Messages

1011

General Mach Discussion / Re: Reto-fitting Dyna 2400

« on: March 03, 2008, 09:19:30 AM »

The good thing is that you can use the OEM steppers and drivers. You just need to remove the little controller box and the distribution board inside the machine. I made my own opto-isolator board as I wanted to be able to plug in the existing cables. When the Smooth-Stepper becomes available I'm going to redo my opto board to act as a daughter board to it, then there will only be a USB cable between the PC and mill.

As for your machine, what a steal. Want to double your money 

I'll dig out my schematic and take some pictures of my machine.

1012

General Mach Discussion / Re: 2D cutting travel not smooth Jerky movements ???

« on: February 29, 2008, 09:51:49 AM »

We are suspecting Mach may have an error in the coding ?

You need to stop and consider that while most SW will have a bug or two, the problem is most likely your configuration. Mach 3 is a great improvement over Mach 2, going backwards is not likely to improve your situation.

To shake down machine problems you need to start with very simple programs that just cycle the axis. Make sure you get everything configured properly and then dry run some larger programs.

1013

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 using Galil servo card

« on: February 25, 2008, 11:16:19 AM »

You won't 'see' the main encoders directly with Mach III. Mach's DROs will reflect the inferred position however. When you home the system both the Galil's Mach's position registers are zeroed (and synced).  When processing a movement command Mach will ask the Galil to move a certain amount, which the Galil will do. So, still the Mach DRO and Galil position register are in sync. If the Galil cannot complete the move then an error signal will be sent to Mach and Mach will stop. In short, while Mach is not directly displaying the Galil position register (which would not be that great anyhow as it would just be encoder counts) it does know where the Galil is and displays that information in the DROs (nicely scaled to your units).

Are you jogging and not seeing the DROs change?

The built in Galil I/O is mapped to the standard Mach I/O (Input/Output 1-16). Just enable them in Ports and Pins.

1014

General Mach Discussion / Re: Reto-fitting Dyna 2400

« on: February 25, 2008, 09:36:33 AM »

It is amazing what one can find with a simple search. Searching for Dyan 2400 yeilds: http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,3134.0.html.

OK, so it was my post and I knew it was there, but still, 'Search' is a great tool for seeking information. I'm not sure if I posted the schematics for the opto-isolator board I mentioned in the above thread but I would be glad to share it. I am waiting for the SmoothStepper to be in production so I can redo my opto-isolator as a daughter board to it yielding superior performance, lots of extra I/O and only a single USB cable from PC to the mill.

1015

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 using Galil servo card

« on: February 25, 2008, 09:31:32 AM »

There is nothing to configure for the main encoder signals. Mach reads them and pops them into the main DROs automatically. You do need to enable all the motor outputs (just check to enable them, leave the rest alone), and enable all your limits/home in the Input Signals tab.  The 'Encoder Position' DRO displayed on the 'Settings Alt6' is displaying the auxiliary encoder registers from the Galil. However, the Galil 'Econo' series boards do not have auxiliary encoder inputs so these registers are used to convey the extended I/O inputs to the Mach-Galil plug-in. Do you have the extended I/O board?

1016

General Mach Discussion / Re: Driver issue on 3GHz Computer?

« on: February 22, 2008, 05:03:18 PM »

Is it a dual core Intel processor? I recall that some folks have had problem with them. I know there was a post on the Yahoo group about this a month or so ago. It might be worth doing a search.

1017

General Mach Discussion / Re: process for using a different editor

« on: February 11, 2008, 11:19:52 AM »

Isn't that what the 'Edit G-code' button on the main screen already does? But then I guess folks may be using diffrent screens so your point is well taken...

1018

General Mach Discussion / Re: process for using a different editor

« on: February 11, 2008, 09:09:22 AM »

OR...you can just change the program that Mach Launches when you click the 'Edit GCode' button  . Go to Config->General Configuration, top of second column. just set that to the editor of your choice.

1019

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach software to label printer?

« on: February 06, 2008, 09:48:13 AM »

Are you wanting to print one label each time a G-Code program is run or one label for each individual part that may be cut in a given G-Code program? I would think this could be done by inserting a macro call before the section of G-code that cuts a given part. Making the macro communicate with what program is driving your printer is the tricky part. Can you provide some more details on the type of printer you would like to use and what you need to print on the label? You would need an external program to receive a signal (label code#) from the macro and then look up the correct text to print and send it to the printer. If you want drop me a PM with your contact info and I'll see if I can help you out.

1020

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: PCB's with Mach

« on: February 01, 2008, 01:25:14 PM »

While waiting for components I was messing around with adding a silkscreen to the component side of the board. After searching the web I found that some folks reported having great success laser printing on Staples "photo basic gloss" inkjet paper (#item# 648181, $20 for 50 8.5"x11"sheets). I mirrored the silkscreen and printed it onto a half sheet of the Staples paper, lined up the printout face down on the top of my board and then used cloths iron to transfer the toner to the board. There is a lot of information about the process here: http://www.fullnet.com/~tomg/gooteepc.htm

I'm pretty happy with the results although I wish I had gotten it aligned better on my board.