Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 and Techno Devinci router

« on: September 03, 2011, 03:15:30 PM »

Sorry, no can do! Techno uses a proprietary motion controller to operate the techno from their stepper interface software. The davinci also runs on a serial interface. The only way to make it work would be to replace the motor controller on the davinci.

I have found the techno control software to be horrible! I found a decent alternative that is called Kay. Let me know if you would like more info about it.

12

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 and the use of a CMM as an engraver

« on: June 22, 2011, 06:58:36 PM »

I converted an omis III CMM I bought for $500 a few years ago. It was built in 1996 and looked like a standard moving table mill. I believe it was used for video inspection of auto parts. The base is made from 5" of cast granite and the incredibly sturdy gantry is made from cast aluminum legs and a ceramic crossbeam. The granite base rests on vibration dampeners fixed to it's own steel cabinet base. This thing was made sparring no expense! The linear motion components were comprised of thk linear bearings and old fashioned leadscrews.

The fist thing I had to do after I brough the beast Home was to fix an appropriate linear slide for the z axis and mount the router. I then used some used steppers and a xylotex motor controller to power it all up. The first year I used that machine to make a few thousand dollars! Many years later I replaced the xylotex with a g540 and the leadscrews with ballscrews. The machine is absolutely incredible and is faster and more precise than my Techno lc4896 retailing at $35K!

13

Feature Requests / Retract Z on pause option, pretty please?

« on: June 22, 2011, 06:22:18 PM »

A cool option for us router users would be the option for Mach to raise the z axis and stop the spindle on pause. Then when start is pressed, the option would be given for the spindle to start and the Z axis would be lowered to the job and progress resumed. I believe it could be instituted with a preference setting as to the height of rise or it could default to the safe Z height.

As Mach is implemented now, it's a pain in the backside  to manually raise and stop the spindle.  I use a couple of different cnc controllers and they offer this option. I'm sure this could be done with scripting but I have neither the time or patience to learn how to do that right now.

14

Feature Requests / Re: Manual Spindle Calibration *PLEASE*

« on: June 21, 2011, 07:55:05 PM »

I second this request! With the mass proliferation of analog voltage vfd controls, I think this would be a helpful feature. I type 15000 into the spindle section and I get 14683. It is repeatable. If I can calibrate manually I could get better accuracy on the vfd.

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: Artcam with mach3 gcode funk issues

« on: February 17, 2010, 08:49:05 AM »

It's not mach 3! I ran into the same problem a while back and it drove me nuts! I finally found out what was going on. In artcam, at each of the toolpath options panel, there is a setting to offset the origin for the toolpath. Make sure they say zero for the x,y & z. I don't have artcam in front of me right now to tell you exactly what the section is called but its where you specify your safe z height.

Good luck!