Messages

21

LazyTurn / Re: Is this a bug in LazyTurn?

« on: November 01, 2009, 04:43:34 PM »

There's another source of confusion that might relate to my problems.  I can't figure how to put my profiles in AutoCAD's upper left quadrant. 

Apparently it's not enough to simply set the set the UCS origin at the bottom right corner of the profile drawing.  I found out by experimentation that I can have the same profile in two different drawings, both with the UCS origin set to the same place on the drawing, but LT will place the profiles at different places on the billet. 

I started with a drawing that LT would accept, but I didn't like it because the profile was too far away from the chuck.  To reposition the profile closer to the chuck, I had to move the drawing over in AutoCAD.  Then I set the UCS origin to put 0,0 where it belonged again.  It's as though AutoCAD and /or LT have a hidden "machine coordinate system" that I don't know where to find.  The UCS is all relative and LT is ignoring it and using the hidden, absolute coordinates instead of the relative coordinates of the UCS.  Maybe everybody that uses AutoCAD knows about this but me.  Could easily be true; I've never taken a class.   So at this moment, I don't know how to place my drawings in the upper left quadrant because LT doesn't seem to use the UCS origin to define quadrants.

In case it matters, I'm using AutoCAD LT97. 

Thanks for any help.

Dave

22

LazyTurn / Re: Is this a bug in LazyTurn?

« on: October 31, 2009, 10:45:51 PM »

Rich,

Here are the two .tap files and the corresponding DXFs.

If you'll tell me what screens you want and what program you like for capturing screens, I'll send them.  (I've literally never captured screenshots before.  Just never had to.)

For some reason, I thought you wrote the LazyTurn manual.  Thanks for offering to help.

Dave

23

LazyTurn / Is this a bug in LazyTurn?

« on: October 31, 2009, 08:54:42 PM »

Hi Rich et al.,

So, I sprung for the $175 and purchased the license to Mach3.  Solved the previous G-code garble problem.

I'm cutting a profile into wood.  I'm using three separate runs:
  1) cut the billet down from square to round,
  2) cut the desired profile into the billet,
  3) make a deep, parting cut.

Now, I used the same AutoCAD file for both run 2 and run 3.  I just made the parting cut deeper for run 3 and moved some surfaces up to the billet diameter so LazyTurn wouldn't waste time cutting the same areas again.  I didn't move any the location of the parting cut.  I just made it deeper for run 3.

I was very careful not to shift ANYTHING in AutoCAD.  Indeed, I can load the two runs alternately in AutoCAD and they perfectly overlay each other.  I also checked the positions of the vertical lines defining the shallow cut and the deep cut and their X values were identical.  Only the length of the lines, i.e. the Y ends, were different, to set the depth of the cut.

When I fire up run 3, it wants to make the parting cut about 2 mm farther out, i.e., about 2mm offset on the Z-axis, and out of position from where the shallow version of the cut was made in run 2.

Am I missing something here?  It looks like a bug in the program to me, but I'm hoping you'll have an explanation that I overlooked.

By the way, everything else is working well.  I'm very pleased with myself because the hardware I scrounged and assembled is performing just as I hoped.  Not a hint of chatter. Plenty of torque in the step motors.  I can re-run phase 2 over and over and it overlays the previous cuts perfectly.  Fun and amazing to watch.

I just can't figure out why LazyTurn is shifting the location of the parting cut.

Any ideas?

Regards,
Dave

24

General Mach Discussion / Re: G-code window is different than file in Notepad

« on: October 29, 2009, 10:57:11 AM »

Rich,  Yes, I realize that LazyTurn will become a licensed product at some point.  It's working pretty well for me and looks like it will be worth it.

And, I know what you say is true, about the level of function, support and documentation for this kind of software.  I'm working with Mach3 because it looked best, not perfect.  The quality of Mach3 implies that Art et al. want it to be as good as possible, and this effectively invites complaints when problems are found.  If I thought the product was a lost cause, I wouldn't be posting.

Thanks,
Dave

25

Feature Requests / Zoom-in and Zoom-out

« on: October 29, 2009, 10:26:40 AM »

LazyTurn  zoom works in the opposite way compared to every other program I've used.  E.g., Adobe Acrobat Reader, zoom-in makes the image larger.  In LazyTurn it makes the image smaller.

Thanks,
Dave

26

Feature Requests / G-code line limit in the demo versions

« on: October 29, 2009, 10:21:47 AM »

When reaching the limit, Mach3Mill and Mach3Turn should generate a coherent error message.  I was just told, in a different part of the forum, that reaching the limit causes the bizarre behavior in the G-code list window.

And the documentation should spell out the demo-version limitations, perhaps in the installation section.  That's the first place I went looking for it.

Apparently Mach3Turn has a lower limit than Mach3Mill.  I was expecting a 500 line limit, based on what I'd read, and I wasted a lot of time finding and trying to figure out the bizarre behavior I was seeing.

27

General Mach Discussion / Re: G-code window is different than file in Notepad

« on: October 29, 2009, 09:58:10 AM »

Thanks for explaining it.  You might tell Art that the program really ought to give a sensible message when reaching the limit. And it should be in the documentation.

I know that because we're running Windows we should be accustomed to cryptic, misleading and absent error messages   .... and because Art doesn't work for Microsoft we're anticipating something better.

Best regards,
Dave

28

General Mach Discussion / Re: G-code window is different than file in Notepad

« on: October 29, 2009, 09:32:19 AM »

I'm nor sure what you mean by "canned cycle."  The Gcode came from LazyTurn and looks simple, one command per line.

I was hoping to avoid spending more money until I was sure I was going to be able to get the job done.

And...if the limit's being reached, wouldn't the program give some kine of message?

thanks.

29

General Mach Discussion / Re: G-code window is different than file in Notepad

« on: October 29, 2009, 09:06:30 AM »

Are you sure it's 100?  Why doesn't the program give some kind of coherent indication when the limit is reached?  And I'm sure I read 500 lines somewhere, although I just re-read the installation section of the Mach3Turn document and it doesn't say what the limit is.     

Frustrating.....

Thanks

30

General Mach Discussion / G-code window is different than file in Notepad

« on: October 29, 2009, 08:35:26 AM »

I've just added X and Z axes to a simple Grizzly wood lathe.  I'm successfully using Mach3 on a Dell Latitude D800.  By reading posts on the forum I was able to disable the services that were causing laptop trouble.  Everything appears to be working and I'm about ready start cutting, but the G-code list window is behaving strangely. 

I'm not sure where to post my questions about this.  My G-code file is 375 lines long, well within the 500-line limit.  The code displayed in the G-code list window doesn't match the file that I load.  The first couple hundred lines are right but then it starts repeating lines and omitting other lines.  When I run the code the system works perfectly until it gets up to the problem area.  Then it halts. If I hit the edit button, Notepad comes up and the file is perfect.  When I quit Notepad and go back to the G-code list window the bottom half of the file is still messed up.   Is this because it's unlicensed?  Is the code limit less than 500 lines for Mach3Turn?

Dave