Messages

151

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4 using G02/G03 with R Radius

« on: November 05, 2017, 01:59:41 PM »

Hi,
Has anyone used G02/G03 with R Radius?
Does anyone have an example of G-code that can cut a complete circle.
Or any other examples specific to Mach4 using G02/G03 with R.
Regards,
Mauri.

152

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Module Works Simulator

« on: November 01, 2017, 06:20:49 AM »

Gary,
I just use the Wheel on my mouse to Zoom.
Regards,
Mauri.

153

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Module Works Simulator

« on: October 30, 2017, 05:57:50 PM »

Gary,
If you have the first version, please download the latest one.
Also download the manual.
There are no issue with zoom or rotate in the Simulator Tab and or setting Z height, although it would have been better if it picked up the coordinates of the G-Code.
The have made a few updates to the initial stock settings and it is a lot better than before.
They have added Tapered Ball Nose as well.
This version still has resolution issues if you use small cutters, the program has been purposely done this way as there is a possibility that an Industrial version will have a lot more bells and whistles, 4 Axis and fine resolution, but at a greater cost not sure if we will ever see it.
The Module Works company makes a great simulator but is very expensive.
So if you do not do engravings 2.5 and 3.5 with small tools or do general machining then it will simulate fine.
For me it does nothing as we predominantly do fine engravings.
Regards,
Mauri.

154

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Erratic Feedrate When Cutting Spline Lines

« on: September 30, 2017, 06:11:59 PM »

CV in CNC applications is an interesting subject and there are many out there that have been studying this issue for some time.
Here are some more mathematical ways of making a angle to a tolerance at maximum speed.
Regards,
Mauri.

155

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Erratic Feedrate When Cutting Spline Lines

« on: September 29, 2017, 11:36:05 PM »

Chaoticone,
Thanks for the reply.
I decided to make one more test.
Instead of calculating an optimized G-Code on all the lines at once, I decided to do each line separately in Rhino/madCAM and optimize each line separately, but output it as one G-Code.
I tested one with CV .001mm Tolerance and the other all Angles at 100 keeping the G1 and G0 as is.
This method no longer has the off line movements on going from G1 to G0, but does takes a bit more time, however a lot less than all G1.
So for lettering this is the way to go.
The result in the DOC.
Regards,
Mauri.

156

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Erratic Feedrate When Cutting Spline Lines

« on: September 29, 2017, 08:38:40 PM »

Chaoticone,
I did a lot of testing last night and this morning on lettering 2mm upper and lower case engraving a standards on brass engravings.
2 Axis selected using CV program vs all angles the same.
The Doc attachment below contains all my findings.
The first main issue that I have found is that the Mach4 program has a flaw in the CV area, in that when you go from G1 to G0 it goes off line.
If you make all the code G1, then it does not, but the time increases significantly.
The second issue on lettering is that no matter the tolerance setting on your CV program on curves it does not follow the line.
Two items affect this:
1) CV being to high on some Angles
2) The change from higher CV to lower CV.
I have provided all combinations in my DOC file with screen capture examples.
On 3D engravings and continuous line engraving it has less of an issue and the CV program works well.
Regards,
Mauri.

157

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Erratic Feedrate When Cutting Spline Lines

« on: September 29, 2017, 02:58:11 AM »

Chaoticone,
That is much easier, thanks.
It seems to follow the profiles very well on small .01mm cut profiles, tested many different types in simulation.
I will run some controller tests soon and compare process times on some profiles your system vs our all angles the same version.
Regards,
Mauri.

158

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Erratic Feedrate When Cutting Spline Lines

« on: September 28, 2017, 07:06:29 PM »

Allen,
I forgot to mention make the numbers column in excel numbers with 0 decimal that way they will roundup to the nearest Integer value.
Regards,
Mauri.

159

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Erratic Feedrate When Cutting Spline Lines

« on: September 28, 2017, 07:04:42 PM »

 Allen,
Yes all you have to do is multiple the CV Imperial values by 25.4.
Then Copy them into the machine.ini.
To make it easier for you to do this:
Copy Angle_0=x.****************** to Angle_179=x.****************** into Excel.
Then use Replace to change Angle_???= to blank you will have to do this 3 times Angle_?= then Angle_?? and Angle_???=
Then multiple all 180 value by 25.4.
On another column enter Angle_1 and then on the next 2 lines Angle_2 and Angle_3.
Then highlight the 3 and double click the dot on the bottom right hand corner of the highlight this will make a column from 0 to 179.
Next on another column make a column of =
Finally copy the column of you metric values to the right of the = column.
Then copy all the 3 columns and replace the one in machine.ini be selecting Paste Special Text .
Then fire up Mach4, followed by exit.
Save this file line machine2A00254.ini meaning 2 axis .00254mm error or any equivalent tolerance conversion for .1 to .0001 to metric.
By doing this the tabs will disappear in the machine.ini copy that you made and all the Angles, =, numbers will come together.
You can make multiple sets with other combinations of Axis and Tolerance.
So every time you want another type click open in notepad and save it as machine.ini.
Hope this helps to make it easier.
Regards,
Mauri.

160

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Erratic Feedrate When Cutting Spline Lines

« on: September 27, 2017, 10:19:32 PM »

Chaoticone,
Thanks for your reply.
Are the CV values generated by your program changed to Integers?
If we convert the Imperial version to Metric do we need to change them to Integers or leave them in decimal form?
Is this curve generated by your CV program a form of a Polynomial?
Regards,
Mauri.