Messages

5521

General Mach Discussion / Re: Well..... That Was Weird....

« on: July 23, 2011, 09:22:43 PM »

Ray(;-) I felt the same way at first as I have about 5years of cool mach functions and programs already developed BUT for the most part they are useless if the machine is not dependable (;-) I did a LOT of research looking for a dependable Low cost Control solution for the Small Job SHops.

It HAD to be stone dependable
It had to DO standard Gcode Functions, Subs and conditional a MUST
It had to do rigid tapping

The dark side has features that macheteers can only dream about.

I am not sure I understand the speed part How fast do you need a knee mill to go?

(;-) TP

5522

General Mach Discussion / Re: Well..... That Was Weird....

« on: July 23, 2011, 05:35:07 PM »

Ray just do it and never look back you will be a happy CNCer again. It is not the prettiest girl in town but by FAR it is the best cook.
 

(;-) TP

5523

General Mach Discussion / Re: Well..... That Was Weird....

« on: July 23, 2011, 04:31:58 PM »

Ray Now you know why my Mill lives on the Dark Side . 2+ years now and not even the first broken drill bit. It runs faultless and perfect every day and it is still on the same computer that I ran Mach3 on so that ruled out the Hardware from end to end. It is a software problem.

Been there done that one for years, (;-) TP

5524

Newfangled Solutions Mach3 Wizards / Re: Digitize Wizard Issues

« on: July 23, 2011, 11:34:59 AM »

SOme Probes do NOT have much overtravel in the Z axis or as Stirling suggests has a WAY too heavy of a spring. The XY travel has a leverage on the spring so it may move easier the Z does not.

Just a thought, (;-)TP

5525

Newfangled Solutions Mach3 Wizards / Re: Digitize Wizard Issues

« on: July 22, 2011, 08:53:12 PM »

The tap file is the Gcode file that drives the machine while it is probing the surface. The G31 is the probe command it is telling the machine to move down in Z untill it either trips on something or reaches the target Depth.
 THe M40 code in the beginning will OPEN the save point file that the operation will generate. It will contain all the position values for each probe trip, XY and Z.
That will give you the point cloud for the suraface . Then you will need to convert the point cloud into a 3 d contour file so it can be processed with a 3d cam program to generate a Gcode CUT file to replicate the surface.

(;-)TP

5526

General Mach Discussion / Re: RepRap printer and G92 pauses

« on: July 22, 2011, 05:54:47 PM »

How large is the file that you run ? If it is huge you may want to try turning off the toolpath display while it runs. That will free up tons of CPU power and speed.

And you do have to remember that Mach3 is NOT a dedicated motion control controller it is a CNC machine controller (;-) When a G92 is issued on a CNC machine the tool is NOT cutting so a short delay to ensure the process happens  is not a biggie. (;-)

Here it flashes by with little to no delay BUT the machine is not loaded down CPU wise with a ton of code.

Just  a thought(;-) TP

5527

General Mach Discussion / Re: RepRap printer and G92 pauses

« on: July 22, 2011, 01:32:04 PM »

Can you post a piece of the Gcode that shows the problem ??

(;-) TP

5528

General Mach Discussion / Re: touch probe design idea

« on: July 22, 2011, 01:20:36 PM »

Tried that (;-) The Headshaft HAS have a slight recess where it goes on the headshaft and use a very strong super magnet on the tip. The trick is to keep everything straight and inline. Not as easy as it seemed. Also there was MORE force at the attachment contact point then I had imagined (;-)

The best approach is to have a set of double switches on the swaggle plate that the tip attaches to. The overtravel side runs through the limits circuit and will trip IF any  movement in XYorZ goes overtravel.

Just a thought(;-) TP

5529

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Run script when cnc cut finishes

« on: July 20, 2011, 09:01:59 PM »

It is In the last message, download the TXT file

(;-) TP

5530

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach doing it again

« on: July 20, 2011, 04:09:50 PM »

(;-) You are going to have to look in the manual for the "VFD" to see what 2 pins they use to turn it on/off with. You will also probably have to program the VFD to do that function from an input. Most come setup to use the control panel.

Read the Manual (;-)

(;-) TP