Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Re: Charge Pump & Mach 3

« on: May 14, 2012, 08:26:17 PM »

Thanks for the reply. I can't say and don't have the equipment/knowledge to test the idea. The C4 has been working well for about a year. As soon as I hit the switch, it comes back on. And M3 has been working well for 3+ years now. It only happened that one day. I wonder if a stray electrical current would have tripped the C4 or spooked M3. Our electrical lines is not clean electric. Don't know if the C4 is sensitive to voltage flux. Sometimes turning on the 220v vac will cause the M3 computer to lock up. No clue why that would happen as they are two totally different circuits.

I went through the grounding thing last year with Al the Man. Every piece of aluminum and steel is grounded back to the control box, the wall and the computer. I will be back in the shop on Friday and see what happens.

Thanks
Dave

12

General Mach Discussion / Charge Pump & Mach 3

« on: May 13, 2012, 09:22:03 AM »

I posted this on CNCzone but no response. I have been using Mach 3 for several years, no problems. On Thursday this past week for some reason C-4 Safety Charge Pump would trip off several times.  Of course, the router turned off and the motors stopped but Mach 3 would continue to run clicking off the X,Y & Z counters. Mach 3 responded to the ESC and acted like all was well. This is the first time ever this has occurred. The machine is properly grounded and since it is a new rebuild, the limit switches are not yet installed or deactivated. What would cause Mach 3 to drop the 12.5Kmz signal and yet continue to run? And what do I do to fix it? Thanks.

Dave

13

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Re: Importing Tool Offsets Directly - is it possible

« on: October 09, 2011, 10:41:02 AM »

Did you ever figure this out? I would like to maintain my tool database in a CAD/CAM package like CamBam. Then use a VB script to read the XML file and update the Mach3 tool database to reflect. Wondering where you are on your project. Thanks
Dave

14

General Mach Discussion / Re: A Simple VB Macro Pre-Processor

« on: December 14, 2009, 12:23:55 PM »

Thanks. I'll review it ASAP. Dave

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: A Simple VB Macro Pre-Processor

« on: December 13, 2009, 10:21:36 PM »

I'm interested.

16

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: video probe, tool or toy?

« on: November 17, 2009, 11:25:46 PM »

I have not played with toms plugin as I have not been able to finds a single cohesive thread on how to set it up yet. i have ample line lasers and box full of webcams..

can someone post a link to a step by step setup for 3d scanning on a 3 axis mill?  (1)  here is the software, (2) you  need this hardware (3) heres is how you hook it up

Hello Chris,

Sorry about not having a straightforward setup tutorial. Everything is in development and somewhat experimental.

I would suggest that you start with a search for "Hubin" or "thubin" at http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php#2 . That will bring up 32 posts from me. Most have something to do with 3d scanning. Browse through those and many from other people on the Video Probing forum.

Then ask questions and I will try to answer.

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

Tom,
I have to side with Botha. Searching 32+ of your posting and hundreds of others that often contradict each other and contain false start information is a tough way to learn how to do video/laser probing. This topic interests me greatly and I have researched this forum extensively. I have read all of your posts along with the hundreds of others, and I am still confused. You seem to be on the forefront of the development cycle and may be in the best position to provide a baseline of what works and how to set it up. I know this is asking a lot and would be time consuming, but is there a way you or someone could provide a single post that sets the baseline of how to do video/laser scanning. A single document that explains lasers to purchase, cameras to use, how to mount/orient them and how to use the software to create a mesh cloud. Basically a summation of what actually works. Something I can build upon going forward. Thanks for your consideration.

Thanks
Dave

17

VB and the development of wizards / Re: SIN, SQRT, TAN & COS

« on: November 16, 2009, 11:27:03 PM »

Never mind. I see it. A stupid programmer error. Problem solved. Thanks.

18

VB and the development of wizards / SIN, SQRT, TAN & COS

« on: November 16, 2009, 11:17:46 PM »

I have searched the forum for answers but haven't turned up anytime useful. The question is how to code TAN (and other trig functions) in Mach3 Gcode? I have used FIX and FUP which work as described. But TAN throws an error. A snippet of VB code:

code "#90 = " & Width
code "#91 = TAN[Angle] (Slope of Angle)"
code "#92 = [#90 / #91] (Y intercept)"

#90 is the width of the stock
#91 is the slope of the angle to cut
#92 is the x intercept on y axis at the width

Obliviously, the Width & Angle were previously collected. I could code the answer in VB and assign it to #91, but the solution is not transparent.  The Mach3 manual describes Unary Operations and very much implies these Unary Operations are available. How do I code this so Mach3 understands? Thanks

19

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: October 23, 2009, 11:00:42 PM »

Another new member of the forum. Received my 4-axis mill from Legacy Woodworking about a month ago. Steep learning curve and I am enjoying it a lot. After 35 years in business I decided to return to teaching and bring my industry knowledge to the classroom. My first degree was in Education and I taught Industrial Arts briefly in the 1970's before reporting to active duty. I never returned to the public classroom.

Over the past several months I have been subing in various area high schools. I was shocked at two major observations. 1) Many high school kids today are rude, disrespectful, insubornate and just plain a**holes. And 2) we still teach Industrial Arts today like we did 35 years ago. Not sure which one is worst. Industry has advanced to CAD/CAM and automated production while our high schools still focus on building clip boards and coffee tables using table saws and hand planers. Subed today in a VoTech welding class that has a CNC Plasma machine but it's not taught or used because the instructor thinks it's too hard to understand.

Working on a proposal to a local school board to re-introduce Industrial Arts into a school without a program. Idea is to focus on the early stage processes using CAD and only create 'output' after extensive CAM simulation/testing on computers. A viable Industrial Arts program could be taught using a band saw, a 4-5 axis CNC mill and computers/software. Or at least that is the basis of my proposal. We shall see.

20

General Mach Discussion / Re: re: Whats happened to Mach.4 update

« on: October 23, 2009, 10:28:11 PM »

That's what I am thinking. Just fired off an email to license@machsupport.com asking for clarification.