Messages

21

General Mach Discussion / Mach jogging got disabled, how do I get it going again?

« on: March 14, 2013, 08:01:37 PM »

I'm bringing up a Mach3 driven lathe using the 057 version. Thanks to some help from the nice guy at PMDX (real nice breakout boards) I've got it 98% working, axis drives are working well, MPG is working on X and Z, spindle speed/direction control is working, E stop and charge pump are working.

I'm using a joy stick connected to an IPAC with keygrabber to generate key codes to do the jogging.

This was actually the first thing I set up and it was working fine at first.

But something I've done in the following setup caused the jogging to stop working. I've double (and triple) checked that keygrabber is seeing the joy stick switch closes and is sending out the correct key codes and they are the ones set in the Mach hotkey config menu.

Also its set to Continous jog and the jog rate has a non-zero number. But no jogging occurs (no change in the axis DRO's either).

Is there some other Mach setting I could have accidentally changed when setting up the other stuff that could have disabled the jogging?

Thanks,

Paul T.

22

General Mach Discussion / Re: What's the best starting point for a Mach3 based lathe?

« on: March 08, 2013, 01:36:51 PM »

Thanks for the suggestions fellas. It "turns" out that a user named Poppabear put a nice functional lathe screen in the Screens forum here, it was exactly what I was after.

Thanks a ton Poppabear, you saved me a lot of time by sharing that screen, I owe you a cold one (or hot one or whatever you like, as long as its not moving).

Hood, I'm also following your suggestion to use Mach version 0.057, I also owe you a cold/hot one for all the Mach support you have provided over the years.

The lathe should be coming to life over the next few days, I'm pretty jacked up, having both a CNC mill and lathe is going to be way cool.

Paul T.

23

General Mach Discussion / What's the best starting point for a Mach3 based lathe?

« on: March 07, 2013, 09:30:18 PM »

I'm bringing up a Mach3 based lathe and at the point of getting the screen setup the way I want it.

On my Mach3 mill I started with the standard "1024" screen and was able to customize it so that 99% of the time I'm always using just that screen so it was a pretty good starting point.

With the "default" 1024.lset lathe screen I don't feel as good about it as a starting point, it seems pretty far off from what I would like to have.

I'm not very familiar with the "extra" screens available for Mach, is there a different screen that is a better starting point for a lathe?

24

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problems running Screen4 on XP SP2 machine

« on: March 07, 2013, 09:23:53 PM »

Thanks Gerry, i did install mach to a different directory name so that was the problem.

25

General Mach Discussion / Problems running Screen4 on XP SP2 machine

« on: March 07, 2013, 08:13:18 PM »

I'm bringing up a Mach3 controlled lathe using an XP machine with SP2 loaded.

Mach3 runs fine on it but I need to tweak the screen and when I try to run Screen4 on the machine it craps out after loading the screen.
It puts up a bunch of error message boxes but they don't have any message in them so I can't tell what wrong.
The machine is pretty stripped down with hardly any other apps on it and screen4 runs fine on my office machine.

I need to be able to run screen4 right on the machine as I need to tweak some of the hotkey settings and so I need to run right on the machine that has the ipac based machine controller on it.

Do I have to put an additional runitime library or dll to allow screen4 to run on the machine?

26

General Mach Discussion / Re: Gecko 320 , Servo

« on: March 04, 2013, 11:54:17 AM »

> Will try and let you know, hoping that I would not make a fire.

That was funny.

27

General Mach Discussion / Re: How much stepper power do a 1-1/2 HP Bridgeport need to do a good job ?

« on: December 23, 2012, 02:35:09 PM »

I'm just now bringing up a low buck CNC conversion of my Clausing 5914 12" lathe.

I ended up using a size 23 for the X axis, the one Geckodrive.com sells, its a 400 oz-in 2.6 mH (ie 52 volt, 5A) motor with a 3.1" long body and dual 1/4" shafts. I liked this motor because its small and fits nicely on the bracket type I wanted to use but it has good RPM capability so it should work well on this machine for the X axis. I'll be using gang style tooling so the good rpm range of this motor will hopefully give me reasonable rapids for that.

For the Z axis I needed more pop as I sometimes drill steel so I used this motor from Automationdirect.com:
STP-MTRH-34127 1292 oz-in, 6.3A, .49 ohm, 4.14 mH -> 65 volts

I chose these motors based on their good power but low inductance, this means they should work well with Geckodrive supplies and their 80 volt max voltage capabilities. I'm going to start out with a standard 48 volt supply to keep initial costs down, if that doesn't give me enough pop I'll build up a higher voltage supply.

I'll let check back in with info on how well the machine works when I get it up and running.

Paul T.

28

General Mach Discussion / Re: How much stepper power do a 1-1/2 HP Bridgeport need to do a good job ?

« on: December 21, 2012, 03:15:50 PM »

"Gawd!  Old myths just never die.... (regarding stepper motors losing steps)"

I agree with Ray on this, keep your acceleration rates, max speeds and cutting forces within the limits of your stepper motors and you will never lose a step.

I have a Bridgeport clone Mach controlled mill using steppers that I've run 1000's of parts on over the last 10 years and the only time I lost steps was when I crashed, and that's when you want to lose them. I kept the accel and max speed rates reasonable (60 ipm max speed) and the machine has been very reliable. It will bog the 3HP spindle before it loses any steps from high cutting forces, at least on 6061 which is what I'm usually cutting.

To be honest, unless you are doing complex 3D parts or fine engraving, servo's are kind of overkill on a BP mill, it doesn't make much sense to try to move them much faster than 60ipm so it mostly comes down to the faster acceleration you can get with a servo. For me the only time that's been an issue was engraving, to get square corners on small letters I have to go pretty slow but I don't engrave small letters very often so its not a big deal for me.

Paul T.

29

General Mach Discussion / Re: Question about Mach3 Stepper Motor Tuning. Still a few Rough Spots

« on: November 29, 2012, 12:26:19 PM »

Stepper motors will behave very differently when there is zero rotational mass on their shafts, the mass of the hubs and belts will likely smooth out the jitters you are seeing "on the bench".

30

General Mach Discussion / Re: Stepper Motor Cables - Shielded or Not?

« on: October 31, 2012, 01:11:15 PM »

Its worth using shielded wire, with the shield attached on one end only, typically at the controller end at a ground point that is also attached to the machine frame.

mcmaster.com sells shielded multi-conductor cable specifically for cnc use, ie flexible and oil resistant and you can buy it by the foot.

Paul T.
www.springtest.com