Messages

2461

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: August 14, 2014, 09:08:14 PM »

   
  Why all this you say? Lets say your cutting a job.. but it looks as if you have lost a few steps. You pause the run. You press RefAll,
  the above process happens. You dont however press any zeroing buttons, the above process will simply correct for any lost position, you can
  now continue your run with the axis now accurate with any lost steps removed. Its best to have a REF system which simply makes sure that
  your machine coordinates are accurate with referance to an actual origin. So the home offset is simply the distance from your home switches
  to that origin. SO when you home repeatedly, nothing will seem to change.. unless you zero after homing, or tell the system to "G53X0Y0Z0" and
  then home. Typically it isn't important for the current position to match the work coordinates, but it IS important for the machine coordinates
  to be accurate indicators of distance to the home switch. It allows softlimits and such to be accurate.
 
  This is why, unlike Mach3, there is no moving of the axis off the switches automatically. While that's sometimes handy, its handier to
  have a ref system that doesn't disturb your current zeroing in a job..unless steps were lost in which case ref'ing fixes it on the fly.
 

Actually, I'd prefer a bit more verbosity.

Can you clarify how Mach3 can disturb your current zero? Homing is homing, isn't it? And re-homing at any time should just restore your home position, and not affect the offsets? Or is Darwin's homing more accurate because it factors in the decel?

2462

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motor whistling only with Mach3

« on: August 14, 2014, 04:23:55 PM »

What drives are you using. Some drives are just noisy, and there's nothing you can do about it.

2463

General Mach Discussion / Re: - fixture save...

« on: August 14, 2014, 11:37:28 AM »

Check Optional Offset Save.
Close and Restart Mach3.
Zero an axis. (that's not already zero)
Close Mach3.

You should see the message to save.

2464

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Aspire file to Mach3

« on: August 11, 2014, 02:48:05 PM »

You need to manually add a registry entry I think. Sorry, but I don't know what it is.

PM Greg and he will probably be able to still help you.

2465

General Mach Discussion / Re: Need a New Mother Board for my Computer

« on: August 11, 2014, 02:40:59 PM »

Probably an Intel Atom based board.

2466

General Mach Discussion / Re: Please Help!!

« on: August 11, 2014, 02:39:54 PM »

If you just jog the X axis back and forth, without cutting are you getting the extreme vibration? If so, then you need to get rid of that. It sounds like a mechanical issue, perhaps due to rack and pinion alignment.

Yes, while rigidity is very important, it's also possible to get good results with poor rigidity.

On my wood machine, with skate bearings, I can push and pull the spindle about 1/8" of an inch, and yet I can get much better cuts than you are getting.

I seriously doubt that it's a software issue, but anythings possible. For it to be software, you'd see really horrendous movement, very rough and jerky.

Also, go back and try my suggestions earlier, about climb cutting, and making a finishing pass.

2467

General Mach Discussion / Re: Please Help!!

« on: August 11, 2014, 10:09:02 AM »

Looks like that machine also uses round supported rails? Those are not the most rigid, either, as they typically have a bit of play in them.
I'd start at the spindle, and start reinforcing every place you can find movement. If you grab the collet of the spindle, and push and pull with a decent amount of force, you shouldn't see any movement at all, if you want good quality cuts.

Unfortunately, most of these lower cost machines are just not that good, and the claims of the manufacturers or often rather "optimistic". A decent ready to run 4x4 machine will typically start in the $10K-$12K range.
You get what you pay for.

2468

Finished Screens / Re: Mach3 2010 Screenset - Now available

« on: August 10, 2014, 11:37:30 PM »

Could be one of two things.
The plugin for your Ajax board may not handle probing correctly, or perhaps it doesn't work right with the Brain.

Or, noise is triggering the Probe input.

Since it moves to the clearance plane, I'm assuming your seeing a message that probing is complete? That typically is an indication of noise, but I've seen several instances where plugins have not handled probing correctly.

2469

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: August 10, 2014, 11:18:27 AM »

Question.  I read recently that homing does not move off the home switch like My M3 does.  Will this option be coming in the future or is there a work around?

I believe there are some posts here that cover that. I think you just edit the homing scripts to make them do whatever you want.

2470

General Mach Discussion / Re: Please Help!!

« on: August 09, 2014, 11:21:28 PM »

Looks like you've got some flex in your machine somewhere.

I'd try about 70ipm, at 15000 rpm. Climb cut, leaving about .02 for a finish pass, also climb cut.