Messages

51

LazyCam (Beta) / Toolpath Display Query

« on: February 11, 2007, 10:42:14 AM »

How difficult would it be to make the toolpath display in LC behave the same as the one in Mach? Personally, I would find it much easier to transition back and forth between the two if they worked in a more similar manner.
Regards,
Walt

52

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Bender

« on: February 09, 2007, 05:33:27 PM »

All of the parts are somewhat similar and usually only have 5 or 6 legs with accompanying bends and turns so hand writing the code is pretty simple.  I only wrote the code for 3 of their parts before I turned the machine over to them.  We had a training session on how to run the machine and write code for new parts.  I did extensive commenting on the three parts I coded so they can just copy what I did.  Some of the trickier stuff I put in macros to simplify the code.

The real trick part is they do most everything in Autodesk Inventor.  Once the part is drawn, inventor will produce a list of how far to advance the part, turn the part and bend the part.  This production list is what's used to write the g code.  Once the overbend is established, it's entered into a lookup table and Inventor will use those values for the production list.  Once it's tuned, the first part should be correct without any debugging.

Regards,
Walt

53

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Bender

« on: February 06, 2007, 11:31:47 AM »

Ive never seen one of those b4.

Nor are you likely to again.  It's what's known as a purpose built machine.  Strictly a "one of a kind".  Its sole function is to produce float wires of various sizes and styles for gas tanks.

What do you make with the wire ?

It's pretty self-explanatory if you think about it.  A gas tank need a gas gauge.  A gas gauge needs a sensor and a float.  There needs to be something to connect the float and the sensor.  Hence the float wire.  They get surprisingly complex and need to be quite accurate or the gas gauge isn't accurate.  If you're in the gas tank business, this is only second to a leak. 

Just to be clear, I don't make tanks, I'm a tool & die shop.  I build solutions for manufacturing customers.

Regards,
Walt

54

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Bender

« on: February 04, 2007, 12:27:35 PM »

This is a float wire bender that I just completed for a client that manufactures gas tanks.

These two pictures should download fairly quickly.


As should this movie.
http://www.chicobritish.org//images/Misc/Bender/BenderMovie-2.4Mb.wmv


Here's the same stuff in a lot better resolution.
http://www.chicobritish.org//images/Misc/Bender/Bender1200x900.jpg
http://www.chicobritish.org//images/Misc/Bender/Bender2-1200x900.jpg

http://www.chicobritish.org//images/Misc/Bender/BenderMovie-6.2Mb.wmv

Walt

55

General Mach Discussion / Re: Possible commercial application for machine control

« on: February 02, 2007, 08:12:16 PM »

Addendum.

If you do some looking around here and at CNC Zone, there are some people writing screens that are stunning.  I don't know what your budget is like but you might consider just farming that task out to one of them.

Walt

56

General Mach Discussion / Re: Possible commercial application for machine control

« on: February 02, 2007, 08:08:20 PM »

Hood has you headed in the right direction.  In addition to screen4 there's mach3screen and one other program available to manipulate/write your own screens.  Each of the programs has it's own advantages/disadvantages/eccentricities/etc.  I just finished a wire bender for a commercial application and I just took the classic 1024 set and dumped everything that wasn't essential.  Then I added stuff from other pages (like MDI) so that all the control was on one page.  I also added a few buttons specific to the machine.  You can leave the other pages in the screen set and tell the operator not to use them, or, delete the pages.  It's very easy to change screen sets so it's no big deal.

It's a bit of a learning curve but once you figure out how to do screens, Mach is very suitable to commercial stuff.  Go to the home page and look under Forums/Wiki Customizing Mach.  Also look under Tutorials/documentation/Customizing Mach2 and Tutorials/Documentation/Videos.

The next commercial ap I do I'll probably be looking very hard at the ncpod.  Details are still sketchy but it looks like it's going to be a terrific bit of hardware for both the hobbiest and commercial user.  They seem to be taking their time and working out the kinks before they release it rather than releasing it in a hurry and letting the user work out the bugs.

Regards,
Walt

57

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Newbie Help how to Import DXF direcly to Mach3 2.0 without Lcam ?

« on: January 14, 2007, 11:06:23 PM »

>If you have used the older versions and have been upgrading you might still have mach3filter.exe, that is the old importer.   I think you can >just run it while mach3 is running and it will still work.

I have a mach1filter.exe.  No mach3filter.exe.  The mach1filter.exe converts hpgl & jpg's.

I miss the simple dxf conversion too.  I'm no programmer but, for the life of me, I can't understand why it's MORE difficult to NOT remove a feature.  Why not just leave the "Import DXF" in the menu and add LCAM?

LCAM seems to work splendidly for many people and I had to agree up until the layer control disappeared.  Again, why not leave the layer control as an option and let the people that are clueless about layers use the automatic stuff??

I'm using version 2.635 and think that it's a stunning start.  But it's a moot point since that version is a developmental dead end.

I think it's terrific that you're trying to develop tools for those new to the cutting edge but why take away the control from the experienced?

Regs,
Walt

58

General Mach Discussion / Payment Question

« on: January 07, 2007, 02:21:23 PM »

Hi,

I bought my copy of Mach a while back so this issue may have been dealt with.  I paid with PayPal and since the account is registered to my wife, Mach also ended up registered to her.  Not a problem.

Now I have a machine almost ready for shipment to a third party that uses Mach3 so it needs its own license.  Again, I'd like to us PayPal but I want to be sure it gets registered to the company that owns it rather than another copy for my wife.

Is there a way to deal with this if I just click on the PayPal logo and transfer the funds?

Thanks,
Walt

59

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Code Won't Load

« on: January 05, 2007, 06:00:22 PM »

Oh yes, I'll certainly put together a picture album but it will be a while.  Other jobs have a higher priority right now and I've got a couple of engineering changes that I'd like to implement not to mention a couple of things that need changing just because they're wrong.  I figure it will be a month before it's completely on line.

Oh, it's a float wire bender for gas tank manufacturer.

Regards,
Walt

60

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: G100 Limit Inputs in MACH3

« on: January 05, 2007, 12:20:33 AM »

Thanks John,

I've actually gotten to where I'm starting to iron out mechanical bugs.  It's almost a refreshing change.

If you get your limits working, let me know if your system will let you reset and back off the limits.  Right now, if I run into the limits, mine won't get off the limit.  Pretty annoying especially since we're waiting for the soft limits to become functional.  I'm hoping it's a bug in Mach3.  Those usually get taken care of pretty fast.  Or even better, some little thing that I'm overlooking.

Regards,
Walt