Messages

101

General Mach Discussion / Re: need a macropump

« on: June 10, 2010, 01:24:16 PM »

I would say that this is a situation where you are trying to bandaid an electro/mechanical problem. If you are losing position then you need to look at that problem because it will probably get worse.

OR - Home at the start of every cycle. This would mean on a cycle start you would retract to a home position and then do your motion.

102

Sieg Machines / Re: New to Mach3 just got a Sieg!!!

« on: June 09, 2010, 02:04:44 PM »

Okay -
  To start off can you jog the machine using the arrow keys (HINT - make sure the NUM LOCK is off fore the key pad keys to work as jog keys)

  You can get some other options for the Jog keys by tapping the TAB key and selecting step or continous jogs.

   Machine may start up configured in metric - don't know what units you are used to... It is easy to change a few numbers and have the machine totally in imperial units.

   If it moves smoothly when jogging then you have most of the config working. if it doesn't seems to be moving smootly (it will hum/growl while it moves, that's the steppers) you might amke sure that the stepp- Pulse setting in the config/motor tuning has a 5 in it. If that number is too small it causes problems, depending on your parallel port.

  I redid the Jog keys as they wer configured as if the spindle was moving and I find it easier to have the jog keys point the way the table is moving.

   If you hit a limit the machine only jogs in slow speed after you clear the E-Stop until you get off the limit and let go of the jog key.

Where are you located? might be someone in the area who could give you a hand.

103

Sieg Machines / Re: Welcome to the Sieg Machines forum

« on: June 08, 2010, 06:25:26 PM »

Im having trouble configuring the machine to mach3 someone please help

That is a rather vague question... Would be glad to help but you must first tell us what problem you are having (what is or isn't working/moving) which machine you have and such. Give us some information to work with and you have a better chance of getting some help.

104

Sieg Machines / Re: New to Mach3 just got a Sieg!!!

« on: June 08, 2010, 06:22:20 PM »

Don't understand quite what the problem is but - You might want to go to the Seig site - http://www.smallcncsupport.com/ - and make sure you have the latest XML files. There was a problem with some of the "early" ones.  I have modified those config files because it was easier for me to think in imperial units (inches) and the folks over on the Seig site think that the machine has to be configured in millimeters. I started from their XML's and have had no problem. When the machine is sitting idle there is a bit of a hiss that you will hear. That is normal. The drives should sound like an angry bumblebee when moving and that sound will change in intensity as the machine varies in speed. Running patterns with lots of circles are almost musical.

Which machine did you get - the KX1 or the KX3? I have the KX3 running with a max feedrate of 100 inches / minute. I could go faster - 120 "/min, but I really see no real benefit at this point.

105

General Mach Discussion / Re: Polygon Turning

« on: June 08, 2010, 05:09:23 PM »

If you are running the servos in stepper mode you may be able to adjust the counts per revolution settings and synchonize them that way. They come setup for either 2000 or 4000 steps per rev and you cn play with the ratio for each drive to come up with what ever ratio you might want. All it would require is a pulse source.

106

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Misinterpretation of a relative move (G91) using G2?

« on: June 01, 2010, 11:47:45 AM »

Flyer Tuck -

What was a nice feature on whatever machine you ran before is not a common feature so you would be hard pressed to find it on other machines designed by other people. Subroutines and such were not part of the original spec and as they were added most manufacturers tried to keep them defined so the various post processors would work without a major expense for the users of their machines. A few manufacturers had special functions and created special tools to take advantage of those special functions as a way to sell their project and perhaps leverage the customer into buying their machine in the future. As the machine tool industry has aged some of the old marketing schemes have been viewed as benefitting the manufacturer rather than the customer so customers have looked for other ways to meet their need for machine tools. Thus some of the old iron companies are no longer in business and smaller companies that build similar machines have become more the norm. And inordwer to sell a machine it needs to work with the software that the customer is already using. Thus some of the extra features that are not absolutely necesary have disapeared.

And seeing as how most CNC programmers have not been computer programmers it was easier to get results with simpler programmeing requirements. Results is what drove the process, rather than great skills.

107

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: G-Code debugging printf? how can I see my parameters?

« on: June 01, 2010, 11:32:22 AM »

You might want to double check this, but you could probably download a current copy of Mach3 and install it and set up the parameters and it would work just fine.

Do you have a spare computer you put a new copy of Mach3 on and see how it works?

Or - if they don't charge you - get it unlocked so you can do what you want to do with the machine. Sounds more like they want to tie you to them for financioal purposes...

108

General Mach Discussion / Re: aluminum die making

« on: May 31, 2010, 09:39:18 AM »

First off - I don't have a whole lot of experience with your particular application ...

If you are making a die for leather you probably don't need any taper because you are embossing the surface, and you may need to look at a radius on the edges of you pattern ubnless you want to cut the leater as you emboss it. A 90 degree edge will tend to cut the leather, where a radius edge will press into the leather without cutting. Are you going to embossing wet leather with a heated die - that does give a more durable image as the wet leather is more formable and the heat would drive out the water leaving a very pronounced durable image. Lightly oiling the area would then protect the image and the leather.

If you are trying to use this as a punch you would probably be better off using steel as the alluminum would probably erode rather quickly from all the rubbing on the leather as it punches through.

For a wood burning die you want enough clearence that any material (smoke, finish...) doesnt fill up the die to quickly and ruin any definition the you are expecting from you pattern. Narrow angles and small details can be a problem.

A better aluminum that would have better wear characteristic would be 7075. It is much harder and can be a real pain if you are trying to put small threaded hols, but it wears real wlell in die type applications.

109

Tangent Corner / Re: Backlash in planetary gearboxes

« on: May 27, 2010, 03:01:04 PM »

Backlash is still calculated in real world units. It does not matter where it occurs as it still looks like it occurs at the moving stage. How many steps per inch/mm/furlong, how much backlash in inches/mms/furlongs

110

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bessie Rover 13 router retrofit with Yaskawa servo packs? Need help.

« on: May 24, 2010, 01:31:14 PM »

Manual won't come up for me - Can the drives be configurted for Step & Direction?

The newer Yaskawa Sigma series can be setup for Analog or Step&Direction. Omron sells a repackaged version of the Yaskawa drive that they call SmartStep that are stepper input only. I have also used Mitsubuishi drives that were step & Direction, but I preferred the Omron/Yaskawa drives. If you have the money one of these options might be easier to work with and you can get a local vendor to give you some assistance, depending on your level of electronics experience. It might cost a little more but you do buy access to their experience which might be what makes or breaks your project or your time frame for operation..

There are others out there - Automation Direct and others but I have zero experience with them.