27 AM »

This topic has been moved to General Mach Discussion.

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=25109.0

5

General Mach Discussion / MOVED: VB to start\stop

« on: May 12, 2013, 12:03:36 PM »

This topic has been moved to VB and the development of wizards.

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=24564.0

6

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / MOVED: Please Help Me , How can i square up cuts using adjustments on motors

« on: May 10, 2013, 03:23:44 AM »

This topic has been moved to General Mach Discussion.

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=24541.0

7

FAQs / MOVED: Plasma Table Stepper Repeatability

« on: May 10, 2013, 03:17:03 AM »

This topic has been moved to General Mach Discussion.

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=24540.0

8

Promote and discuss your product / plasma THC for Hypertherm / Mach3 users

« on: February 17, 2013, 10:25:25 AM »

Razordance Digital THC

Tested on all compatible Hypertherm cutters by a professional plasma table manufacturer.

Unlike other THC's - requires NO modification of the plasma cutter itself.

Uses the standard built in Hypertherm THC interface.

Does NOT require a second parallel port.

www.razordance.co.uk/THC.htm

Note: This is a promotion and discussion thread for the Razordance DTHC - Please do not use this thread to ask for help with other makes of THC.

9

General Mach Discussion / Trigger macros broken?

« on: February 09, 2013, 11:54:48 AM »

Anyone know when trigger macros stopped working properly? The associated macro now doesn't run until all movement has stopped rather than when the trigger atually fires. OEM triggers appear to work as normal. (currently using R3.043.066).

Ian

10

Modbus / standard serial plugin port numbers query

« on: April 04, 2012, 11:17:13 AM »

With "modbus plugin supported" ticked on ports n pins the modbus configuration screen has a column labeled Port/Address which implies you can have a different serial Port for each Cfg# line (not sure what the /Address bit of that label is supposed to mean). So what's the single Port text field (top left) for? Just seems redundant/confusing.

Any wisdom gratefully received.

Ian