Messages

471

FAQs / Re: Touch Plate w/Mach3 and Hobby CNC Pro Board?

« on: October 27, 2012, 12:57:52 PM »

Sorry no one replied. Connect the sinlge wire of the touch plate to an input pin on the HCNC Pro board. Assign the pin in Mach. Test on the diagnostics page to make sure your circuit is working.

472

General Mach Discussion / Re: Limit Switches and Interference

« on: October 27, 2012, 11:25:05 AM »

It is most likely a noise issue. Do you have a star ground? Is your Ve- from your power supply landed there? You need the shields, VE- and the earth ground to all be tied to a central point. I didnt have that one wire (VE- from my PS) tied into mine for years and tried every remedy to no avail. Just random triggers well into a succesful running code. Finally, due to my misunderstanding of electronics and what people were telling me all along, I connected that wire (praying to not release the magic smoke, burn or shock me). It worked! I now run 0 debounce and have not experienced a trigger since. I have even disconnected my shields and run stepper and limit wiring side by side as a test with no problems. Btw all shields are reconnected and wiring seperated as that was only a test, no need to be stupid. I do that plenty.

473

General Mach Discussion / Re: Odd stalling or stuttering, loss of position

« on: September 30, 2012, 02:51:49 PM »

PMDX 126, 5056D and a brand new 48V PS.

   So far the accel solved the problem. I reduced it to 7 and was able to put my velocity back into the 80's without issue. Audibly I can barely tell a difference if at all. I dont see the stuttering or loss nor do I hear it. My machining rates are fine. The issue was only occurring right in the corners of a few slots and holes that were very close to the diameter of the tool. All appears to be fine. Proof in MDF looked great.
                                                                                                        Thanks

474

General Mach Discussion / Odd stalling or stuttering, loss of position

« on: September 30, 2012, 01:17:17 AM »

Ray,
  I had moved my kernel speed down to 25 after I realized it was set to 45 during my testing for lost steps. There were none. I was running a velocity (at the 45 kernel speed) of 331 and an accel of 20.  I then lowered my kernel speed and never sought a max speed. I set my velocity to 80 accel 20 for all subsequent use. Then today during the running of the file I heard it squeal and it loses position in the X. I lifted the Z, rezeroed it above the workpiece and reran the file. Sure enough it repeats the loss same place. I lowered the velocity to 45. Still does it. I also noticed it during an attempt at a chamfer pass on a small hole. Seems like if there is a bit of interpolation it goes haywire.

Is there a way I can watch the load on the CPU while I am running the file and see if it is overwhelmed? It is a different PC than I have ever used. Dell Optiplex G120 IIRC. It seemed to pass the driver tests and I went thru the optimization steps when setting it up. Minimal software on that computer and no Internet connection nor am I running other programs simultaneously.

475

General Mach Discussion / Odd stalling or stuttering, loss of position

« on: September 29, 2012, 10:31:33 PM »

I have been working on my g0704 to make it as accurate as possible.

   Last week I adjusted the gibs with a dial indicator for lateral play in the table and was achieving 331ipm at 45k kernel speed with no positional loss whatsoever. I used the warm up wizard and created a file for each axis at a time (only using 1 axis at a time during the tests). I was above 200 ipm on all axis with no loss of steps.

   Those speeds were wonderful for the ego but not likely for anything I am going to do. I backed all axis down to 80 ipm max and retested many cycles to confirm no loss. Everything was great.

   Then I loaded a file (a stepper mount) which had some profiling, pocketing, drilling operations going on. Nothing complicated or fast. I was running between 8-30 ipm. However lifting out of 1 of the slots and moving to the next slot created a positional loss multiple times over. I reduced my speeds in half but it still loses position.

   All axis are still capable of flying and are accurate.

    Somehow I wonder if the computer is overloaded or not capable of the necessary pulse stream during 3 axis simultaneous moves. It just seems so odd. It almost as if the acceleration rate just went thru the roof for a moment.

   Reviewing the GCode there is no F value above 30 ipm. Also ran the wizards and cut a few pockets and circles with no issues and they measured to within .005 that I could tell on X and Y.

476

General Mach Discussion / Re: losing steps on z-axis (help)

« on: September 28, 2012, 02:16:41 PM »

Is your plunge rate set too high and loosing the steps right away?

477

General Mach Discussion / Re: losing steps on z-axis (help)

« on: September 28, 2012, 02:15:28 PM »

Is everything clean in the Z platform/carriage? Does the ballscrew spin easily by hand (or have you checked?). I just discovered a similar problem in my mchine (and my bad technique for gib adjustment) however you appear to have linear slides so I have no idea if tension is adjustable simialr to gibs.

478

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to make z tool cut deeper on the fly.....

« on: September 28, 2012, 02:10:57 PM »

You can fake the 0 as you refer to. You need to set your clearance higher and man the Estop.

479

General Mach Discussion / Z raising in the middle of a cut.

« on: September 16, 2012, 08:58:15 PM »

I don't run a torch but I can tell you it is frustrating on a regular basis for me. Do you see the moves in the code? Do you know how to analyze the code enough to tell where the program went South?

480

General Mach Discussion / accel and velocity

« on: September 16, 2012, 08:54:45 PM »

It does help to read the date :-)