Messages

3791

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 and Tapmatic Tapping Head

« on: October 25, 2012, 10:10:56 AM »

I always tap in G95 mode. Makes the math easy on the feedrate.   Heck take it apart it is NOT that complicated. 

3792

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 and Tapmatic Tapping Head

« on: October 24, 2012, 11:32:52 PM »

Try here for the CNC Gcode example. I have one of those bad boys sitting in the tool crib. You MAY want to double check the oil in the oil for signs of Coolant contamination and change it out if needed.

http://tapmatic.com/images/pdf/install_instructions.pdf

Just a thought, (;-) TP

3793

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 and Tapmatic Tapping Head

« on: October 24, 2012, 11:20:41 PM »

IF you log onto the tapmatic website you will find code examples for their tapping heads (;-) it is a bit different than you think.

Just a thought, (;-) TP

3794

General Mach Discussion / Re: Oscillating bit in Z axis to equalize tool wear

« on: October 24, 2012, 07:10:03 PM »

Pretty close (;-) You will just have to try it.

(;-) TP

3795

General Mach Discussion / Re: Building a stepper motor dyno

« on: October 24, 2012, 05:59:40 PM »

HIYA Jeff, I saw your blog, interesting.  I have built a FEW (;-) dyno's over the years, Load brake(water,Hydraulic,Mechanical), inertial, eddy current, etc

It appears you will need to have many accurate resistors on hand to vary the load??

IF you are just looking for a torque/rpm curve you may want to consider an inertial dyno. You simply hook the motor to the input shaft and spin the motor  to full rpm against the inertial load of the flywheel. Torque is a function of Accelleration rate and inertial value of the wheel. Easy to calculate.

The inouts need would be the inertial value of the wheel AND a simple tachometer or better an encoder.

NOW it would NOT do steady state testing as the wheel HAS to be accellerating to obtain a torque value.

For steady state test you may want to consider an eddy current style OR a load brake based on a DC motor with field input to produce load. The motor is floated from both ends on bearings and a load cylinder offset from the motor centerline is used to measure force. You can vary the motor brake LOAD by varying the Voltage to the field input.  You still run a large resistor bank to absorb the output from the motor running in generator mode. 

Again easy to see torque as it is direct readout from the load cylinder reading and the RPM is from a simple  encoder.

Just a thought, (;-) TP

3796

General Mach Discussion / Re: Oscillating bit in Z axis to equalize tool wear

« on: October 24, 2012, 03:54:15 PM »

The THC up/down is an internal function of MACH3 used for plasma systems that HAVE a THC device.

IF you input a signal on the LPT pin that is setup as THCdown() MAch3 will drive the Z down reguardless of the Gcode values. It overrides the Z position internally and drives the Z down.

Same with THCup() only it drives the Z up.

YOu can build a simple 2 button systems and manually control(overide) the Z DURING a GCODE program run. THe problem here is you do NOT have precise control over the Z. It just does a TURN ON THE DRIVE to go down or TURN ON THE Drive to go up. (SLAP AND GO) The THC device itself regulates the Z based on the arc voltage it sees from the plasma cutter.

NOW you could build a simple SMALL variable speed (DC) gear reduction motor that has a disc with slots and and 2 optical switches 180 degrees apart.  When the signal #1 turns ON then activate the THCdown() and when the signal turns off stop.

When Switch#2 turns on then active THCup().

You would have to adjust the speed based on the time you need each function to work. NOT precise but could work. You can also adjust the %speed of the Z motor

(;-) TP

3797

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Chiron FZ12 on its way sometime soon(ish)

« on: October 24, 2012, 02:47:53 PM »

Dan they also run encoders so that the Z can follow the spindle rpm to do a controlled decent and asscent.  MAch3 does not have that ability as a spindle .

(;-) TP

3798

General Mach Discussion / Re: Oscillating bit in Z axis to equalize tool wear

« on: October 24, 2012, 01:35:10 PM »

OK is this possible from Mach3 CB ? yes

Will I release the test CODE? NO it is still dangerous. THe running of such a function COULD end life as we know it on this planet (;-) .


What you have to do is Hard wire through relays 2 outputs from MACH3 back into the LPTport pins and setup THCup and THCdown as inputs

Next create code to trigger the thc to go down unitll you are a certain level. THEN trigger the THC up to go back up to a certain level.

IT takes  DO while loops running concurrently to make it function. The big problem is keeping the CB macro from buffer overflow. IF it does then ODD things can happen and uncontrolled movement HAS been know to happen. ALSO you have to make SURE you do not overload the CPU as then either the Gcode or MACRO or both will lock up.

You also have to provide safeties to be able to break out of the loops AND safely shut the function down or you can end up in an infinate loop with no easy way out other than [CTRL ALT DELETE} and reboot.

IF you error out you MUST restart MACH3 to clear the CB threads that can create a problem by showing up later in your code.

IF " I " can figure it out YOU can also(;-) , (;-) TP

3799

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Symmetry problem... Is the problem in mach 3 set up?

« on: October 24, 2012, 09:43:57 AM »

IF you have home switches then after a program run you can do VERIFY and mach will return to the home switches to verify you have not lost steps.  

HOW fast do you normally cut ??  What are your Motor tuning values   Vel?  accel?   We are down to MACH3 CV altering the path due to slow acceleration vs Feedrate. It will be MORE prevalent on curvy stuff rather than Straight sided stuff such as squares.

HOW far OFF is the cutting?  tenths, hundreths, thousanths ?

IS it always to BIG or to small?

BUT let me re verify the problem. You cut the guitar body out then Flip it over and set it into a fixture to  cut other features and it does not fit in the fixture ? How did you cut the fixture to hold it?

SHooting in the dark, (;-) TP

 

3800

General Mach Discussion / Re: Oscillating bit in Z axis to equalize tool wear

« on: October 24, 2012, 09:31:58 AM »

Still working on it,

I have seen some of the strangest things doing so.



 (;-) TP