Messages

21

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 is hanging while loading file

« on: July 12, 2011, 07:12:29 PM »

I would have thought that path generation occurred after the file had been read, and I find it hard to believe that anything in a text file would cause mach to lockup.
I assume from your description that you can load a specific file normally, but sometimes it fails?
If it's intermittent like that, I would have to come down on the side of a computer issue, RAM problem perhaps.
Does the computer lock up or is it just mach that's unresponsive?

22

General Mach Discussion / Re: when motors reverse, they stall then slowly pick up speed. HELP!

« on: July 08, 2011, 01:43:54 AM »

I very much doubt it's a CPU issue doing this, to just slow down the parallel port driver only during a direction change would be very unusual.
I think it has to be an issue with his Mach configuration, assuming he's in inch mode? an acceleration of 5 or 16 should be noticeable, but not drawn out. I assume the slowdown/acceleration is drawn out?
Maybe he has something weird set in backlash compensation?
Is there any other setting that directly affects speed/acceleration?
How long does it take to change direction? full speed to full speed?
You describe the steppers as stalling, this is something very specific when talking about steppers, can you elaborate on what you mean by stalling?

23

General Mach Discussion / Re: when motors reverse, they stall then slowly pick up speed. HELP!

« on: July 07, 2011, 07:47:28 PM »

Then it's a software issue, probably your mach configuration.

24

General Mach Discussion / Re: when motors reverse, they stall then slowly pick up speed. HELP!

« on: July 07, 2011, 02:23:07 PM »

Actually I see you stated you have 280oz inch steppers, that one is 270oz inch's so that may not be the stepper he was providing when he used Xylotec boards.
Also checking my theory, all the reduced voltage would do is reduce the maximum speed, not the torque.

25

General Mach Discussion / Re: when motors reverse, they stall then slowly pick up speed. HELP!

« on: July 07, 2011, 01:55:22 PM »

I think this is the motors he uses http://www.kelinginc.net/KL23H276-28-4B.pdf, by my calculation the optimal voltage for them is 60V.
Having said that I would expect all your losing from running them at 24 would be torque, you'd end up with ~120oz/inch of holding torque, which should be more than enough for the X/Y of a Taig though you may have to dial the speed down a bit.

What you're describing sounds more like what I would expect with a low acceleration in Mach, any chance you could post a video of it somewhere so we can see what it's doing. DO the DRO's reflect the slowing down and speeding up or do they immediately start moving in the other direction?
If you run simple Gcode like

G1 X5 F10
X2
X5
X2

Where does your axis end up?

I have his later Gecko based system which work very well for me, the wiring is clean, only thing I wish he did is use a real EStop button and run an additional connector to the outside of the case for limit switches.

26

General Mach Discussion / Re: Constant "E-Stop requested"

« on: July 07, 2011, 01:34:24 PM »

The real solution if it's electrical noise is to find the cause of the noise and remove it.
It's usually a bad ground, or multiple grounds that are the issue, though things like wrapping wires around power lines, or running them too close to the PSU.

27

General Mach Discussion / x axis problems

« on: July 01, 2011, 01:51:53 AM »

He's asking if the tool path in Mach 3 and the DRO's are showing the expected cutting position or if they to are reversed.
The DRO's/Simulation are not connected to the hardware they reflect the instructions MACH 3 is sending to the machine if they are wrong it's likely a problem with the GCode, setup or less likely a bug in Mach.
If they look right and the machine is doing something different then you look at the machine or a bug.
It's less likely to be a common bug because if it were these forums would be on fire with people complaining.
I think the whole pirated thing is a red herring FWIW.

28

General Mach Discussion / Re: Incorrect Router Repositioning

« on: June 30, 2011, 01:54:23 AM »

You need to eliminate the possible causes, so slow it down do the test.
Change the feed rate in the program do the test etc etc.
Once you know what's happening you can figure out why and get as much of the lost speed back as possible.
Z Axis are under much higher load than X or Y, so feed rates have to be a LOT lower.

29

General Mach Discussion / Re: Incorrect Router Repositioning

« on: June 29, 2011, 10:19:25 PM »

If it's repeatedly higher on each cut I'd still guess that you're losing steps on the ZAxis.
Try turning down the speed and accel on that one axis and see if it improves.
It could be when the down move on the cut occurs, so you might have to reduce the plunge rate in whatever cam software you are using.

I don't know why you get the initial move.

30

Works in progress / Re: Screenset for my touch screen

« on: June 29, 2011, 02:07:02 PM »

I know this thread is old, but I was trying to get this screen set working with the current version of Mach, and when I load it what I get is compressed in Y to maybe 32 pixels.
Is there some trick with the install I'm missing or is it just not working with the current version on Mach 3?

Thanks