Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th axis/spindle swapaxis confusion

« on: November 08, 2016, 09:19:25 PM »

No, at least not with the swapaxis. I ended up using CNCWrapper or something like that do mill around a tube.

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can't get 4th Axis to Work

« on: March 08, 2015, 01:46:59 PM »

Thanks Gerry,
I added the A-axis is angular while you were replying to me. I've also done the radius, diameter and zero too. There must be something else in my setup that's overriding all the rotation settings.

3

General Mach Discussion / Can't get 4th Axis to Work

« on: March 07, 2015, 10:18:34 PM »

Hello All,
I've recently added a 4th axis (rotary table with stepper motor) to my mill and cannot get it to work right for the life of me. I've searched and read every thread that had to do with 4th axis setups and despite all the good info and screen shots, am coming up empty handed. It's an X3 mill using Gecko G540. Axis of rotation is parallel to X.

Problems are:
1. Steps per inches or degrees. I can manually type G0 A90 etc and the rotab will rotate 90 degrees, and can always go back to zero.
When I run a file (CNC Wrapper, Cambam Wrapper Plugin, or GCode Ripper) I get a mess of lines all stacked up on top of each other. The axis suddenly seems to switch to linear, the Gcode will call for A18 and the axis will spin round and round (1.898" diameter PVC pipe) until it gets there. The original DXF was drawn to the size based on what the calculator in CNC Wrapper told me I needed for a 30 degree wrap.

2. After running a failed file, when I hit Go To Zero, the other axes are ok but the rotab only moves a few degrees and stops somewhere which was not the original zero point I started with.

I used 200x10x72 / 360=400 which got the steps right for manual gcode entry and also tried 200x10x72 / 3.142 which I've also seen posted here as a suggestion, which is correct?

3. I can't remember if I fixed this or not, but at one point, the rotation was only going in one direction despite the Gcode for A going low to high to low again.


Settings:
Config Screen
all 3 Rotational boxes are unchecked
A is Angular is checked

Toolpath Configuration
X-axis
A-Rotations enabled
User Radius for feedrate
all checked

Settings Tab F6
I tried the diameter and radius in the Rotation Diameter DRO with no luck

Ports and Pins
Also tried checking the Emulated box for Input Signals for the Z-- row

Any help is greatly appreciated!

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th axis/spindle swapaxis confusion

« on: October 12, 2012, 03:16:02 PM »

What an idiot...my spindle tuning didn't save so everything was at zero ...it works now! So now I just have to get the tuning right. Thanks for everyone's help.

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th axis/spindle swapaxis confusion

« on: October 12, 2012, 01:51:44 PM »

Thanks Hood, I played around with the settings last nite but still couldn't get it to act like a spindle. I probably don't know the right commands for doing that. From what I read, M3 S500 would make the motor spin at 500 until M5 was called. So it still must be one of the settings, ports/pins, etc. that I'm missing.

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th axis/spindle swapaxis confusion

« on: October 11, 2012, 02:18:18 AM »

Thanks. I didn't get any free time tonite so will try it tomorrow nite. I started with pins 8 and 9 for the spindle but for some reason, they would change to 6 and 7 and return to 8 and 9 when I shut down Mach.

I'm a little confused by your reply, do I change the A-axis Step Port and Dir Port to 2 or are you talking about the Output Signals tab? I think you can see from my XML I have two outputs and the charge pump as port 1.
One of the outputs isn't actually used right now, the other runs the coolant flood pump.

"That is of course assuming you do not have any spare outputs on Port 1"
Confused here as well. How many outputs are possible on Port 1? As many as are in the table?
I have outputs 3 and 4 enabled on the Spindle Setup tab

"The other alternative is like Hoss says, setting ports and pins for each axis the same. Doing that however would not require swapaxis() but would require caution as both axis would be live so to speak."
I'm not entirely sure but I don't think this is the case as both axes are actually the same motor, the swapaxis() just changes how the motor acts?

A somewhat related question, is there a way I can set up Mach to work on my desk computer (where I am right now) instead of having to go downstairs and see if my changes actually work on the motors? I'm in Offline mode due to the constantly blinking Reset button. I may have let the system fix things accidentally.

Thanks again

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th axis/spindle swapaxis confusion

« on: October 10, 2012, 01:34:49 AM »

OK, back up and running. I had to post here first and let the browser let go of the XML file.

I ran the resetaxiswap macro and that is causing the green box to light up.

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th axis/spindle swapaxis confusion

« on: October 10, 2012, 01:27:15 AM »

Thanks all, for some reason I could not reply from my phone.

Hood,
Attached is my XML. This is before I enabled outputs 3 and 4 in the ports & pins->output. Still no dice though. I went back to the machine and my Spindle Step/Dir are back to 8 and 9. It must revert to the original settings when I shut down Mach.

Rich,
Yes, I know this. I will eventually upgrade the spindle motor and the 4th axis motor, but for now I just want to get it to work. Plus funds and time are short nowadays. I will not be doing any heavy turning on this axis.

BR549,
I thought I read somewhere that I had to... Found it, "the stepper has one connection to the driver like normal, just set it up as as the a axis as usual and use the same step/dir pins in mach 3 for the a axis and spindle" hossmachine. I think I got this from his forum.

Wow...Mach just crashed....I opened up a swapaxis macro and hit play, the green box around the "4" DRO lit up. Does that mean the macro is working? Hmmm, I can't get Mach or the script editor to close...

9

General Mach Discussion / 4th axis/spindle swapaxis confusion

« on: October 09, 2012, 01:39:56 AM »

Hi everyone,
Trying to figure out how to do the whole "setup A axis as a spindle and use swapaxis back and forth" thing with a stepper. Been searching for days...

The first thing that confuses me is the wiring/setup, I have my 4th axis stepper wired up and can rotate it via g-code, hotkey, etc. But I cannot get it to act as a spindle. M3 S********* in the MDI code line does nothing.

In Mach, I have set up the A axis as pins 8 and 9. I changed the spindle pins to 8 and 9 as well. I used a simple g-code to confirm X,Y,Z,A movements. I then added the macros posted by another user here to call and reset the swapaxis functions of Mach 3.

I also added M3 S********* to the code and I see the spindle rpms (on screen) ramp up and then immediately back to 0, can't figure out how to keep it spinning for a longer duration. Also, at the end of the code, if I have an A movement command after the swapaxis has re-set, my Z axis moves. However, it moves according to the A axis commands and the 4th axis DRO numbers move with it. I checked in ports and pins and saw my spindle numbers were now 6 and 7, same as the Z axis...

I have a Gecko G540, Mach 3 Version R3.042.033, X3 deluxe CNC setup.
My config based on my searches here.

Toolpath Configuration
Axis of rotation=X, A-Rotations Enabled box and Use Radius for Feedrate is checked

Spindle Setup
Use spindle motor output box is checked
step/dir motor box is checked

General Config
A is angular box is checked
Rotational section, no boxes checked



A question for the future once this is all figured out...how can I physically bring the spindle's step/dir signals out of the G540 so I can route it to a separate board? The G540 has the VFD outputs, but I'm not sure that's what I want to use?

Thanks!

10

General Mach Discussion / Re: Home and limits stopped working

« on: July 09, 2010, 01:16:37 AM »

It's alive again!

I wired directly from the G540 to -VDC and still no dice so removed the lead and found that the shielding from my wire worked its way out and was making contact with something. Replaced the wire and went back to the Hoss screen and all is good :-)

I did have to change my settings  to active high. Maybe they were that way before, I vaguely remember forgetting to turn on the control box before starting Mach 3 and got the "do you want to have Mach 3 change the settings for you?" error screen. I probably hit ok, not knowing my wire was rubbing on something.

Thanks for your help!