Messages

381

General Mach Discussion / Re: Micro stepping confusion

« on: June 23, 2011, 12:25:00 AM »

Your problem is not voltage, it's current.  What's the current rating (amps) of your power supply?  What is the current rating of all of your motors? 

382

General Mach Discussion / Re: Micro stepping confusion

« on: June 22, 2011, 08:43:15 PM »

IMy question is why with the lower amp setting is it working?  I thought that the more amps I push to the motor the more power I would have, but I must have been off in my thinking.

Probably because the power supply can't supply the rated current to the motors.  All you did is reduce the current going to the motors, which reduces power, but the power supply can now keep up.  In your case, the motors are so oversized that the reduction in power is not staling them. 

I agree with the comment above.  A G540 and some 380oz/in motors are more than enough for your setup.

383

General Mach Discussion / Re: Micro stepping confusion

« on: June 22, 2011, 02:41:43 PM »

The USB interface is much more susceptible to noise than the PP.  We had nothing but trouble with the SmoothStepper, but that was on plasma machines.  It worked great when it worked, but it wasn't as reliable as the PP.  Even on our routers, it would lose connection now and then during a program run.

384

General Mach Discussion / Re: Micro stepping confusion

« on: June 21, 2011, 01:31:01 PM »

Have you tried running it on the parallel port rather than the SS?  On a screw driven machine that light running 1200oz/in motors, acceleration shouldn't be an issue at all.  My last router had a 400 pound gantry, was acme screw driven with 1200oz/in motors and I was running acceleration at around 80...and it would go way higher than that without stalling.

Also make sure your power supply is adequate. If it's not providing enough current, you will get stalling when two or more motors start running at the same time.

385

General Mach Discussion / Re: Backup on Path for Plasma and Waterjet

« on: June 14, 2011, 10:38:41 PM »

I USE IT ALL THE TIME, It certainly works for me.

(;-) TP

I can't say I have occasion to use this feature often, but on those off occupations where things just don't go right, it would be useful.  I'll give it a try.  Thanks for the explanation.   

386

General Mach Discussion / Re: Backup on Path for Plasma and Waterjet

« on: June 14, 2011, 08:52:51 AM »

You don't restart the torch at the begining of the line you back it up several lines before the point and "watch" it move then hit the fire button a sqeek before it gets to the point you need to restart  at. Do it all the time. You also can use FRO to slow it down as it gets to the spot fire the torch and hit reset FRO. AND off it goes

ALSO have you played with shuttle mode ??

 (;- ) TP

I haven't played with shuttle mode.  I'll have to give it a try.

To do what you describe, you must have to turn off THC mode, back up to previous command, resume forward motion, then fire the torch just before turning THC mode back on.  As long as THC mode is on, Mach won't move without a good "OK To Move" signal.

387

General Mach Discussion / Re: Backup on Path for Plasma and Waterjet

« on: June 13, 2011, 11:26:25 PM »

I think you'll find that Mach will not stop in the middle of a command.  IE: If you give it a command like "G1 X10" and the arc quits 5" in, you can't back up to where the arc quit, but you can go back to the point where the command began.  Not real useful in plasma cutting as in this case you would be cutting air for 5" before the torch reached the point where it previously failed.

388

General Mach Discussion / Re: how to load liscense

« on: June 10, 2011, 04:32:47 PM »

If it's seeing the license file, under Help->About you will see your name...or the name it was licensed under.  If you're not seeing that, you could have a corrupt license file.

389

General Mach Discussion / Re: Noise Issues causing all sorts of problems

« on: June 10, 2011, 01:42:04 PM »

G540 has the PP interface built in.  It doesn't need a BB.  Just connect it directly to your PC.  G540 is a very nice unit.  We've had zero problems with them.

390

General Mach Discussion / Re: Noise Issues causing all sorts of problems

« on: June 10, 2011, 12:40:24 PM »

First thing I'd do is eliminate the Smooth Stepper and go to PP.  If I recall, when we tried the SS, we had similar issues where axes would sort of take on a mind of their own now and then.  The SS is USB and USB is sensitive to noise.  Also make sure that any relays or inductive loads have a snubber across their coil terminals.  A spike from a relay coil can cause strange things also.