Messages

4061

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Start engraving as drill and angle

« on: August 21, 2011, 06:33:50 PM »

Looks like it is Ramping into the cut instead of plunging striaght in. Check your  options

(;-) TP

That's what he's asking. How to plunge straight in?

4062

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: New Project for the shop.

« on: August 21, 2011, 09:15:39 AM »

Hi Gerry,

It's from Mcmaster: 74405T304 Galvanized Steel-Backed Nylon Conveyor Strip Brush, 1/8" W X 1/8" H Backing, 2" H X 4' L Each $17.16

Thanks.
How'd you bend it? I'm working on a shoe design for my next machine, and I was thinking of using the next larger size up from yours, and bending it between hardwood block to "form" it.

As for your X and Y axis directions. They're the same as my router. But, I stand on the other side of mine.

4063

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: New Project for the shop.

« on: August 21, 2011, 08:56:02 AM »

Dave, can you tell me where you got the flexible brush for the dust shoe?

4064

Works in progress / Re: New IPS (Interactive Programming System) Professional Screen for Turn

« on: August 21, 2011, 08:14:06 AM »

Are the checkboxes and radio buttons LED's with transparent buttons? That's how I did them in my 2010 Screenset.

That looks like a tremendous amount of work. 

4065

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Passing Code to mach

« on: August 21, 2011, 08:02:57 AM »

Ask Brian on the Yahoo group.
Vectric's products (and others I believe) can also export code directly to Mach3. In Aspire there's a checkbox to  "Output direct to machine".

4066

General Mach Discussion / Re: Could this be done with Mach

« on: August 20, 2011, 05:51:49 PM »

What you need is some custom CAM software.
It looks to me like you have X, Y, and Z, with Y and Z the tools, like Stirling said.
What I'd do, is draw my roughing and finishing paths in AutoCAD, and choose an X axis resolution, maybe .002-.005", maybe bigger?
Then parse through the paths, and put the Y and Z values into arrays.
Then, for X = 1 to however many steps needed,
Y= Y(X)
Z = Z(X- tool spacing)

So you'd end up with a series of X,Y,Z moves, with X incrementing  by the chosen resolution amount for each line of g-code.

Seems like it should work.

4067

General Mach Discussion / Re: Home and absolute vs relative coordinates

« on: August 20, 2011, 04:46:49 PM »

Set your Work offsets to zero, so it matches machine coordinates. Then zero should be the center of the table.

4068

General Mach Discussion / Re: new to mach - what can i expect?

« on: August 19, 2011, 11:47:28 AM »

the tutorial videos should get you started.
http://www.machsupport.com/videos.php

4069

FAQs / Re: Homming against work piece

« on: August 15, 2011, 06:30:56 PM »

Typically, you jog the X and Y axis to where you want the 0,0 position to be, and zero them at that point. You can also use a probe to find the edges, and then set your zero that way.

My machine has fences along X and Y zero, so I just slide the part against the fence, and start cutting.

and with this I am assuming that Mach3, knowing the diameter (6mm end mill) will auto calculate a -3 offset to cater for the tool diameter

No, Mach3 can not auto-calculate the offset. You can program it to use G41 or G42 cutter compensation, but you must prgoram proper lead in and lead out moves for it to work correctly. Most people do the offsets in their CAD or CAM software.

4070

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bit Height Offset

« on: August 14, 2011, 08:53:50 AM »

Upper left corner of the offsets page. Enter .375 in the gauge block height, and click Set Z to set your Z zero position at .375.