Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / B and C home switches triggering together

« on: September 05, 2016, 04:20:55 PM »

Hey folks, I'm having a bit of an issue.  I'm finally setting up my BC head.  I know, it's only been years, but well, I've been out of the country and my jobs on the mill only needed to be 3 axis until now.  Anyway, I'm setting it up, and am having trouble setting the home switches for the B/C head.  I have the B home switch set to port 2, pin 2, and C home switch set to port 2, pin 3.  If I manually connect the 5 volt to pin 2, it shows flags of both B and C home in the Diagnostics tab.  If I connect 5 volt to pin 3, I don't get a flag.  Note, this is without any home switches actually connected to the pins.  I'm in troubleshoot mode.  If I choose other pins for B home, it still does the same when closing the circuit.  It always throws B and C, but never individually.  Is there a setting in Mach for this maybe?  I'm at my wits end!

Barry

2

General Mach Discussion / trouble with 4th/5th access limit switches

« on: February 21, 2016, 07:43:12 PM »

Hey folks, I'm having trouble setting my limit switches for the 4th and 5th axis.  I had the mill set to use 2-9 on port 2 as inputs, and when I'd set one on 2 it would say it is also striking the other one that's set to 7.  If I reversed the settings, the same was true.  Then If I instead set to 13 and 15, I couldn't get either to say the limits were being hit.  Btw, when I say being hit, I'm just touching the ends of the wires together.  I'm not even going through a switch yet.  I wanted to make sure they work, before moving on.

Anyway, if you have an idea, let me know.  I'm excited to get my mill operational again after a year absence.  I knew I needed to rewire it, so I did, and it had shorts due to bad solder.  Now that's all fixed, it's almost operational, except for fixing the B/C axis!

Barry

3

General Mach Discussion / trouble setting 4th and 5th access ratios

« on: February 21, 2016, 07:38:35 PM »

Hey folks, I'm adding a B/C head to my mill, and I know the ratio on the drive itself is 33.3333 to 1, since this came in the documentation.  However, I don't know where to put this in Mach 3.  Any help would be appreciated, thanks!  These are angular, btw.

Barry

4

General Mach Discussion / Steps to making mill bulletproof

« on: January 11, 2015, 06:06:23 PM »

Hello, I just had a horrible day using the mill.  It kept crashing about every 3 minutes.  I'm running it on a laptop through a sub smooth stepper, the cnc4pc breakout board, and gecko drive motion controllers.  The mill is large about the size of a car, and six axis.  The frame is 8020, hsd spindle, b/c head, a table rotor and gantry system.  I'd like to make this bulletproof, so I can do real work on it.  Right now, I can't.  Anybody have steps to build on, test with, so I can depend on this thing?  If anybody is in the OC area and would like to lend a hand, I'd love it.

I know scales are all working, and all axis work.  Nothing is reliable though.

Wits end, argh!

5

Share Your GCode / G-Code Help - Spindle Cut Through Table

« on: March 30, 2013, 09:15:38 PM »

Yo folks, I'm cutting my first piece of delron (I think that's the name) and really didn't want to make this kinda mistake since that stuff is $$$.  Anyway, I set my origin point at the top corner of my stock.  Z is down in my mill.  I then set the program to run, and it raised up, moved to where the first cut was supposed to be, then went down and cut right through the stock, sacrificial layer, and the table before stopping itself.  Before asking about limit switch, I do have them, but it's set lower due to my spindle can turn twist sideways too.

Anyway, can you see a spot in this G-Code that would make it do that?  I don't see it.  I'm wondering if it's a one time glitch.  I've had the mill with Mach for two years and haven't seen this kind of error.

The units I'm using are in mm, and I gave it a maximum depth of -11 mm.  The stock part is 12.5 mm  The Gcode below is more than the part got to.  It made an initial plunge, but that was it.

%
N1 G40 G49 G80 G98
;Horizontal Roughing
N2 G20 G90
N3 S10000 M03
N4 G00 Z1.8996
N5 X7.4286 Y7.4703
N6 G01 Z-0.1125 F31.496
N7 Z-0.1375 F62.992
N8 X7.2548 Y7.6417 Z-0.1805
N9 X7.276 Y7.675 Z-0.1875
N10 X7.6759 Y7.2264
N11 X7.2548 Y7.6417
N12 X7.276 Y7.675
N13 X7.346 Y7.7374
N14 X7.2582 Y7.8359
N15 X7.2327 Y7.7815
N16 X7.1351 Y7.6283
N17 X7.6618 Y7.1071
N18 X7.8199 Y7.2058
N19 X7.346 Y7.7374
N20 X7.416 Y7.7998
N21 X7.981 Y7.1659
N22 X7.892 Y7.1403
N23 X7.6485 Y6.9883
N24 X7.0153 Y7.6149
N25 X7.1537 Y7.8319
N26 X7.185 Y7.9018
N27 X7.1987 Y7.976
N28 X7.1937 Y8.0492
N29 X7.416 Y7.7998
N30 X7.486 Y7.8622
N31 X7.1625 Y8.225
N32 X2.1737 Y8.2233
N33 X2.1254 Y8.1802
N34 X2.1996 Y8.202
N35 X6.9246 Y8.2006
N36 X6.9746 Y8.1867
N37 X7.0496 Y8.1348
N38 X7.0821 Y8.0888
N39 X7.1006 Y8.0388
N40 X7.1058 Y7.9888
N41 X7.0989 Y7.9388
N42 X7.0746 Y7.8823
N43 X6.8956 Y7.6015
N44 X7.6357 Y6.8691
N45 X7.9246 Y7.0524
N46 X7.9746 Y7.071
N47 X8.0246 Y7.0763
N48 X8.0746 Y7.0695
N49 X8.1246 Y7.0492
N50 X8.1746 Y7.0098
N51 X8.2075 Y6.9638
N52 X8.2254 Y6.9168
N53 Y7.0327
N54 X7.486 Y7.8622
N55 Z-0.1625 F59.055
N56 G00 Z1.8996
N57 X7.4786 Y1.5807
N58 G01 Z-0.1125 F31.496
N59 Z-0.1375 F62.992
N60 X7.2669 Y1.392 Z-0.1875
N61 X7.2557 Y1.4099
N62 X7.6716 Y1.8302
N63 X7.7223 Y1.798
N64 X7.2669 Y1.392
N65 X7.1875 Y1.3422
N66 X7.2464 Y1.2481
N67 X7.8856 Y1.8179
N68 X7.8242 Y1.8444
N69 X7.658 Y1.9498
N70 X7.1368 Y1.423
N71 X7.1875 Y1.3422
N72 X7.108 Y1.2923
N73 X7.0179 Y1.4361
N74 X7.6445 Y2.0694
N75 X7.8744 Y1.9236
N76 X7.942 Y1.8963
N77 X8.0373 Y1.8859
N78 X8.1232 Y1.9042
N79 X7.1984 Y1.0797
N80 X7.1926 Y1.1252
N81 X7.1672 Y1.1981
N82 X7.108 Y1.2923
N83 Z-0.1625 F59.055
N84 G00 Z1.8996
N85 X1.6519 Y1.4843
N86 G01 Z-0.1125 F31.496
N87 Z-0.1375 F62.992
N88 X1.4495 Y1.6828 Z-0.1875
N89 X1.7243 Y1.3751
N90 X1.7392 Y1.3986
N91 X1.4495 Y1.6828
N92 X1.3796 Y1.6204
N93 X1.2754 Y1.7371
N94 X1.302 Y1.7465
N95 X1.4363 Y1.8272
N96 X1.859 Y1.4124
N97 X1.7969 Y1.3147
N98 X1.7499 Y1.2056
N99 X1.3796 Y1.6204
N100 X1.3097 Y1.558

6

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Project: Viki and Milla CNC

« on: June 03, 2012, 07:44:43 PM »

Hey folks, I've been MIA for awhile while at crunch time at work.  I did want to share a large project I'm working on, as well as finally posting my first video showing the CNC Machine I built.  It's 6 axis.  I use Rhino CAM and Mach 3 to control it.

Viki is a Victiorian/Steampunk Time Machine Arcade Machine.  It's completely CAD modeled down to the electronics level, so I know everything will fit together.  It'll be made of wood, glass, brass, stained glass, you name it.  If you guys are interested in the project, the donation level gifts are also nice, and hand made by me.

The CNC video is the third video on the page.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1087976474/project-viki

Barry

7

General Mach Discussion / burned out stepper motor? Symptoms.

« on: April 24, 2011, 12:13:20 AM »

Hello, I have a stepper motor that seems to not run occasionally.  Other times it works fine. Of course this motor is on a twin X axis, meaning that the x-axis has two stepper motors each with the same signal.  When one fails, this moves only 1/2 of the machine, which is very very bad!  Basically worst possible one to go out.

Is this a normal symptom that you guys have seen?  I'm wondering if I need to order a new motor, or I need to investigate something else.  When they go out, do they act flakey and then finally give up the ghost, or do they just go out immediately!

This is a NEMA 34, 1290 oz motor.  It's moving a gantry that weighs probably 250 lbs.

Barry

8

SmoothStepper USB / SmoothStepper now not responding correctly

« on: April 19, 2011, 01:10:03 PM »

My smoothstepper decided last night that it didn't want to respond correctly and now the computer doesn't recognize it.  Half the time, it will still appear in the device manager as a smoothstepper.  The other half it will be an unknown device.  When it does appear as a smooth stepper, Mach3 will return that no smoothstepper is seen and to check the cables etc.  Any ideas on how to solve this?  Or is it just broken?

The lights are still turning on.  Visually it looks good.  It's passing along power/signals to the C23 board too.  If I run it powered from the USB, it comes up in the device manager more often.  If it's powered via 5 volt supply it almost never comes up in the device manager anymore.

This is the first rev of the board, or maybe 1.1, it's before the desolder of the ground that I see on the boards here.  Would desoldering that help?  Or other ideas?

Barry

9

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / New Control Box for Milla

« on: February 16, 2011, 01:06:57 AM »

Ever since I first built Milla, I knew I'd have to redo my control box.  I took a week off of work and redid it.  This included any fabrication, cutting, planning, sourcing parts and wire, etc.  Anyway, here's a picture of the new box.  For this one, crossovers are kept to a minimum, and even then, they are straight across, or an inch or two away in depth.  All communication wiring is horizontal, and shielded.  All power runs vertical.  All ports are on aluminum plate, which is bolted to the steel control box.  The stepper motors are all mounted on 1/8" channel aluminum that is cut a bit for airflow.  They are also mounted with heatsink paste.  Every part has their proper standoffs, and pieces screwed on properly.  Before I hung things from the side, since my case was too small for everything.  Oh, all parts are mounted onto a giant aluminum plate inside the box too.  I could unbolt that and take the whole kit and kaboodle out at once if I wanted.  I also wired in a cooling fan and a few indicator lights.  All in all, I anticipate this working really well.

Now, I need to make a new wiring diagram that follows this layout.  Another day for that though.  It's time for milling fun.

Barry

10

General Mach Discussion / rewiring to minimize EMF and heat

« on: October 03, 2010, 02:35:03 PM »

Hey folks, the time has come to rewire Milla, my 6 axis mill.  When looking at the wiring job I did, it's surprising she's worked this well until now.  After doing my latest aluminum job, she's getting a lot of EMF.  Pict included of the wiring.  I was wondering if you wall could mention your preferred wire, control box, and wire connectors.  My initial wiring didn't include shielded cabling, so right there will be a huge step up.

Still though, I'd like to know how to turn my previous wiring job which is so messy, but it works, into something neat, manageable, and no crosstalk.

Also included is my wiring diagram, so you can see how complicated it is.





Barry