Messages

4091

General Mach Discussion / Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course

« on: September 05, 2012, 05:56:38 PM »

The reason I asked about retaining the lower bearing is that you will be pushing down on the spindle each tool change and over time and heat the housing may expand enought to loosen up the press fit and cause the spindle to drop. Most spindles I have seen had a screw in retainer ring to preload and lock the bearing into the housing. Preload in this case is taken care of . Locking it into the housing under preload may be something to think about.

Just a thought, (;-) TP

4092

General Mach Discussion / Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course

« on: September 04, 2012, 12:33:40 PM »

Steve what holds the lower  bearing bearing set snug in the spindle housing?

In the old days we coated the bevells with high zinc grease and never saw a problem with years of service between change outs. Sometimes that rougher looking surface is better at holding the lube than a super slick finish.

Lookin Good,  (;-) TP

4093

General Mach Discussion / Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course

« on: September 04, 2012, 09:34:14 AM »

HIYA Steve,  looking good. A couple of questions.

Do you plan to preload the bearings? or let them float?

Is your spring pack release mechanism going to put full load on the bearings?

(;-) TP

4094

General Mach Discussion / Re: Setting up my home machine coordinate position, without homing or limit switches

« on: September 02, 2012, 03:11:12 PM »

Ray(;-) How far off would the machine be at 2 steps IF the steps per were 2000 ?  1/2 of a tenthousandth??

Most cheap micro switches switches are off far  more than that.

In 99% of the cases IF the machine came back to within .010" no one would know it.

(;-) TP

4095

General Mach Discussion / Re: Setting up my home machine coordinate position, without homing or limit switches

« on: September 02, 2012, 12:44:59 PM »

MANY stepper machines are set up without homes or limits.  Most set up  hard stops on xyz to bump up against then set ref home. IF you have no switches setup then when you press refhome it sets the machine HOME to the exact spot you are at. simply move to the stops bump up against it and refhome. Once you have refhome then the softlimits can be made active and that will allow you a saftey when running a program just make the Softlimits to be just inside the max travels of the machine.

Bumping the machine up against the stops with a stepper drive causes no harm or foul to the drives or motors.

IF you look at the gen config you will find a check box to make the DRO positions persistant or be the same as when you shut down mach3 when you restart mach3.

Just a thought, (;-)TP

4096

FAQs / Re: I NEEEEED HELP!!.....fast

« on: September 01, 2012, 07:01:57 PM »

I don't think that is totally true there are OEMs that issue licenses with the serial number of the unit it was supplied with and they are legit.

Just a thought, (;-) TP

4097

Polls / Re: Depth of cut strategy

« on: August 31, 2012, 12:07:04 PM »

I stand with Hood on this one IT should follow the programed sequences as best it can WITHOUT violating the input values. After creating a lot of conversational wizards that do this and working with machinist that use them I settled on the following 2 strategies that are the least objectable to the machinists. With cuts that do not end as an integer then the differential cut should be the first in the stack as it gives the machine room to correct a poor quality cut before it gets down to the finish cut.

Always follow the input by the operator as to steps and finish cuts.

2 ways to do it. If the cuts come out NOT as an integer then either make the FIRST cut the differential or overage or underage then complete the sequences as programed.(Hardest to do) program wise

OR  start the sequence at the differential value ABOVE the top of material so ALL cuts will be as programmed (easiest to program).

Machinist using conversational programming  like to KNOW that the wizard will DO  as they input NOT what the wizard thinks is right.

Yes it is splitting hairs sometimes BUT machinists can be a finicky lot and sometimes for GOOD reasons . SOME material tend to work harden and need to be cut exactly as programmed to work out right.

Just a thought, (;-) TP

4098

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th axis advice (Idiot proof please)

« on: July 31, 2012, 10:50:39 AM »

what make and model board? I have no idea what decay mode is.

(;-) TP

4099

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th axis advice (Idiot proof please)

« on: July 31, 2012, 10:34:07 AM »

YOU need to read up on your drives to SEE what options you have for microstepping.

(;-) TP

4100

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th axis advice (Idiot proof please)

« on: July 30, 2012, 08:59:43 PM »

what is the gear ratio? are you micro stepping the driver ?

200 X Micro steps X Gear ratio /360

I would set the micro steps to 6 if possible abd then you have an even division into 360 and a resolution of .1 deg.

200 x 6 = 1200 X3 = 3600  /360 = 10 steps per deg or .1 per step

Just a thought, (;-) TP