Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Override Selector Switch

« on: August 30, 2013, 03:11:56 PM »

Does any one know who sells 4 bit 16 position feed override switches?

Thanks,

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lead or Ball Screws (lathe Conversion)

« on: June 14, 2011, 09:54:44 PM »

Just want to take the opportunity to ask, does backlash compensation in Mach lathe work well?  Has anyone done tests using dial indicators?

Thanks,

Jorge

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lead or Ball Screws (lathe Conversion)

« on: June 14, 2011, 07:41:19 PM »

The question should be asked the other way around.  Why do manual lathes not use ball screws? That is because lead screws are self locking ball screws are not.  But in the case of CNC where steppers or servos (instead of your hands) do the work they do the self locking for you.  In a manual lathe the operator usually takes a measurement before the last cut, so he compensates for most of the lead screw problems.

If you want to consider a ´half way´ solution then you could go for a ball screw only on the X axis.  In lathe work the diameters usually need to be very accurate, lengths not that much.

Jorge

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help with G41/G42 lathe

« on: June 12, 2011, 01:49:52 PM »

What is frustrating sometimes is to have things one expects to work not work and do funny things (this can even be dangerous).  I think there should be a list of the features that do not work, so that time is not wasted trying to get them to work. For example if one uses tool nose radius compensation, an alarm should come out instead of going on with herratic movements. I spent a whole day trying G41/G42 before considering, ´hey, maybe its not me, its Mach´.  Same happened with feed per rev in CSS.  Next week I will test backlash, and maybe I am for a surprise, hope not.  On the other hand I must say I have been working 24/7 for several weeks on repetitive stuff, and not a single pulse has been missed.  Accuracy and repetitiveness is excelent.  Threading, after forgetting about a high tech encoder an just installing a slotted disk works perfectly.

Jorge

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help with G41/G42 lathe

« on: June 11, 2011, 04:47:41 PM »

My observation is that other lathe softwares out there cost 10 times what Mach costs.  What are the differences between them and Mach?  Probably just the unsolved bugs in Mach, because Mach performs very well when not asked for ´special features´ such as tool nose radius compensation, feed/rev in CSS etc. I am sure many of us are ready to pay somewhat more for Mach if the bugs were solved. I am not a programmer, but seems to me that correcting the bugs in the lathe version is not all that difficult.  I suppose G41/G42 works well with the mill version, then have it work in Mach should not be that big of a deal because the theory is the same (just replace an end mill with a tool nose).

There are also system integrators out there that use Mach as their control software.  It would be nice if us users, system integrators, etc. could chip in a little money each, and support the upgrading of Mach 3 lathe. Then Mach would be competitive with everything else out there......

If the company that own Mach is not willing to support it properly, then they should sell it to someone who has the resources to keep it up to date......

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help with G41/G42 lathe

« on: June 09, 2011, 07:08:57 AM »

Hood,

I understand lathe is not the priority as the user base for lathe is small compared to the applications where XYZ are used (mills, routers, plasma, etc).  But, do you know if there is a reasonable estimate as to when Rev4 for lathe will be available? So far I have two problems which I consider important:

1. Feed/rev does not work in constant surface speed mode.
2. Not being able to use tool radius compensation, which is necessary for cutting accurate shapes involving tapers and arcs.

One can get around both of them by making compensations inside the part program, but its not the way it should be.

Jorge

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help with G41/G42 lathe

« on: June 08, 2011, 03:35:23 PM »

BTW here is the configuration screen

8

General Mach Discussion / Help with G41/G42 lathe

« on: June 08, 2011, 03:33:17 PM »

Hello,

I am attempting to use tool nose radius compensation for the first time in my lathe, but I am getting a strange behavior.  When tool nose radius is set at 0 everything works fine, but when a typical value such as 0.8mm is entered there is a strange behaviour (please look at graph in attached photos). Anyone out there knows what can be happening?

Thanks,

Jorge

9

VB and the development of wizards / Re: M6Start for Toolchanger again.

« on: June 08, 2011, 02:21:15 AM »

The system is mechanically sound.  It comes with a little A.C. motor, a proximity switch that senses 8 positions (does not know which is which), and an 8 position encoder.  The A.C. motor is controlled by two contactors (forward and reverse) and it goes forward and then reverse each time it selected a tool.  To figure out how the original Emco program was including all these things may be a little complicated. Plus the A.C. motor voltage is 440 V, and I do not want to mess with that voltage again because I would have to add a 220 to 440 transformer.

I am thinking about replacing the A.C. motor with a stepper or a servo and then the proximity switch and the encoder will not be necessary.  Just use some type of homing so the servo knows where it is at start up and that would be all. Here it looks as you guys are discussing about a mill ATC, in my case it is an 8 position turret in a lathe, but the problem may be similar.

Thanks,

Jorge

10

VB and the development of wizards / Re: M6Start for Toolchanger again.

« on: June 07, 2011, 11:10:14 PM »

Will be following this closely.  Have also an Emco (Sauter) turret that needs to be automated. Do not know where to start.  Maybe replacing the AC motor with a Stepper as is suggested here.