Topics

61

General Mach Discussion / Tip Direction in Turn?

« on: October 07, 2007, 02:48:28 PM »

Just in the closing stages of retrofitting my Lathe. I have been setting up the tool table with  X and Z offsets and tip radius but I am unsure of how the Tip Direction should be. As an example if I have a PCLNL tool in my turret should I enter 85degrees for the Tip Direction or would it be 95 degrees or possibly something else?
Hood

62

General Mach Discussion / OT- Welder for transformer

« on: April 17, 2007, 06:42:23 PM »

A bit off topic 
Just wondering if anyone could tell me if an oil cooled welder could be used as a power supply for my servos. I have an Oxford 140Amp Oil cooled welder that I never use, it has a 50V and 80V output terminals, I am needing 50V so that would just be perfect. However there must be somthing different in a welder compared to a normal transformer as the current is selectable on a welder.
Anyone have thoughts on this?

Hood

63

General Mach Discussion / Any German speakers here

« on: April 09, 2007, 05:19:23 PM »

Have been trying to help out a member here but afraid I just cant make head nor tail of his machines pinouts as the PDF is in German and also the handwritten notes are in German.
 Any help much appreciated.

Hood

64

General Mach Discussion / Lathe screen and mill screen differences. Why?

« on: March 11, 2007, 08:56:30 AM »

I wiill start by sying I have never used a  CNC lathe but am nearing finishing my lathe retrofit. I dont really like the way the lathe screen is set out, more than likely because I am used to the mill screens and just take bad with the different way of working/layout.
 Is there any reason that the lathe screens are totally different setup from the mill screens? IF not then I will modify my mill screen to suit the two axis of the lathe.
Hood

65

VB and the development of wizards / Can I pause between lines in VB

« on: February 22, 2007, 03:41:54 PM »

I am trying to write some macros for the lathe I am retrofitting. The gearbox utelises clutches and I dont want to change from, for example, full speed to a stop in one go. What I intend to do is write into my macro to look at the spindle speed and if it is too big a difference I will drop it down at least one  speed before I stop it. I need to be able to pause for a few seconds after I have shifted down before I then stop, is there a simple way to do this?
Hood

66

General Mach Discussion / PLC relays wont latch

« on: February 04, 2007, 02:18:28 PM »

Sorry for the lack of technical terms but I am trying to get to grips with a PLC and MODbus. Yesterday I seemed to be getting along great, had some output relays on the PLC that I could activate with M6 command etc but today I just cant get it to work. Sometimes when I command the output it will momentarily switch the PLC output but it just wont latch it. Anyone have any ideas?
Hood

67

General Mach Discussion / Found a fault in my screenset

« on: January 11, 2007, 08:43:26 PM »

I dont know if anyone uses the screenset I made up but I want to put a warning here just in case. I have found a serious error in my screen, on the MDI page the zero buttons for X and Y axis were assigned as VB script which should not have been, this could cause a serious crash if used. If anyone has downloaded my screen please make sure you either reasign these buttons to their proper function ( in screen4 ) or download the folder again as I have uploaded a fixed version.

Hood

68

General Mach Discussion / Lathe Screenset

« on: December 27, 2006, 11:16:48 AM »

I am going to be starting on my Lathe retro when I get the parts I need and I want to make up a screenset similar to the one I have for my mill. I have never used a CNC lathe before and looking at the lathe screensets available they are quite a bit different from the mill layout, so I am looking for opinions on what layouts you guys think is best. Is there a reason for the lathe screenset being so different from the mill? What buttons, DROs etc do you think should be on the main screen? Do you always have seperate reference (home) buttons for a lathe or can they be like the reference button in mill (does all axis one after the other)?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Hood

69

General Mach Discussion / Tangential control

« on: November 08, 2006, 08:39:18 PM »

Does the Tangential control work in G2/G3 in the latest versions ? just curious.
Hood

70

General Mach Discussion / New Fixture save

« on: October 06, 2006, 12:21:58 PM »

Is anyone else having problems with Mach not asking whether you want to save "new fixture" when shutting down?
If  I just open Mach, home, move to any position and zero the axis then shut Mach down it will ask but if I load any code whatsoever I will not be asked whether I want to save the new fixture even though I have changed the offset.
Hood