Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Why use a Motion Controller?

« on: February 12, 2012, 07:36:24 PM »

Galil, Ajax, etc...  What do you gain?  I understand that the loop gets closed back to the controller, but this still isn't quite the same as the closed loop on "real" VMC's.  So why spent the extra money?  A Galil 5 axis is running like $1500.  Seems that you also have to consider the plug-in here and not knowing how well it is debugged and if it will even be updated for future releases of Mach. 

2

General Mach Discussion / Ball Endmill Profile Machining.

« on: January 07, 2010, 09:27:45 PM »

This video is of AJAX machine cutting a raised 3d pattern in wax.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr0DC3R_iNk

Notice at the very end of the video how smooth the flat lowest Z surface is.
You would never know it was cut with a ball endmill if you did not see it
for yourself.

My question is, is there a rule of thumb for the step over of ball mills
when doing this kind of work? 

3

General Mach Discussion / CNC'ing both quill and knee

« on: October 20, 2008, 07:12:06 AM »

Hi,  Have a Series II CNC machine that I am currently working on.
Not my first, but I want to make this my last mill.   

Quill unfortunately is a QC30 with 5" of travel.
The knee has huge box ways and is air assisted.

In most instances the quill is the better way to approach the
Z axis as long as you can get away with the 5" travel.  And yes,
I want to keep the quill as my Z axis.  But I would like to open
up the possibility of having more than 5" of Z travel using the knee.

My idea is to put a servo and drive on the knee and run the knee
under Mach control.  Technically it is the " W" axis-  because it is parallel to
the Z axis.

I don't know if it is possible to run these axis in concert with each other.
I guess if a job required more than 5" travel I could swap axis and
use the knee as the Z.  This swap could be done in the mach settings
I guess?   

Any input on my idea would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott


Edit:  I see looking at Mach's config screen that the only names for axis's are XYZ and ABC. 
I guess I would have to use B or C as the W axis. 

4

General Mach Discussion / Proper way to pause program for tool change

« on: November 13, 2007, 11:39:52 AM »

I have no automatic changer on my BOSS.
I tried M6 in the program, but the program just runs right past it.
M0 works, but I don't think this is the right way. 

What is the proper way to suspend program execution so I can
change tools?

Thank You,
Scott

5

General Mach Discussion / Macropump help

« on: April 05, 2007, 09:06:15 PM »

I need some code help.  I have the following:

If IsActive(Input1) Then      'Read input 1
     DoOEMButton(310)         'activate the "Y--" jog button
End If

I just want to make this button jog in the Y axis.
It works except that when you let go of the button the axis does
not stop.  Electrically, it is working fine as witnessed by the
ModIO LED indicator going out when you let go of the button.
Do I have to look for when the button is not pressed and do some
sort of a reset?

Also,
How do you change the state of a led on the screen?
I have tried:

Call SetOEMLed(66,1)       '66 is the OEM number of the block del led
 
I tries several variations and it always
 returns an error: Function not defined SetOEMLed

The Mach customization WIKI that lists the OEM LED's says this is a
valid call.

Thanks,
Scott

6

Modbus / ModIO and Mach not keeping up with MPG

« on: April 02, 2007, 09:47:28 AM »

I have hooked up my ModIO and wired the MPG. The MPG works
fine if you turn the handle really slow, about 1 click per second
max, in single step mode. If you spin the MPG at about 10 clicks
or so per second, nothing happens. The Mach DRO's don't even
display a change of position.

The ModIO LCD displays a count from the MPG in the
upper right hand corner. This count is in hexadecimal with 4 counts
per click of the MPG and it is accurate no matter how fast you
turn the MPG handle.

So it seems that the ModIO is counting just fine but not able to
transfer the data to Mach unless you turn the MPG really slow.

I messed with settings for 2 hours and just can't figure it out.
I read through the ModIO manual thoroughly and made sure my settings
were just as pictured in the manual.

Any ideas?

Scott

Here are some screen shots showing my settings.