Messages

111

Tangent Corner / Re: I'm Nationwide!

« on: January 19, 2011, 12:04:53 AM »

Rich,
I enjoyed the article on Lazyturn. Keep up the great work!
-Mike

112

Share Your GCode / Re: Bevel Gear with LazyCAM!-2

« on: January 18, 2011, 11:55:42 PM »

I guess I should have mentioned, that I have my 1/8" ball nose end mill set to 0.1" depth of cut per pass in LazyCAM. It doesn't make for a very pretty picture, when viewing the toolpath. But it does cut it without breaking the bit. If you want to see a toolpath which sketches the finished part, you'd have to set the depth per pass to the full depth of the part (about 1.5" per pass). Unfortunately this would result in a broken bit, as it plunged full-depth instead of actually cutting the part. I also did another bevel gear as a spiral bevel gear. Using the same tedious trigonometry to determine cut depth for each profile.
-Mike

113

Tangent Corner / I'm Nationwide!

« on: January 18, 2011, 02:21:23 PM »

Well, it's finally out. My first (paying) article published in a magazine with national circulation. Check out the Winter issue of Digital Machinist magazine, for details on how I added a spindle lock to my Porter Cable Router. (Near the back of the magazine).
If you go to their website, and fill out their registration, I believe they still offer a free issue. Just go to www.villagepress.com select Digital Machinist Magazine. If you do it NOW, you will probably receive the Winter issue containing my article.
-Mike

114

Share Your GCode / Bevel Gear with LazyCAM!-2

« on: January 18, 2011, 02:13:54 PM »

I tried to attach the uncompressed G-Code file to my first post. However the file size exceeded the limitations, so I compressed the file into the BevelGear.Zip file, and tried again to post. I received the message "You have already posted this file", but since the attached file did not upload (due to the size limit), I had tried again to post. Please see the attached BevelGear.Zip file for the G-code file BevelGear.tap
-Mike

115

Feature Requests / Re: Append depth of cut on the fly

« on: February 24, 2010, 01:48:29 PM »

Thanks Dan!
I will try your suggestion to see if it works for me. This is what I love about this forum, sharing the experiences of others there is much to be learned!

Again, THANKS!
-Mike

116

Feature Requests / Append depth of cut on the fly

« on: February 09, 2010, 12:51:19 AM »

One of the frustrating things I have found, when cutting a piece with my router table, is the need to stop the G code from running, launch LazyCAM, and load the G code into LazyCAM to alter the depth of cut. I have not experimented with the Z Scale function in Mach3, perhaps this would accomplish what I am trying to do: sometimes the cut is not deep enough (when doing something very touchy such as engraving into wood), or too deep. It would be nice to have a button added to the Program screen of Mach3, which could be clicked, and a dialog box opened for all negative Z depths to be appended by X.*********" (Positive numbers entered would cause the depth of cut to be shallower, while negative numbers enterd would cause the depth of cut to be deeper into the stock).  I don't know if such a function would be useful to all, but thought that I would mention it here to see what others thought.
-Mike

117

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Gear Template Generator

« on: February 06, 2010, 02:27:42 PM »

I spent several hours trying to draw a set of gear profiles in Corel DRAW X3 to be imported into LazyCAM to create a tool path for cutting the gears out on my router table. After many frustrating failures (lines were not connected close enough for LazyCAM to interpret as single entities), I started searching the web for a solution. I found the following web page:
http://woodgears.ca/gear_cutting/template.html
And after trying it out, immediately ordered a copy of the software. You can actually print out the gears directly from the web page, but the purchased version will output as DXF, or PLT files which are flawless where LazyCAM is concerned. I have already cut 4 gears out of wood, and mounted them with the teeth tips contacting the pits and the spin freely.
Just thought that other users of Mach3 would find this as useful as I have.....
-Mike

118

Share Your GCode / Re: Degree Wheel

« on: February 03, 2010, 10:03:03 AM »

Rich,
I appreciate the insight. However, I am actually CONSTRUCTING a rotary table. I agree, that if I already had one, your method would make the most sense. I long for the day when I can do it your way.

 My problem, was in doing the actual engraving in order to have an acurate means of measuring, and calibrating Mach3 to the 4th axis movements (once I can afford the 4th motor). What I have so far, is a simple gear box (consisting of a worm, and worm gear) with a 10 to 1 ratio.

 I simply wanted the degree wheel for mounting onto the output shaft of the gear box. This would allow me to monitor the actual rotation output for proper motor tuning in Mach3 to achieve the proper calibration in Mach3. I am still a couple of weeks away from ordering the motor for the 4th axis, but just wanted to do as much work as I could in preparation. Without a physical means of measuring the actual movement to the Mach3 commanded movement, it would be impossible to calibrate acurately.

 I think that the "Final Degree Wheel" I created will work for my purposes, since it now spaces the witness marks far enough apart from each other for a clean engraving, without removing material BETWEEN the marks. I have been working with Pine, which I am aware is a large part of the problem. However, I wanted to achieve the best results possible, before commiting a piece of aluminum (since I only have a single piece I can use for this). The Pine has been the practice material in preparation for the Final Cut in Aluminum.  -Mike

119

Share Your GCode / Re: Degree Wheel

« on: February 02, 2010, 01:00:58 AM »

Well, I wanted to post a decent picture of the results of the Degree Wheel engraving. However, after many attempts it seems that 1 degree increments just ain't happening even with a depth of cut set to only 0.010"  I saw that Tweakie's design was set up at 2 degree increments, and actually did engrave with good results. So it seems that 2 degrees is the max.  Well, it was back to the drawing board one last time, (by now, I was obsessed with achieving 1 degree increments).

 I am not sure how many hours I spent on doing these total, the most time-consuming aspect was not the actual drawing, but rather the acurate rotation of each set of numeral characters in terms of degrees, in relation to the center of the wheel.

 To use this final design, a clear indicator pointer will be used, constructed of a small piece of clear Mylar, with a single scribe line down the center. The alignment scribe will be long enough to reach from the outer marks, to the inner marks, to that the end result will be 1 degree increments! (Note that both the inner, and outer marks are cut at 2 degree increments). They are simply offset 1 degree from each other. Also, the mark lines which protrude from the center of the hub are carved at the elusive 22.5 degree increments. Hope ya'll find this of use, as a LOT of work went into it.
-Mike

120

Share Your GCode / Re: Degree Wheel

« on: January 31, 2010, 12:10:22 PM »

Tweakie,
I have my Extents in LazyCAM set to 0.001" with Lead ins turned OFF, before Optimizing the file. I will let you know how it engraves, as I am about to take it out to the shop for a test drive. If you want a copy of the Plot file (CorelDRAW DXF export is a Joke!), let me know, and I will email it to you. I have already tried to attach the plot file, but the Machsupport Forum server doesn't like it for some reason. (Even though it lists *.plt as being a supported file format).
-Mike