Messages

221

General Mach Discussion / Re: Confused about Steps, Pulses calculations

« on: April 28, 2010, 08:27:35 AM »

No, not yet, but will this afternoon.  Good suggestion.

Thanks,
Vogavt

222

General Mach Discussion / Re: Confused about Steps, Pulses calculations

« on: April 27, 2010, 06:58:39 PM »

Ignore the last post. I couldn't get the pics to show up and the time limit for modification expired. What's up with that?

Anyway, here's another attempt. The pics show the caliper holder base that obviously mounts to the bed and the slider mount for the caliper that mounts in the spindle.  I made this this past weekend and I think it's woriking like I designed it.  I have no clue as to what a "Speciialized Tool" is supposed to look like. The base is simply squared off with an engineering square (Groz) and bolted to the bed. Therefore, the slots were milled perpendicular to the bottom surface to ensure when I move the axis, it moves parallel to the bed.  The sliding holder portion is also slotted and mounts in the spindle.

It's made out of 3/4" 6061 T6 Aluminum.





Criticism is okay, I've got broad sholders, so tell me what you think, please.
Vogavt


P.S. Maybe some moderator can clean up the previous post. I DELETED IT  RICH

223

General Mach Discussion / Re: Confused about Steps, Pulses calculations

« on: April 27, 2010, 04:50:57 PM »

Good replies!

Yes, it's directly coupled and I'd planned on putting the marks on the shaft and on the base of the motor.

Regarding not worrying about backlash: I'm should be eliminating the backlash since I'm moving neg, then positive.  Maybe I'm not making myself clear on what my question is, so I'll give it another whirl. 

What is happening is when I bring the x-axis to the negative and back to the posiitive AND zero both the DRO in Mach and the DRO on the caliper, then move the bed in the positive I get a specific number.
I repeat the process as stated in the previous sentence over and over again, yet come up with different numbers each time, even though I'm not changing pulse width, steps/rev, etc., nothing other than moving the axis back to zero, rezeroing both and starting again.

You're correct, I'm not worrying about the backlash at this point. I'm just having difficulty repeating the measured movement.

I will try the marking approach here shortly and see what I find out.

Thanks guys, hang with me on this please.

Vogavt

224

General Mach Discussion / Re: Confused about Steps, Pulses calculations

« on: April 27, 2010, 07:40:49 AM »

Yes, threaded rod. Harbor Freight 44991 standard issue with no modifications to the leadscrew, replacement or otherwise.

Good point about the penciil mark. I'll try that this afternoon and see if I can land back on it. Might be difficult though since I've got backlash disabled and am roving negative then positive to take up any perceivable backlash.  I'll have to use two different marks (colors) to make certain I get at the same starting point each time and a different color for the ending point.  Green and Red seem like obivious choice of colors! LOL!

Thanks for the comments and support!

Vogavt

225

General Mach Discussion / Re: Confused about Steps, Pulses calculations

« on: April 26, 2010, 06:22:07 PM »

Okay, I ran the DriverTest.exe and was able to get up to 65kHz, but when I selected 75kHz I got a message that stated it was pulsing too slow.  Which seems to be the opposite of what I would have expected the message to say.  Maybe I don't have my thinking cap on straight since it seems I'm pulsing faster with 75 than 65.  Unclear about this and would appreciate some clarification.

I will note also that even at 65kHz, I was getting a nice flat line with only an occasional minor spike.

In Mach3, I tried different uS settings for the step and direction but didn't seem any changes in the erratic readings while moving identical amounts as described in the first post.  Do I  have to close and restart Mach3 when I make these changes? I didn't see it in the manual.

Thanks in advance,
Vogavt

226

General Mach Discussion / Re: Confused about Steps, Pulses calculations

« on: April 26, 2010, 01:30:59 PM »

Using two boards:

Xylotex XS-3525/8S-4 which states use a minimum of 1.0uS.
cnc4pc C11 which states start with 3.0us, but up to 5/0us can be used.

I'll play around with the different pulse widths and see what happens.

Haven't started on the Y-axis yet.

227

General Mach Discussion / Confused about Steps, Pulses calculations

« on: April 25, 2010, 09:14:18 PM »

I have a 16tpi lead screw with steppers set to 1/8 and the usual 200 step motor which I calculate to 25600 steps (i.e. pulses).  However, when I use the automatic calculation routine within Mach3 I get something like 25830.69158, so I know it's close. I've got the kernel speed set to 25k.

I have the backlash disabled and therefore always move the axis in the negative and then to the positive before telling Mach to move to some desired distance in the positive direction. My caliper is fixed to the bed of the mill and the holder for the sliding portion of the caliper is fixed in the spindle. I'm currently using (+) 3.5" for the X-axis.

Here's what odd: I'm getting random measurements from the caliper. Sometimes it will land on 3.501", 3.497", 3.522", etc.  Note, I always move the bed negative, then positive, then rezero the caliper and the Mach3 DRO for the X-axis and before moving the prescribed distance. (This is to alleviate any backlash).

I haven't changed the pulse width or the kernel speed just yet and really don't know what to expect when I do other than having to retune the steppers which I'm trying to avoid.

I just can't figure out what the issue is.  Any help would be appreciated.


BTW, has anyone found that when you use the automatic calculation routine you have to input G90 in the MDI in order to get the steppers moving again?

228

General Mach Discussion / Re: Need a beep function for Mach3 - For Touch Plate/Center Finder

« on: January 01, 2010, 04:47:53 PM »

Here is what is working for me, Had to stay away from the beep as it is a VB function.
Add this to the top of the button page:

Private Declare Function BeepAPI Lib "kernel32" Alias "Beep" (ByVal dwFrequency _
    As Long, ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long) As Long


'then this beeps at 500hz for 500ms on the motherboard speaker
BeepAPI 500, 500

good luck

I'm assuming you mean at the start of the HiddenScript.m1s. Correct?

229

General Mach Discussion / Re: Need a beep function for Mach3 - For Touch Plate/Center Finder

« on: January 01, 2010, 04:43:25 PM »

I added a LED to my touch plate - it is blue.  I touch the plate to my bit, the LED turns blue, I know I have a circuit and so I can run my zero touch plate macro.  It works great.

That's pretty cool, but it doesn't address me remembering to actually do that. Still a neat addition, that would keep me from having to crane my neck around to see the Mach3 screen LED.

I suppose it would also be another tool in the tool box because I'm always looking right the the tool with my finger on the ESC key just in case it doesn't stop! This would also help me to make sure I'm not actually grounded while doing the clipping on of the alligator clip. I like it and will give it a whirl.

I will install it inline though not on the touch plate (for me that will work best).

Vogavt

230

General Mach Discussion / Need a beep function for Mach3 - For Touch Plate/Center Finder

« on: December 24, 2009, 03:27:43 PM »

I've been working on the Auto-zeroing Probe with great success.  Well, that is, as long as I remember to connect the wire to the touch plate/Center Finder.

I've failed to connect the wire twice and on both occasions I've ripped the pipe off the touch plate.  Both instances have been due to distractions (kids) right at the integral moment.

What I need is a snippet of code to put in the *.m1s that forces the computer to Beep. Not the external speakers, but the computer's speaker.


What I'm trying to do here is have the code stop you from performing a centering function until you have touched the spindle at least once. (This is to let Mach know that you may not have connected the wire to the plate just yet).  Once I touch the spindle with the wire/alligator clip, I want the code to resume in ~5 seconds. This will give me enough time to connect the wire to the touch plate and know that it's ready for use.


I can work on the delay factor later. For now here are the attempts I've made in the probe code to just get some sound:

If GetOemLed (825) <> 1 Then       'Forces you to make certain the TPGW is connected
   Code "(Touch Probe Ground Wire is not connected)"
   Beep
End If
------Only works on External Speakers - Need the PC's internal Speaker to work ----


If GetOemLed (825) <> 1 Then       'Forces you to make certain the TPGW is connected
   Code "(Touch Probe Ground Wire is not connected)"
   Beep (500, 1000)
End If
------Only works on External Speakers - Need the PC's internal Speaker to work ----



I turned on the "Allow Speak" function in General Configuration and tried this:

If GetOemLed (825) <> 1 Then       'Forces you to make certain the TPGW is connected
   Code "(Touch Probe Ground Wire is not connected)"
   Speak ("Connect the touch probe ground wire")
End If
------Doesn't work / Don't hear anything ----



I know that the code "If GetOemLed (825) <> 1 " is to look to see if the LED is not lit, and "<> 0" is to check and see if you're already grounded.  That's why I put this in front of the "If GetOemLed (825) <> 0 " portion of the code.


Any help would be appreciated and Merry Christmas to all,

Vogavt