Messages

3861

VB and the development of wizards / Re: User Defined Function

« on: December 23, 2011, 10:08:25 AM »

See #Expand on page 108
http://www.machsupport.com/docs/Mach3_V3.x_Macro_Prog_Ref.pdf

3862

General Mach Discussion / Re: Pulse frequency in M3 is low. Driver test okay. Ideas?

« on: December 23, 2011, 08:15:47 AM »

Either the port address is wrong, or the port and pin assignments are wrong. If the motors are locked up, then the drives are working correctly.
Checking the dir pin is the right thing to do, as it will tell you when Mach3 is working correctly. If you post your .xml, we can take a look at your settings.

Drivertest shows that the computer is capable through 100khz,no problems there

I don't put much stock in what the drivertest tells you in regards to what your PC is capable. All that really matters with the driver test is that you get a flat line with no spikes.

3863

General Mach Discussion / Re: Pulse frequency in M3 is low. Driver test okay. Ideas?

« on: December 22, 2011, 08:23:59 PM »

A lot of laptops just won't run Mach3 properly. You may have one. You need to disable every power saving feature there is, preferably in the BIOS if possible.

3864

General Mach Discussion / Re: Milling letters/design on arched face surface

« on: December 22, 2011, 08:20:22 PM »

No, you can't use text, but you can explode text into polylines and imprint that. The command I was referring to is PROJECTGEOMETRY, which was new in 2011. I'll need to plat around with it.
http://www.cadforum.cz/cadforum_en/how-to-project-geometry-to-any-3d-surface-tip7297

3865

General Mach Discussion / Re: Screen Help

« on: December 22, 2011, 06:46:53 PM »

two birds with one stone.

3866

General Mach Discussion / Re: Milling letters/design on arched face surface

« on: December 22, 2011, 06:45:40 PM »

What Autocad 3D allows you to do is imprint ( in this case it would be text and my text would be "drawn" ) onto a selected surface

Learn something new every day. I found out that you need ACAD 2011 or higher to do this (time to upgrade). I'll have to do some research on this, as I'm not sure if you can actually use the projected text to create toolpaths. Depends on what type of entities are created.

Another option (cheaper than AutoCAD, but not cheap, is Vectrics Aspire, which can project toolpaths onto surfaces. In either case, you'll need a 3D model of the object you're engraving on.

3867

General Mach Discussion / Re: screens overlap

« on: December 21, 2011, 05:50:41 PM »

Yes, it's kind of a quirk of the jog screen.
Hit tab, to open it. Hit tab again, to close it.
Hit tab again to open it.
Now, drag it where you want it.
Hit tab again, to close it.
Close mach3, and when you restart, it should remember where it was.

3868

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 screen in relation to the table?

« on: December 21, 2011, 05:47:28 PM »

It would be better if I home farther away so loading stock would be easier but I guess I can get used to it. I know I can change it but I rather stick with the industry standard. (if I am reading correctly)

After the initial homing, I never send my router to the home position. My screenset uses a Park position that I add to my g-code to move the machine out of the way, wherever I want it. So, if I'm running small parts, it may only move 12", rather than the entire 45" X axis travel.

You can also just jog it out of the way wherever you want.

3869

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Indexer Wizards by Rich

« on: December 19, 2011, 09:30:30 PM »

I don't believe it's a scam, Rich.
http://wizardsbyrich.yolasite.com/

3870

General Mach Discussion / Re: Missing steps! Upgraded my screw drive to R&P

« on: December 18, 2011, 07:53:44 PM »

With accel at 1, I doubt it's the motors. Most CNC Router parts r&p users are using 30-40 accel with 380oz motors.
Try lowering the velocity to 40-50 as a last test, as the voltage could still be the issue.