Messages

581

Mach3 under Vista / Mach3 working with USB (DDSM35V5.0 Breakout Board)

« on: June 14, 2015, 05:44:32 PM »

Can you post a link to the breakout board details?  Normally Mach3 will not work with a plain USB to parallel poetry converter.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

582

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Mach3 MDI Controlled by other Programs?

« on: June 09, 2015, 04:18:21 PM »

VB macros are one way to go.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

583

General Mach Discussion / Mach 3 constant pulse width or constant duty cycle?

« on: May 23, 2015, 06:42:22 PM »

Your USB motion control board is generating its own pulses internally, it's not doing anything with the Mach3 ones.  Comparing them will not tell you much about why the USB is rough.  Are you running step and direction or step +/-?  If the former then maybe the step edge is the wrong polarity for your drivers. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

584

Mach3 under Vista / Mach3 acting crazy with backlash comp

« on: May 03, 2015, 08:18:26 AM »

That BoB looks ok.  Note however that it has a db25 interface so you almost certainly can't drive it from your laptop, but will need a desktop which has the normal old style parallel port.  Yes, probing and backlash compensation should work fine then.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

585

General Mach Discussion / text with mach3 HELP!

« on: April 28, 2015, 03:09:01 PM »

Are you using the engraving wizard or trying to hand generate gcode?  I recommend F-engrave as a free package to generate engraving gcode from text.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

586

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Denford ORAC lathe retrofit.

« on: April 21, 2015, 04:05:53 PM »

Aha!  Thanks Rich.  I still can't imagine how you use that in a tool indexer...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

587

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Denford ORAC lathe retrofit.

« on: April 20, 2015, 09:01:39 PM »

Um, what's a ratchet thumb please?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

588

General Mach Discussion / Re: Perfect Lathe threading

« on: April 14, 2015, 11:49:54 AM »

I notice that someone on this forum has added tacho speed control to a Baldor DC motor through a KBE controller to keep its speed constant under load - this is an interesting alternative provided the servo bandwidth is enough to cope with the transient as the tool starts to cut.  In effect you use a multi-slotted disc in a loop external to Mach so Mach can use its single-slot approach with confidence that the spindle speed remains constant.

589

General Mach Discussion / qestion on pvmbasefreq

« on: April 08, 2015, 04:36:10 PM »

Do you mean PWM base frequency?  The effective number of speed steps is the kernel clock frequency (eg 25 kHz) divided by the base frequency.  So if you have the kf set to 25 kHz and the base frequency to 500 Hz there will be in effect 50 discrete speed steps.  If the bf was set to 25 Hz which is a common number then there will be 1000 steps, so effectively smoother control.  Whether it makes a significant difference is doubtful.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

590

General Mach Discussion / Using a proximity sensor as a tool height setter...

« on: April 03, 2015, 04:10:11 AM »

What do you mean by a proximity sensor?  There are several types, magnetic, optical, etc, usually they would not be nearly accurate enough IMHO.  Much easier to have a big alligator clip with which to ground the tool when you want to set its height.  Take it off before you start the spindle!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk