Messages

21

General Mach Discussion / Re: G76 threading issues - any thougts?

« on: March 27, 2013, 05:48:46 PM »

Hood, thanks for keeping up the hunt!

I can confirm that I have a low going pulse - I have a scope looking directly at the cable as I write this
Simon

22

General Mach Discussion / Re: G76 threading issues - any thougts?

« on: March 27, 2013, 05:35:33 PM »

Hood, I have had various values of Index debounce and I am now back at 0 - nothing makes any difference!

Valmet, I was originally on 062 then I saw another recent thread which suggested that 066 would fix it and also rolling back to 057. None of them appear to make any difference.  058 caused an immediate exit of Mach, 059 would not go past the PP driver install.
Which version are you running?

However I have noted some more curious details also consistent with the change log which mentions 'correcting incorrect parameters being transferred in threading'
My little program which starts at x=0, z=30 and threads to z=0, retracts, g0 to z=0, shows some intersting points when running according to the screen:
Retract which should run at g1 speed appears to be much faster (g1speed set to 40mm/min), the g0 return is running at 400 and not the normal 500 and the return to x=0 g1 speed shows as 31 to 32...
Looking through lasterrors shows that (as I understand it) there are several successful threads cut at 1.5mm pitch, calculated as 350mm/ min, however there are also calculations where the pitch is taken as 50mm and a fail follows. This just happens to be the feedrate associated with the next command. Change that to say 44 and the erroneous pitch follows it.

Happy to hear more suggestions but this is looking like a case of a problem with g32 and the parameters passed to it at some point.

Thoughts anyone...?

Simon

23

General Mach Discussion / Re: G76 threading issues - any thougts?

« on: March 26, 2013, 02:32:24 PM »

Sorry, wrong .xml - for some reason the 'current' one does not have the same name as the launcher. This one is *really* the current one, updated as of yesterday according to the file.

Simon

24

General Mach Discussion / Re: G76 threading issues - any thougts?

« on: March 25, 2013, 05:24:43 PM »

Hood,

Sorry for the delay, external pressures pushing me away from playing with my toys!

XML attached for you to look through.

Further information:
Without going through the entire sequence, I have ended up hand coding a very simple G32 script - as below

G0 X2 Z22 (start point)
F50 (set feed rate)
G1 X0 (advance to the thread point at X=0)
G32 X0 Z0 F1.5 (Thread without changing X, to Z at 0 so 22 long and a pitch of 1.5mm)
G1 X2 (retract to X=2 at the end of the thread)
G0 X2 Z22 (return to start again)

I then copy/pasted a number of these into a file and inserted an M1 just before each G32.
Running the program lets the lathe cycle through over and over until some indeterminate point when the G32 results in a sound of steppers jumping, the DROs showing X at 0 and Z at about 0.5.
The program then stops several lines later, usually at the G1 X0 point and the program halts with the Run button flashing.

So completely mystified, the normal G0 and G1 cycles work perfectly happily and accurately but this entire threading cycle is driving me nuts!

Any thoughts gladly received.......

Simon

EDIT:
Forgot to say that I had a storage scope onto the index pulse and it is solid and clean...

25

General Mach Discussion / Re: G76 threading issues - any thougts?

« on: March 16, 2013, 10:10:20 AM »

Hood, Rich, thanks for your responses.

Rich, I couldn't find anything about 062 issues on threading - but I am probably not looking hard enough...

My biggest issue at the moment, and the thing that I think is causing he problem is the snipped bit of code in my first post which contains TWO G32s, one directly after the other.
I understand that G32 requires a move to X and Z prior to the G32 itself
The output from the wizard gives a Z move followed by an initial G32 going all of 0.05mm fixing X I guess, then the proper G32.

I feel my lathe cannot cope with the initial G32 followed by the 2nd one
Or am I barking up he wrong tree....?

Simon

I also tried setting the Z much further away initially with the settings (Z clearance) which didn't seem to do anything and then directly moving the start to Z to 10.

26

General Mach Discussion / G76 threading issues - any thougts?

« on: March 16, 2013, 06:24:42 AM »

Hi,
I am using the simple threading wizard to try and cut a 32 x 1.5mm thread on my Emco Compact 5PC (modified to Mach 3).

I have had a number of problems that appeared to be associated with the X infeed missing steps. When running the code generated by the wizard, I can hear the X attempt to get close to the thread OD then there are a couple of missing step sounds and then the thread is cut at an indeterminate depth.

Looking through the generated code based around G76, it appears to be in line with what I was expecting:
G00  X22
G00 Z3
G00 X16
M03 S200
G76 X13.9 Z-16.5 Q10 P1.5 J0.05 L45 H0.05 I29 C6 B0.025 T0

I have tried to read all of the threads (sorry ) but there appear to be none with similar problems.

I then edited M1076 to give me the full code and that is where I start to see what may be a problem - but no idea why:

(Min decremant being used)
(Decrement = 0.05 pass 2)
G01 Z3
G32 X15.9 Z2.9446 F1.5
G32 X15.9 Z-16.3125 F1.5
G01 X22 Z-16.5 F1.5
G00 X22 Z3
G00 X16

The underlined G32 is the key issue I think; Z is set to 3 followed by an instruction to screwcut to 2.9446, followed swiftly afterwards by the 'real' G32 to do the thread I need.

So.....:

• what am I doing wrong.....? Is this something I have set/not set in the wizard or is this something that is caused by 'something' else?

If I edit out the 'odd' line, then the threading is successful.

Both files attached in full in case there is something else buried in the files.
Rev is 043.062, using MSM v2.0 and the wizard is shown as 1.7

I know that threading is always a difficult issue but this has me very confused.

Simon

27

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 failing after spindle setup

« on: October 05, 2011, 02:53:28 AM »

Hi Hood,
Thanks for your analysis - I had come to the same conclusion (apart from the direction pin).

I tried your idea - and it seems to work perfectly. I spent an hour last night re-adjusting and getting the axis moving in the correct direction - both needed changing because I had introduced a ball screw on Y since the last time I used it and that is a RH thread as well as a different stepper on X, hence the direction change there.

I will take great care to back up my xml before I head off into more spindle work, but for the moment this seems to be a work around, although no idea what the underlying problem is.

Thanks again,
Simon.

@BR549 - Thanks for the though - I originally posted the same message on the MSM boards and Dave responded last night as well. However I have seen reports of others in similar 'I only changed this and now it is completely broken' vein. However I find the MSM screens to be really very effective so I will battle on....

28

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 failing after spindle setup

« on: October 04, 2011, 10:29:11 AM »

Hood,
Many thanks.

The file "The_Mill" is the old pre-MSM file and the "Brand New Mill" is the current one - I think. I have to admit to a certain amount of confusion from time to time...and the MSM screens don't seem to have any information about the current configuration file loaded - unless I have missed that as well.

Simon.

29

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 failing after spindle setup

« on: October 04, 2011, 08:35:14 AM »

Hi All,
This is a copy of the mail I posted on the Calypso forum in case the problem is more Mach3 related - or in case someone here has some thoughts....
Hi All,

Required information first of all:
1) Mach version: 3.043.037
2) MSM version: 1.1.11
3) Windows version: XP
3a) If vista or W7, 32 or 64 bit? N/A
4) Interface: Parallel Port? Smooth Stepper? or ? Parallel port
5) Are any plug-ins installed? If so, what are they? none

Background:
I have been using my home converted BF20 for around 2 years now and I joined the MSM beta users when the opportunity arose.

Over this period I have been steadily improving the mill to operate faster and more accurately and it now runs at a comfortable 700mm/min and does what I want (I am not an industrial operator, my CNC work unwinds me from a day of high tech telecoms - usually!)

My most recent change was to design and build my own high speed spindle which so far has been successful - with the inevitable debugging and problem solving along the way along with configuration changes.
During the period spent debugging the spindle, I have had the power turned on for the parallel interface board and to the steppers but, because everything was in a huge tangle of wires, circuit boards, components, scope probes, etc, I did not move the axes.

2 nights ago, I decided to put the spindle aside until I could design the Mk2 version and I went back to make a simple aluminium cutout.

The problem:
The axes will not move at even 1/10th of their normal speed - they are loosing steps, stuttering whining and all sorts of noxious things.
This happens under MDI doing rapids, also using the joystick I use for large movements and with the MPG.
Max speed is around 9 mm/min.......

Obvious conclusions:
I had damaged something electronically or electrically. I went around the entire system ensuring that:

• every cable was either properly connected or completely disconnected
• all power supplies were at the correct voltages
• signals were as they should be (at a quick glance)

After that, I did what every Windows user does and restarted MSM, then tried rebooting and restarting, all to no avail.

I then decided to load an old version of Mach3 on a bit of a whim - this is my pre MSM version and did not even have the correct steps per mm values for the Y axis. This worked perfectly (apart from the steps).

After that, I went around the 2 setups trying to see what configuration setting is different between the 2 - and I cannot see what it can be.

PLEASE forum users, if anyone has any bright ideas on this problem which is causing me some grief, I would be very grateful to hear them.
Remember, this started directly after I was playing around with the spindle and spindle settings - which are now all at the disabled or set to minimum.

Thanks in advance,

Simon

30

CVI MachStdMill (MSM) / Re: Wrong feed rate

« on: September 13, 2010, 05:14:20 PM »

Dave,
Thanks for the information, I have just downloaded (but not run) the updates. Sorry I didn't read the previous feed rate thread first either...
Simon