Messages

131

General Mach Discussion / Re: I'm Back - But need Help

« on: March 22, 2014, 10:02:27 AM »

Gerry,

Thanks for the heads up on the differences of the "stop" or "feedhold" buttons.

I have just gotten lucky in the case of continuing on as I mostly use stop.

If this is known to happen everytime (loss of position when using the stop and not feedhold), shouldnt Mach show red leds on the references? I believe mine are still green. Though without some form of feedback thru a scale or encoder Mach would have no way of knowing.

132

General Mach Discussion / Yet another C3 Index Pulse Board/Mach 3 mystery.

« on: March 20, 2014, 12:03:26 PM »

I don't use the C3 and that could be the difference. I have one of Homan's boards, not sure of the sensor. I assumed it was an optical sensor of some form.

133

General Mach Discussion / Re: Jogging

« on: March 20, 2014, 10:51:59 AM »

Did you shut down your computer and restart or close and open Mach? Some settings need a restart, some dont.

134

General Mach Discussion / Re: Yet another C3 Index Pulse Board/Mach 3 mystery.

« on: March 20, 2014, 10:47:16 AM »

I have tested it enough to know that 1 piece of electrical tape starting at the center and going outward on the pulley( a 3/4" wide strip) will give me erratic readings . I turn that tape sideways creating a much bigger target and everything works great. Having a narrow slot is of no advantage that I have read (within Mach, EMC could be and is different). I believe it is only sensing the edge.

When and if I ever get around to installing the sensor into the spindle head, I am going to paint the back side of the pulley black for half of the circle leaving the other half polished aluminum. (seeing aluminum spinning forces me to polish it, I cant resist)

135

General Mach Discussion / Re: Yet another C3 Index Pulse Board/Mach 3 mystery.

« on: March 19, 2014, 06:38:59 PM »

I would be more suspicious of the width of the slot. I use a piece of black tape on my pulley. I cover half of the pulley for it to work its best.

Debounce is for switches (limit, homing or Estop) that either mechanically bounce and the signal needs to be present for longer so Mach can recognize it from electrical noise or interference.

I am not sure of what index debounce truly does but I am guessing the same or similar action. I could see the switch for rpms really have some issues just due to how short of a time the signal is present.

136

General Mach Discussion / Re: Driver Advice

« on: March 19, 2014, 04:00:05 PM »

   I say use what you have til you know better. Plenty of opinions on drives and their performance. Of course what you read on the net is generally people frustrated and dont know how to operate or configure their machines or hardware.

   Campbell makes good stuff. I have read of others using Rutex drives. PWM is 1 way to control a spindle. That all being said I have no reason to be suspect of the equipment you have.

   Go ahead and configure Mach to operate what you have and see if you can bring it to life. If you can and it works, you save money and time. If not, well no real loss. Plus learning the nuances of Mach 3 is a must. Not that hard just a little intimidating at first.

   Another site that has lots of valuable information and great members is CncZone. More of the electrical mechanical aspect there.

137

General Mach Discussion / Re: I'm Back - But need Help

« on: March 19, 2014, 09:30:11 AM »

I would venture to bet the first issue is noise/electrical interference. This can be resolved a few ways. First I would check to see if you are running any debounce. If not I would use a value of say 500 to start (500 x 40us (microseconds). If it works with 500, try 250. Keep working it down though numbers in this range are fine. Other options included ferrite beads on your limit or Estop, capacitors, shielded wiring, star grounds and wire management. Mostly just a methodical approach to correct grounding procedures.

I would reload Mach preferably with a newer version but even the older versions are fine if you have been successful with it. Some form of file corruption pops up every now and then.

I too have had weird and seemingly unexplained actions after pressing different switches whether they are on screen or thru my Shuttle Pro. I run so many different products I expect it. The 1 thing I now try to implement is a contactor also tied into my Estop switch (separate set of contacts on the Estop switch) that kills ALL power to the drivers, BOB's, relays or whatever, everything (except PC power which is not plugged into the machine). You wouldnt guess what motivated me to do such a thing.  

138

General Mach Discussion / Re: Look-ahead settings...

« on: March 19, 2014, 09:15:16 AM »

  I always use a value of 200 but have no idea as to why. I just figure it is better to look further down the road when driving fast. More time to think.

  Are you saying you dont know how to change the value (or dont know where this value is)?

It is on the general config page in Mach 3.   Mach3/Config/General Config. Dont forget to hit enter after changing the value.

139

General Mach Discussion / 3D printing with Mach 3, who is doing it?

« on: March 18, 2014, 02:28:52 PM »

I totally missed the delta aspect.

140

General Mach Discussion / Re: 3D printing with Mach 3, who is doing it?

« on: March 18, 2014, 10:38:28 AM »

ozy, yes that is exactly how I did it. A little editing on the codes for the start and ending in regards to turning on heaters and dwelling long enough to come up to temperature and the like. Also might have had to edit using either A or E as the extruder IIRC though Slic3r or similar software has that as a variable now.

You might want to download Slic3r and see how it works with Mach. Or its available settings. It just generates code but you can make changes in its outputs.