Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lathe Tool Compensation Is there a better way??

« on: January 15, 2010, 05:52:34 PM »

LOL,
I payed more than that for my 7x14........

Im kinda stuck on how to isolate the tool from the work electrically. With out compromising the integrity of the lathe. Plastic has its ups and downs....

I was thinking about using some form of a paint or rubberized spray on, like that spray on electrical tape, it probably wont last forever, but should easily be touched up. On the tool holders them selves or the tool post.

Maybe a hard enamel type paint.

TJ

12

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lathe Tool Compensation Is there a better way??

« on: January 15, 2010, 05:34:55 PM »

Ok thanks all,

Yep so there isn't really a good way.

If only I had a spare 50grand for a nice big lathe with a turret on it... 

TJ

13

General Mach Discussion / Lathe Tool Compensation Is there a better way??

« on: January 15, 2010, 04:55:43 PM »

Hello All,
I have a 7x14 lathe and I feel I am dealing with tool changes the really hard way. So any advice or suggestions is really appreciated.

Ok I have a Quick Change Tool Post.
So attached is a picture to help explain if I am not using the correct terms.

If my tool post is always set at a Angular offset of 0 ( 90deg to the work piece) A standard offset can be made for each tool in the X and Z. This works in my mind.

Now if the tool post is anything other than 0. Lets say 30 deg. It happens alot for me to be able to work on larger pieces.
The X and Z offsets really become a triangle depending on the angular offset. Now I cant really find a good way to measure the angle of the tool post accurately in order to just do some math to find the new tool offset and get an accurate result.

Do you all just touch your tools every time you put a new tool on the post?
Does anyone use a Electronic Method of touching off the tool post?
There has to be a better way to set this up that I am missing.


Sorry the pic has all the chips I am mid project with many tool changes, hence why I am questioning a better way to do this.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

TJ

14

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle Speed Jumping on Axis Rapid Movement

« on: January 15, 2010, 04:27:20 PM »

Thanks for the Help Hood,
I will break it all down and see if I can come up with anything usefull. If I do Ill post it, in case someone else has the same problem.

Thanks,
TJ

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle Speed Jumping on Axis Rapid Movement

« on: January 11, 2010, 06:06:18 PM »

Hood,

Just a note, I thought I might be getting back feed from the stepper drivers, through the PC-VFD board since its on the same power supply, but disconnected it still happens.

As for CPU processing, running a program it floats around 50-55%, and I see no spikes during rapid movement. At idle it is around 12-14% with a jump to around 20% when a rapid jog is initiated.

Also to clarify, the physical spindle speed does not change, it remains constant, only the reading in mach.

Thank you,
TJ

16

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle Speed Jumping on Axis Rapid Movement

« on: January 10, 2010, 06:44:31 PM »

Thanks hood,
I have always had this problem but I have only been using Mach about a year now. Ive had the mill spindle sensor installed about 9 months now, and the lathe about 2. So I am not sure where in the version set I started.

TJ

17

General Mach Discussion / Spindle Speed Jumping on Axis Rapid Movement

« on: January 10, 2010, 04:19:15 PM »

Hello All,
This is happening on both my X3 mill, and 7x14 Lathe that are CNC. They are both hooked to the same computer, So only one runs at a time.
Simply when an Axis makes a full speed rapid, the displayed speed in mach 3 jumps up to around 6-8k plus. No matter what the current spindle speed is set at. Then returns to normal once the rapid is done.

Details.
Mill - Using an adjustable opto reflector sensor looking at a sanded and black line on the spindle pulley. Happens on any axis rapid movement.
Lathe - Using an opto interrupter style sensor looking at a missing tooth type wheel for its pulse. Happens only on the X axis.
The mill and lathe are on different parallel ports. Mill - On the mother board, Lathe - PCI board.
I am using shielded cable on all the sensors.
The pull up voltage is being supplied from the PC via USB for 5v.
My motor drives are enclosed separately using a xylotec 4 axis box for the mill, and probotix side step drivers for the lathe. Both use a common 24v supply.
Index De-bounce Lathe - 20 Mill - 10 I have tried all the way up to 50 on both with no change.
The mill spindle is speed controlled via cnc4pc's C6 - Variable Speed Control Board normally. I tested this with just manual control hooked up no change.

Notes,
I am using the most recent version of Mach 3. (Just downloaded and installed before coming here. )
Spindle Speed Averaging is turned on.

This has not been an issue that has affected anything I have done until now, but doing more threading work on my lathe, sometimes mid macro it will randomly change its Feed/rev rate. Consistent to the run, but no pattern as far as I can tell. Per example, two runs of 7/8 32tpi. The code did not change, just hit start again.
27 passes 3 spring passes
Run 1 results.
Pass 1-10 - Feed Ok @ .03 in/rev
Pass 11 - Feed changed to .06
Pass 12-14 - Feed .03
Pass 15 - Feed .06
Pass 16-30 - Feed .03

Run 2 Results
Pass 1-7 - Feed Ok @ .03 in/rev
Pass 8 - Feed changed to .02
Pass 9-20 - Feed .03
Pass 21 - Feed .02
Pass 21-24 - Feed .03
Pass 24 - Feed .02
Pass 25-30 - Feed .03

Any help, advice, suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time,
TJ

Edit : Note the Turn Diagnostics plugin does not seem to show this as a variation.

18

General Mach Discussion / Re: My Lathe has gone crazy, not on toolpath, Thread Cutting Issue

« on: November 20, 2009, 04:42:39 PM »

Ok I will try that as soon as I am home,
Im reading... Thank you for the doc.
TJ

19

General Mach Discussion / Re: My Lathe has gone crazy, not on toolpath, Thread Cutting Issue

« on: November 20, 2009, 04:25:29 PM »

Ok thank you all for the help,
Here is everything you have asked for. (I think)
Btw its going to take me some time to work through the lathe threading doc.
So for spindle speed,
Under the diagnostics screen, it shows the pulse correctly with the light lighting up.

I have tried the following
Switching the port numbers, so #1, is now #2 ect.
Turning on Just the timing input, or index, both active high and low, on both ports. Nothing.
If I run my backup copy of 42.020 turn, I do not have the timing input enabled, just index, and I get a spindle speed output just fine.
I have checked all the settings I can think of and I can not find any thing different from the settings in .020 and .032 versions.
The attached xml file, is from after the update to version 42.032.

20

General Mach Discussion / Re: My Lathe has gone crazy, not on toolpath, Thread Cutting Issue

« on: November 20, 2009, 01:12:34 PM »

Ok.
Thanks for the help so far.

I was using 42.020...
And I just upgraded to 42.032, but now I have lost my spindle speed. I checked ports, pins, de bounce, and that it is working correctly.
I am using my second parallel port, Index input, pin 15.
Prior to upgrading I copied the old mach folder, if I run the old version 020 again I have my spindle speed just fine.

Any Ideas?

TJ