Messages

821

General Mach Discussion / Re: Smoother Radi's

« on: July 09, 2009, 09:37:52 AM »

Sounds like you have a lot of backlash/slop in your drive system. Have you measured your backlash.

822

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Smooth Stepper is GREAT, but for a couple of issues

« on: July 08, 2009, 09:37:23 AM »

Without seeing your probing script I don't think anyone will be able to help you. For you limit switch issue you may need to adjust the filtering in the SS config.

823

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help with new SS board and servo motors on Gecko drives

« on: July 08, 2009, 09:32:47 AM »

A 1/2 hp continuous motor is 6~8" in diameter and 10~12" long. I suspect you have 1/2 hp peak motors. What voltage are your motors designed to be run at?

A servo motor is a specialized type of motor. While technically you can slap an encoder on any DC motor and control it via a servo loop the results will not always be good.

824

General Mach Discussion / Re: new computer >> strange noise from steppenmotors

« on: July 03, 2009, 08:23:46 AM »

Did you start with a fresh install of Windows and do the optimization for Mach? Did you do a driver test? If so what were the results? Is your parallel port a 5V port?

You have an issue with the pulse stream coming from your parallel port. If could be that due to other things running Windows can't make smooth pulses, it could also be a hardware limitation of the particular PC. If you have a BOB that expects 5V signals and you have a 3V port that will cause problems as well.

For my money I would use a SmoothStepper.

825

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: CNC seem welding????

« on: July 01, 2009, 07:18:03 PM »

I used to do automated welding/cutting. For the last seven years I have been building test and automation equipment for a local university.

You can find a starting point by using a welding 'calculator' like Miller Electric Part # 086446 . It is slide rule type device that will give you a good starting point with a given material thickness, wire, gas, etc. There are so many combinations of base materials, wire, etc that it takes some experimentation to get it right. You might also be able to find some more info on MIller's website: http://www.millerwelds.com/education/articles/articles10.html.

826

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: CNC seem welding????

« on: July 01, 2009, 05:24:15 PM »

Are you inspecting your welds by sawing a sample piece in half so you can see the profile? You need to insure that the penitration and HAZ is proper? It is very easy to make a really nice looking but complelty useless bead with an automated welder.

827

SmoothStepper USB / Re: new setp with cnc4pc c23 bob

« on: June 14, 2009, 12:38:52 AM »

Did you install the SmoothStepper driver and plug-in? Also if your switching over an existing profile you have to tell it to use the SmoothStepper instead of the parallel port.

828

General Mach Discussion / Re: parallel port

« on: June 14, 2009, 12:35:06 AM »

At the risk of going into broken record mode - I really hate seeing folks spend a lot of time trying to make their machine play nice with the LPT driver. In general you need to shut off all the power saving options and not install anything but Mach on your PC. If your using a slower machine with shared video memory you can have problems as the video process will tie up the memory bus. There are many, many PCs that work just fine but some folks just have bad luck.

I'm sold on using the SmoothStepper now: http://soigeneris.com/Warp9.aspx , as it just works. No more fussing with the LPT.

829

SmoothStepper USB / Re: smoothstepper hangs mach3

« on: June 09, 2009, 02:58:16 PM »

Yes, if the box is (earth)grounded it will prevent the SS from picking up the RFI from the drivers and such in the same box. If the SS is picking up noise from the inputs you'll need to optically isolate those as well.

830

SmoothStepper USB / Re: smoothstepper hangs mach3

« on: June 09, 2009, 02:11:02 PM »

No worries I answer to either spelling. Probably just moving the SS out of the drive box, or shielding it would work. I agree that a bit more of an 'installation' guide would go a long way to preventing headaches.

I've been designing a new 4-axis drive box that uses a SS. It is an aluminum enclosure with the PS and other high voltage stuff mounted on one level, then there is an aluminum 'attic' floor that the SS is mounted to. This shields it quite nicely.