Messages

1851

General Mach Discussion / Re: Unequal Backlash

« on: July 12, 2015, 03:38:04 PM »

It does stack up like that. You can see it in the circles I am cutting. One side has bigger flat spot than the other and often the start point is not the finish point. Not always though. I have adjusted alot of it out but still get flat spots and thats the only thing I can't get rid of. If I set backlash .05 the lesser reading then only going the other way seems to cause a problem. I am clueless.

Then the machine is either losing steps, or something mechanically is loose. Check all the setscrews on all your couplers.

1852

General Mach Discussion / Re: Unequal Backlash

« on: July 12, 2015, 07:11:04 AM »

If that's really true, then if you did this 10-11 times, then the machine would be 1mm out of position.

1853

General Mach Discussion / Re: Future of Mach3 ??

« on: July 11, 2015, 05:30:39 PM »

I'm a bit wary of the external motion controller boards.

That's a Mach3 issue, and not the fault of the motion controllers. Every other alternative software control uses external motion controllers, or signal generators. The difference is that they were designed this way from the start, where with Mach3, external motion controllers were added several years after Mach3 was written.

1854

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Bug Reports

« on: July 11, 2015, 05:27:18 PM »

But that doesn't mean that it's not a bug.

1855

General Mach Discussion / Re: Future of Mach3 ??

« on: July 11, 2015, 09:05:27 AM »

I'm getting to a good stage with Mach3 but wonder if I should at some point start looking at Linuxcnc for the future. Not something I want to do but thinking down the track.

If you want to keep using Mach3 indefinitely, and you have a PC that works well, just buy 1 or 2 spare motherboards for it on Ebay. You should be able to find at least one for a pretty cheap price.
You can also get new copies of XP on Ebay, if you don't have a disc.

You can also buy an external motion controller like a UC100 for about $125, and run Mach3 on any modern PC with any modern OS, for as long as you want. This probably makes the most sense.

If you decide to move on to a better control than Mach3, there are other options besides LinuxCNC and Mach4.
Look into Planet CNC, Eding CNC, and UCCNC. All are arguably better than Mach3 at this point in time.

1856

General Mach Discussion / Re: Axis DROs move and gantry / spindle does not

« on: July 10, 2015, 06:26:10 PM »

Most likely a G43 length offset in your g-code.

1857

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Minimum PC requirements vs real life (Newbie)

« on: July 09, 2015, 08:59:47 PM »

If you can force it to run in memory AND use the best memory you can get without pageing

It also works fine on my 1Ghz Pentium III with 256MB of RAM, even with very large files (500,000 lines). Personally, I think you can throw your memory theory out the window.

Basically, if you're using the parallel port, then you just need a PC that Mach3's parallel port driver gets along with.
With a motion controller, it should run on just about anything.

The only issue that occasionally comes up is with onboard video or very low spec video cards. And I mean very  low spec.

1858

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Looking for a new machine

« on: July 09, 2015, 07:13:56 AM »

You're budget is just enough for a mid range hobby wood cutting machine. It'll cut aluminum, but very slowly, and it won't give you the best finish.

1859

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Looking for a new machine

« on: July 08, 2015, 08:10:29 PM »

A decent 4x4 machine for cutting wood is well over $10,000.
http://www.camaster.com/product/stinger-ii/

For $7000, you're better off building your own.

1860

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Looking for a new machine

« on: July 07, 2015, 09:36:16 PM »

I don't think anyone really makes machines in that size that are designed to cut aluminum "no problem". At least not for less than a few hundred thousand.

You probably want to get the heaviest duty router than you can afford.

What's your budget?