Messages

81

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lt's get digi with it! Digitizing a Guitar

« on: November 04, 2007, 10:04:30 PM »

Terry I got to thinking. If you can use the polar array point gathering thing, is there any way to incllude something like that in the 3d probe plug where tihe array is used to determine the physical boundries of a contained point cloud? You know where I'm going with this one don't you?

Mike

82

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lt's get digi with it! Digitizing a Guitar

« on: November 04, 2007, 10:01:13 PM »

Terry I can tell you are real excited! Now I just wish I knew why! Would you prefer to have the cad that is close to right to set your boundries with? Now remember, I only need this for cad at the moment as I have lots of modeling to do such as putting the neck pocket in, pickup cavities and wiring routes. I will of course have to put the neck attachment screw holes but that isn't a biggy.

Mike

83

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lt's get digi with it! Digitizing a Guitar

« on: November 04, 2007, 08:50:52 PM »

Hi Terry,

Sorry about being so long getting back with you. I am an ordained minister, though not pastoring a church and a local congregation called early this morning and needed a fill in. Their pastor is bad sick.

Anyway here is a file that is similar to what I want to do, but not the actual guitar. I will have to get in photographed or......I have a cad file of it already, just a cad that is not correct. I would possibly get us close enough to do the probe job though. This jpg will give you a good idea though of what I need.

Mike

ps the second shot with the real guitar is actually closer but both will give you an idea. I have to digitize from the back side and all I want is the outside profile.

84

General Mach Discussion / G31 probing via array macro.

« on: November 04, 2007, 03:36:20 PM »

Calling Terry Parker.

Hey Terry here is the thread for digitizing. I will post the image of the guitar in a little while, but wanted to get this up and started.

Mike

85

General Mach Discussion / Screen 4 for Mach3

« on: November 01, 2007, 11:29:11 AM »

Hi all,

Art, Terry Parker and I have been having a discussion over on the Yahoo group about 3d probing in Mach3 with me being the guy that needs help. Terry has given a discription of a screen that he has made in the past that would be of great use to me, immediatly, but I believe to many others as well. He offered to give the screen to me but said that the screen designer is scrambling his screen when he tries to save them.

Is anyone having success with saving screens? Art just posted that he had updated Screen 4 and hopefully this will solve the problem.

Now my begging begins.   Below is a cut and paste from the Yahoo thread with the description of the screen Terry is telling me about:

"Mike another trick we use is to set up a page in mach for probing.

Place 4 buttons on the page and assign a directional probe move(macro
starts from the current position, probes in the direction assigned
and then returns to the starting position) in each primary direction
IE: n s e w

Place two more buttons on the screen one to open the points file and
one to close the file.

Then you can open a file, jog around to get into position and push a
direction button to probe in that direction. Then jog into the next
position and press the proper direction button again. When you have
collected enough points then close the file."

Anyone want to take a shot at this screen? I promise you if I had the ability/knowledge I would not ask.

Mike

86

General Mach Discussion / Re: zeroing dro's/machine cords and 3d probe routine

« on: October 25, 2007, 12:52:47 AM »

Just a though, was it hung in the probing routine? If I didn't exit the probing clean, I'd hit the escape key to end it for sure.

Brett

Brett the diags page did not show the probe to be made. I used the escape key two or three different times but it still didn't clear.

Let me go over this again in a little more detail to see if you or anyone can give me an answer.  When positioned over the guitar body, my dro's read appromixately the following.   x16.???Y14.???z-2.0642........I can remember that one too clearly!  I wanted to have my z zero'ed .250" over the top surface of the guitar. I jogged down till I touched the guitar body, backed off, and came in slowly with mdi and got it within .001" of the surface. I then raised the z by .250" and zero-ed the z dro. I then tried to access the 3d probe plugin but it gave the spals screen warning that a previous sequence was not finished. I looked at the diags page and the probe led was not lit, which it would have been if switch had been made, or in my case broken. I tried two or three times to escape but I only got a beep alarm and nothing else.

That's when I decided to home the machine to x0y0z0. Knowing that the current z0 was too low, I hit the machine co-ordinates button and the z dro again read z-2.0462. This is where I assumed.......I had correctly prepped the machine to move to the home position in all three axis, which it did. the problem was that once at that location the z axis dropped crashing my probe tip. It did this as a rapid move too, which did not give me time to abort.

Mike

87

General Mach Discussion / Re: zeroing dro's/machine cords and 3d probe routine

« on: October 25, 2007, 12:41:02 AM »

Do you have the homing sequence set up correctly as far as direction of travel? Are you using safe Z and if so is the zsetting really a safe z?? In some instances it is not(;-)I have been using Mach software since Mach 1 days, and to some degree I am quite familar with the software....to a point. I still run Mach 2 as my primary controller because it works, works well, and is sooooo stable. I have used Mach3 on a limited basis, but I have used it. I want to move over to only Mach 3 but each time I try, something like this happens and I go back.  To answer your questions.....yes the homing sequence is correct and has been tested and used numerous times.. My safe z is z0.000 which in my case is against the switch less one pulse in the positive or up position.

I NEVER let the probe ride around in an untested mode(;-) I have a small box of bent probe arms also. I went to using the brittle ceramic arms to prevent damage to the probe(;-) TP Agreed, but in this case I have used the 3d probe plugin several other times.......it's just that this time it didn't work and therefore the reason to home the machine to get it away from the workpiece, never thinking it would crash the z in the minus direction once homed!

(;-) TP

Mike

88

General Mach Discussion / zeroing dro's/machine cords and 3d probe routine

« on: October 24, 2007, 02:09:19 PM »

Ok guys what did I do wrong. I was trying to digitize a guitar yesterday and still can't get the 3d probe routine to work corectly.

I positioned my z axis over the body of the guitar like I wanted, zeroed the dro and started to set the 3d probe sequence up only to get a splash screen that says a previous sequence was not finished. I could not get the system cleared so I decided to home the machine. Knowing the z axis was too low, I hit the machine cord button and the z dro read what the correct position was. I then hit home.......machine moves home in all three axis only when arriving there the z axis suddendly lowers and proceeds to fold my digitizing probe tip to a nice neat 90 degree shape.

What did I do wrong?

I have two request. 1. Someone please post a screen shot of the 3d probe page set up correctly as it is obvious I can't seem to get it right. 2. Please tell me how to above zeroing of the dro and returning to the proper co ordinates so I don't fold another probe tip.


Mike

89

Newfangled Solutions Mach3 Wizards / Re: Coil winding machine ( Wizard needed)

« on: October 10, 2007, 04:35:34 PM »

Hi James,

Now I wasn't trying to shame you!  I'll do what I can on it and if I can't finish it, we'll find someone that can. I know I can do the cad and docs on that part. 

You have all my contact info.

Mike

90

General Mach Discussion / Re: A Long Sad Story

« on: October 09, 2007, 09:47:49 PM »

Bill take a look at this link!  http://www.pmtnow.com/  I think you will be amazed. I have not yet done inlay because my current machine has too much flex, which I feel would ruin both the inlays and the bits. the other thing I am wondering is the time involved in inletting an inlay using a bit that measures .005". I understand you would rough it out with larger bits progressing ever smaller, but by the time it is done I am not so sure you couldn't do it by hand.

Do you have a web site?

Mike