Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Re: Jog Button Uni-directional in Turn

« on: February 10, 2010, 03:11:37 PM »

Rich,

I just checked the Config>General Logic screen and guess that you are referring to the jog increments table. I am familiar with that from your training material (I believe one of the videos). But I think this only refers to the increments not the ability to change them on screen by either asking Mach3 to go up one step or down. My point was that when I try to change jog increments now I can only go down. If I want to go up I have to cycle through the whole table. Is there another way of doing that? Thanks, Frank

12

General Mach Discussion / Re: Jog Button Uni-directional in Turn

« on: February 10, 2010, 03:05:12 PM »

Rich,

I am not sure what it means to not use the Standard Screen. Where do I get screen alternatives? Frank

13

General Mach Discussion / Re: Regen Command on Lathe

« on: February 10, 2010, 03:00:31 PM »

Thanks again for your reply. I have RTM several times, so many times, in fact, that their are notes and comments and underlines on many of the pages. Many of the comments are: "Huh?" because it is one of the most vague computer manuals I have every read. A big part of that is, I am sure, my lack of familiarity with machining, but I expect there are a fair number of Mach3 users who are not engineers or machinists.

I opened Turn V1.84 in Adobe again, went to File>Find and typed in "REGEN" in the find window. I made sure case sensitive was unchecked and still found only two instances of this phrase both as I described in my last post.  I am not sure what I am doing differently than you are, but I cannot replicate what you describe. Thanks anyway though. Frank

14

General Mach Discussion / Machine vs Program Coords questions

« on: February 10, 2010, 02:10:02 PM »

I know beginner questions are annoying so I appreciate your patience. In Turn I am unclear as to why on the manual screen there is a Program Coords. and a Work Coords. button. Smid's book on CNC Programming says that Program and Work Coordinates are the same thing.  There does not seem to be any explanation for this in the manual.

Also, is there anyway to tell when the Axis DRO is showing Machine Coordinates vs. Program Coordinates. You can tell this on the manual screen because the appropriate LED is lighted. However, on the Auto Prep and Auto Cycle screens it appears you cannot tell which mode you are in. I have found this confusing, but it could be I just don't know what I am doing.

I am wondering is there is any way to locate the 0 point of an axis in machine coordinates when the axis is not at that point, i.e. specifying zero without hitting the zero button. At one point when I was at z= 1 relative to where I want 0 to be I tried typing in 1 in the Axis DRO which I hoped would force  Mach3 to set 0 at a point -1 from where I was, but it would not take this. It is not a problem to jog the axis to right point, I am just curious if this can be done.

Thanks, Frank
 

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: Feed Hold and Single Issues

« on: February 10, 2010, 01:55:08 PM »

Just tell me if I am asking for too much hand holding, but where do I look for information on customized screens. I know there is a wiki site and have looked at it, but is there any section of it or some place elsewhere that gives an overview what goes on when you try this? Do people have Screens they share? I know there is a forum on Screens, but I wonder if there is a beginner orientation anywhere? Thanks, Frank

16

General Mach Discussion / Jog Button Uni-directional in Turn

« on: February 10, 2010, 01:37:42 PM »

I notice that when I try to change jog cycles in Turn the increments always go from high to low regardless of whether I push the right or left arrow. Is this a bug? It is not really more than an annoyance, but I wonder if there is bug list somewhere so users can consult that to confirm whether or not their system is functioning properly? Thanks, Frank

17

General Mach Discussion / Re: Regen Command on Lathe

« on: February 10, 2010, 01:29:22 PM »

Ok, I did it again and as Phil said I did find the word "Regenerate". I think I asked it to search for whole words only because the word on the screen is "Regen" not "Regenerate". I was thinking I would find the command explained on a Screen description page, but it is actually explained in a section on Editing Code.  So I see what Hood means. This command is specifically related to redrawing the tool path after code has been edited. Thanks for your patience. Frank

18

General Mach Discussion / Re: Regen Command on Lathe

« on: February 10, 2010, 12:22:51 PM »

Phil,

Thanks for that suggestion. Stupidly I did not realize you can do searches in Adobe. However, when I searched on "regen" it came back saying nothing found. I believe there was a comment about  this button in one of the videos, but I don't want to watch the whole video hoping this subject might pop up. Anybody have an idea where I should look? Frank

19

General Mach Discussion / Re: Feed Hold and Single Issues

« on: February 10, 2010, 12:17:18 PM »

Thanks for those comments. I am running the R3.042.033 Version of Turn. I see no LED next to that button. Are you possibly referring to Mill? Is the fix mentioned by Russ something I can try?

Feed Hold is working for me in my office unconnected to my machine so I will check on that again in my shop later to day. Thanks.

20

General Mach Discussion / Feed Hold and Single Issues

« on: February 09, 2010, 11:07:33 PM »

I have a small program that am testing with Mach3 Lathe. I want to step through the program but it appears there is no way of knowing if step mode is on. Am I wrong about this? I can't find any indicator that tells the status of the toggle. So what I do is push cycle start and if the programs starts to run more than one block without stopping I push Feed Hold. However when I do that the program does not stop. It appears the only way I can stop it to hit STOP. Can any one explain how Feed Hold is supposed to work and if there is anyway of knowing what mode Single is in? Thanks.