Messages

2981

General Mach Discussion / Re: I Need one more pin in Mach3 for zero touch plate - how?

« on: November 25, 2013, 05:32:32 PM »

I'd share the Z home switch with another home switch, then you 'd just home Z first followed by the rest. That frees up the one pin you need,

2982

General Mach Discussion / Re: Here's our setup - and we've got some questions

« on: November 24, 2013, 05:24:25 PM »

Other than very expensive vacuum options, I'm not aware of any commercially available "clamps" to be used for hold downs on a CNC router. Everything I've made has been made by the users.

You might want to spend some time at cnczone.com reading through the forums to see what others have done.

2983

General Mach Discussion / Re: Please review my settings

« on: November 23, 2013, 09:57:25 PM »

It's about -10°C here in Detroit right now.

The faster you go, the more power you need, so that's a hard question to answer. Since stepper motors lose torque as rpm's increase, you usually want more torque at higher rpm rather than more torque at lower rpm. The reason is that the available torque at high rpm's dictates the performance you'll see. So I guess the answer is yes.

Just about everyone uses CV mode all the time. Without it, Mach3 comes to a complete stop at each line of g-code, which gives terribly jerky movement and long cycle times. It's probably off by default, but can be enabled in Config > General Config.

2984

General Mach Discussion / Re: Here's our setup - and we've got some questions

« on: November 23, 2013, 05:21:34 PM »

If you jog the Z to the top before you Ref All Home, then you're all set. There's a Ref Z on one of the other screen pages, but Ref All Home will set the Z zero as well, at it's current position.

You use the Z zero button to set the program Z zero at the top of your workpiece.

Sorry, the Program Limits are on the Toolpath screen (I don't use the stock screens).

2985

General Mach Discussion / Re: Here's our setup - and we've got some questions

« on: November 23, 2013, 03:49:29 PM »

A couple things about the Z axis. You can't zero the machine coordinates with the zero Z button. The only way to Zero an axis is to Ref or Home it. You need to jog the Z axis to the top of it's travel, and click the Ref Z button. This will set Z to zero in machine coordinates at it's current position.

Your Z max softlimit is set to 1. The maximum your Z can ever travel is to 0 (the top of Z travel is zero). You Z max should be -1 or something similar.
And, while it has no effect if you don't have a Z axis home switch, the Z axis "Home Negative" column should have a red X, as the Z axis always homes positive (up).

As for your g-code. After you load it, go to the Limits screen and tell us what the program limits DRO's show. Do you have any offsets set?

2986

General Mach Discussion / Re: Please review my settings

« on: November 23, 2013, 03:41:44 PM »

The drivertest.exe isn't really a valid test imo. If it runs fine at 35K but not 45K, then leave it at 35K.

I'd leave the pulse widths at 5us if it's running fine. Lowering them won't gain you anything, and may not run as well.

450ipm is pretty fast, especially with those rather small motors. By lowering the velocity, you may be able to increase the accel. This may be desirable when you start cutting parts. You'll most likely be running Mach3 in CV mode, and higher accelerations will allow the machine to follow the toolpaths more accurately around corners. However, if the accel is too high, you may run into issues with the machine rigidity, as high acceleration can cause rather violent direction changes.

Sounds like you have it set up pretty good. You just might want to play with the accel velocity numbers and find out what works best for the work you'll be doing.

2987

General Mach Discussion / Re: Any body got a source for an economical Cartridge spindle and.....

« on: November 23, 2013, 10:19:08 AM »

I've been using B and B Manufacturing for belts and pulleys. Even better selection than SDP-SI in some belt types.

There's a BT30 spindle here:
http://www.dalecnc.com/

Or, go to China:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/ATC-Milling-Spindle-Synchronous-Belt-Axis-BT30-CNC-Machining-Center-6000RPM-3-Bearning-By-CNC-Modulkit/598954612.html

2988

General Mach Discussion / Re: Pulley Setup......Yes i know but just dont understand it??

« on: November 23, 2013, 08:14:54 AM »

As I said, just set Pulley 1 only, from 0 to 24,000. Make sure Pulley 1 is your current Pulley. Set the PWM min % to 30.

Your available RPM will be only what the Current Pulley is set to.

Then, depending on the commanded speed, Mach3 will output a proportional PWM Signal from 0 to 24,000rpm. By setting the minimum to 30, if you accidentally command 1000rpm, Mach3 will bump it up to 30% of 24000rpm, which is about 7000.

If you've ever tried do calibrate the spindle in Mach3, go to your Mach3\macros\yourprofile\ folder and delete the file "Linearity.dat". Then restart Mach3.

2989

Mach Screens / Re: screen designers

« on: November 23, 2013, 08:05:32 AM »

If you are familiar with flash you could make something like this

If someone would have provided some documentation, I would have. Since Mach4 won't support Flash screens, I think they are a dead end.

2990

General Mach Discussion / Re: Pulley Setup......Yes i know but just dont understand it??

« on: November 23, 2013, 12:07:20 AM »

Set Pulley 1 from 0 to 24,000 with a ratio of 1.

How are you controlling the speed at the VFD? If using PWM, set the PWM Min% to 30 to keep the rpm from going below 7000.