Messages

291

General Mach Discussion / Re: dry run

« on: December 12, 2011, 09:17:55 AM »

Add a button and LED in screen designer.  In the water and abrasive M codes, add some if statements something like....

If LED is on, turn on water and abrasive....else....turn it off.

The block delete method works also, but if you have employees running the machine who don't have a don't have a good understanding of CNC and Mach3, a button that says "DRY RUN" and an LED beside it is a lot more intuitive.   

292

General Mach Discussion / Re: dry run

« on: December 11, 2011, 09:16:27 PM »

Then just add a button to turn on a LED.  In your M codes for water and abrasive, look at that LED.

293

General Mach Discussion / Re: dry run

« on: December 11, 2011, 07:56:49 PM »

Inhibit Z, then modify your M codes that turn on water and abrasive to recognize whether inhibit Z is on.

294

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Unable to use SCREEN4 Under Windows7 31 bit

« on: December 07, 2011, 09:23:03 PM »

Hi Don,

did you try setting the color setting to 16 bit in the controlpanel? If that doesn't help, you could try MachScreen.


Klaus

I am trying to run it under Windows7 64 bit. Seems to work unless I click one of the dropdown menus (File, Edit, View, Default Help) at which point it locks up & stops responding.

I am trying to use an msi all-in-one (desktop) computer with touch screen & smartstepper.

Don

It doesn't lock up.  It just takes forever to drop the menu down.  It did the same thing in Vista.  Other than that, it does work in Win7.

295

General Mach Discussion / Re: Run from here.......

« on: November 30, 2011, 09:52:13 PM »

Or put an M1 stop at a couple of places in the program so you can check the tip.  Do an M1 followed by a Z retract.  Check the tip, replace if necessary, then hit cycle start.  I do this on long programs and usually put an M1 at 50,000 line intervals.

296

General Mach Discussion / Re: PoppaBear needs some help please!!!

« on: November 25, 2011, 10:15:01 AM »

We usually get that sort of thing from Stock Drive Products or Quality Transmission, although finding someone who knows anything about the product is a challenge.  You pretty much have to know what you need and order it on-line.

http://www.sdp-si.com/
http://www.qtcgears.com/

We're slowing coming to the realization that if we can't make it in-house, it can't be done.  Trying to find reasonable price, acceptable quality and engineering/tech support all at the same time is just about impossible.  Machine shops around here are completely insane on price.  The last job we needed done was quoted $3000, which was no more than 5 or 6 hours on a manual mill.  We bought a used Bridgeport for $1500 and did it in house.

We now need to run some production on a mill, so we're looking for a CNC.  I found a SuperMax with a Anilam controller.  The controller is supposed to be dead, so thinking about putting a Mach3 controller on it.  It's not even worth the ride downtown to get a quote on having these jobs done locally.
 

297

General Mach Discussion / Re: CAPAITIVE THC PLASMA PROBLEM

« on: November 21, 2011, 03:28:53 PM »

Did you contact the guy you bought it from?  It's supposed to work with the Mach3 THC Up and Down inputs, which means you shouldn't be seeing 15VDC on any of the THC outputs.

298

General Mach Discussion / Re: CAPAITIVE THC PLASMA PROBLEM

« on: November 21, 2011, 02:54:27 PM »

Is it this one?  This is supposed to work with Mach3, and it's not terribly expensive.

http://www.agelkom.com.tr/mach3.htm

299

General Mach Discussion / Re: CAPAITIVE THC PLASMA PROBLEM

« on: November 20, 2011, 11:13:30 AM »

Maybe use transistors instead of mechanical relays. 

300

General Mach Discussion / Re: CAPAITIVE THC PLASMA PROBLEM

« on: November 16, 2011, 07:17:32 PM »

Sounds like you need to build an interface between your THC electronics and Mach3.  The parallel port is not compatible with the 15VDC signal coming from your THC.  Most breakout board will not be either.