Messages

1

Sieg Machines / Re: Original KX1 Upgrade to USB or Ethernet

« on: January 25, 2021, 11:37:29 AM »

Probably the Warp9 ESS would be the way to go but I am suprised that the 57CNC does not support step and direction for spindle control. Have you contacted Polabs to ask if there is any possibility of this function being supported ?

Yes I did and they said that the PoKeys57CNC and the Pokeys57CNCdb25 could not control the KX1 spindle using Mach3 and had limited control using Mach 4.   I opted not to upgrade to Mach4 in case the limited control was not satisfactory.   I've been looking at the ESS and the UC100.   The Warp9 products appear to have a comprehensive coverage of dealing with the spindle in Mach3 on their web site so I might take a punt on the ESS.

I'm also having to learn a lot about under the hood on the KX1. :-)  The way the KX1 was marketed in the UK was that users didn't need to know more than how to operate Mach3.  The late John Stevenson set it up that way and it did work most of the time. :-)   If he was still around he would have had the answer. :-)

Jim.

2

Sieg Machines / Original KX1 Upgrade to USB or Ethernet

« on: January 25, 2021, 06:51:05 AM »

Can anyone recommend a way to upgrade my original KX1 with Mach3 and parallel port interface to use a USB or Ethernet controller?   I have already purchased a Pokeys57CNCdb25 and found that it could not control the spindle which requires a step and direction pair to do the job.   I've had a look around one or two other controllers but have seen one or two messages in forums which have raised further questions.

Jim.

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: KX1 spindle direction problem

« on: March 08, 2019, 01:05:43 PM »

I've just had a dig around on the  old support forum for the KX1/3 and in one of the threads there is mention of a direction pin for the spindle motor.  Unfortunately the FAQ section of the web site is not available and that did hold the actual pinout diagrams.  So if your KX1 uses the parallel port interface,  I would check your pin outputs to see if the the direction pin is working.  It could be oxidisation of the contact in the socket and it might be worth while putting some switch cleaner on the plug and socket contacts and doing a bit of vigorous plugging and unplugging to try clean them.   If I get a chance I'll see if I can put a port monitor on my KX1 and see which pin changes with spindle reversal.

Jim.

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: KX1 spindle direction problem

« on: March 07, 2019, 07:38:33 AM »

Hello,
I wan to ask about my cnc mach3 KX1 have a problem about a spindle direction, my spindle direction only CCW, change the code to m3 still same direction. Is it because my kx1 profile have a problem?

Just a thought, but if the spindle direction is controlled in a similar way to the axes stepper motors then there will be a direction pin feed to control the dircetion.  I haven't had a chance to check out my KX1 to see if this is so but I do remember having a fault on a stepper motor only going one way and the problem turned out to be a poor direction pin connection on the control cable plug.   If I get a chance I'll dig around and see if the spindle motor is controlled gthat way.

Jim.

5

General Mach Discussion / Possible Parallel Port Emulation Problem?

« on: August 23, 2014, 03:05:26 PM »

My KX1 and PC running Mach3 stopped talking to each other last week after four and a half years of trouble free operation.   I had temporarily connected the PC to the internet to re-activate a copy of DraftSight on it and a load of updates seem to have been downloaded at the same time.   I wasn't aware of the updates until I noticed that the PC was still running after I had supposedly shut it down and when I fired the screen up,  I found it finishing off the installation of several updates.   I let it finish and shut it down.  but when I started the machine up the next day,  the Mach screens were changed and i couldn't talk to the KX1.

I spent a day or two checking everything,  trying to step back through updates to get back to the previous PC state,  then reloading Mach,  PCI card drivers, etc.  but still no luck.   I then dug out an old WinXP machine I had pensioned off a few years back and tried to get it back into working trim.  It had an onboard parallel port,  so should have been easy.  but it would not run Mach properly - i.e. I couldn't get a satisfactory driver test done.

I then went back to the original PC and tried checking the parallel port using Parmon.exe,  but couldn't see changes of the port using Parmon reflected on the output pins.  So I reckoned that the card was faulty and got a replacement.  On trying it today,  I found that port pin setting with Parmon was not being reflected on the output port pins on this replacement card either.   I went digging around on the Internet to see if this problem had occurred to anyone else and actually found someone who had had the same problem.  He had found that a parallel port emulation had been set up in his computer and that was what Parmon was seeing and interacting with.   It looks as though this might be my problem and might have happened after that [expletive deleted] update.   Any help on how I can confirm this,  and get rid of it?

Jim.

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Scale Problem?

« on: February 26, 2013, 03:47:29 PM »

Jim,
Sorry, but I'm out of suggestions/thoughts other than trying a reload of Mach3.  Perhaps one of the power users here will step in with help.

John,

Thanks for your time in considering the problem.   I'll just keep making parts and checking each one after cutting so that if I hit the problem again,  I might be able to see what might have caused it in the machine setup at the time.

Jim.

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: Scale Problem?

« on: February 26, 2013, 05:27:21 AM »

John,

Just checked the X and Y axis for backlash.  There is no backlash compensation set up for these axes in Mach - both backlash settings = 0.  Both axes were the same - at ~0.0008"/0.02mm.  My dial indicator is graduated in 0.0005",  so the 0.0008" was a (hopefully) intelligent guess at the small amount under one thou for the backlash.  The metric movement was a bit more of a guess working on an imperial dial. 

Jim.

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Scale Problem?

« on: February 26, 2013, 03:43:28 AM »

Jim,

X too large, Y too small.  Seems odd.  What is your backlash?

John,

I haven't checked the X and Y backlash recently since parts seemed to have been coming out the correct sizes and shapes until the problem parts of two weeks ago.  I'll get the dial test out this morning and have a look.

Jim.

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: Scale Problem?

« on: February 25, 2013, 11:26:20 AM »

Jim,
If just the X, and only sometimes, you may just be operating at the ragged edge of your steppers ability.  Not knowing more about your part or machine, I recommend that you try lowering the velocity and aceleration by 25% (or any % you choose) to see if the problem goes away.

John,

Last week I was more worried about the lengths of the parts so I've just checked the heights of the pieces which I hadn't done before,  and they are undersize!! - typically about 0.6mm in 30mm - approximately -2% error.   I've re-checked the piece I cut yesterday and both height and length are to size.

I don't think the machine is being worked too hard.  I'm cutting quite small detail in styrene with small diameter (1mm, 2mm) carbide cutters and the typical feed depth is 0.15mm,  with 25% stepover at 300mm/min and 3000 - 4000rpm.

Jim.

10

General Mach Discussion / Scale Problem?

« on: February 25, 2013, 06:13:28 AM »

I machined a load of parts on my Seig KX1 a couple of weeks ago and when I got around to assembling them last week I found that some of the parts were oversize - typically +0.35mm in 75mm on the X axis,  or just under +0.5%.   I've audited the CAD and GCode and all the values are correct.  Unfortunately I was producing the parts as fast as I could over two or three days and I can't remember any peculiar conditions that might have existed when the oversize parts were machined.   I re-machined one of the oversize parts yesterday with the same GCode files and it turned out dimensionally accurate.

I checked the motor settings in Mach3 and they seemed to be OK - Steps Per = 500; Velocity = 1000.2;  Acceleration = 150; Step Pulse = 2; Dir. Pulse = 0.

I remember having the same problem about a year ago when another part turned out oversize,  but I was able to re-machine it to correct dimensions using the same GCode files.

Any pointers to what might be happening?  At the moment I'm going to check the motor settings before I start any machining.  I never normally touch the scale settings on the MDI and always assume them to be 1,  but I will keep an eye on them as well.  I also checked the code from Cut2D for the possibility of any G50/51 entries,  but there are none.

The mach version is 3.043.022.

Jim.