Messages

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 incremental jogging problem

« on: January 17, 2024, 04:05:24 PM »

I'm using all latest versions of Mach4 and Pokeys plugin, I have a ticket with Pokeys hopefully they can recreate the issue and get to the bottom of it.

But in the mean time I may take your suggestion and try some older versions.

2

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 incremental jogging problem

« on: January 15, 2024, 11:07:10 AM »

Tried slowing that right down also, did not help, but wouldn't t that be an issue with continuous jogging also? Keep in mind I can run G-code files with lots of rapids and have no issues. Really the machine works perfect except for this.   

3

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 incremental jogging problem

« on: January 15, 2024, 10:40:49 AM »

Yes tried numerous jog rates, had no affect.

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Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4 incremental jogging problem

« on: January 14, 2024, 09:32:02 PM »

Posted this in pokeys section also but maybe better suited here, recently installed Mach4(was using Mach3 before) and I'm having a jogging issue using incremental. I'm using a pokeys57cnc board, all latest software versions of mach4/pokeys firmware and plugin. The motors are very jerky and noisy and are missing steps, this is even jogging fairly slow but faster I go worse it gets. Continuous jogging works perfectly fine and running G code files also fine, this is the only issue I have come across. Also all jogging works fine if I switch back to mach3.
I recall a post saying to use an increment that is an even amount of steps, which is kind of hard to do but I tried various values between .001 and .010 without any change.

Here is quick video of issue, I'm open to any suggestions, also leaning towards it being a pokeys issue but its hard to tell.

https://youtube.com/shorts/fiSlyx7Io0M   

5

PoKeys / MACH4/Pokeys57cnc incremental jogging problem

« on: January 14, 2024, 02:57:25 PM »

Having an odd problem with incremental jogging, continuous jogging works fine, but if jogging set to .001" or .01" and jogging using the Mach4 screen buttons or MPG the motors are very rough and clunking and loosing steps. This makes small increment jogging impossible which is beneficial for lathe tool setup. I recently switched from Mach3 and it had no problems like this at all. Its hard to say if this is a Mach4 or Pokeys issue, but hoping someone else may have experienced this and could provide some suggestions.  I'd prefer to stay with mach3 but it doesn't support threading with Pokeys so have no choice but to upgrade.

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: General lathe axis direction help needed

« on: December 05, 2023, 04:11:28 PM »

According to a CNC machinist friend I have it correct, a front mounted turret machine should have the highest X+ value towards the operator. He explained it as the higher the X+ the larger the diameter part, which makes sense. So this seems to be an error in the fusion 360 PP, it also has a couple other bugs related to G53/G28. I'm not sure how so many people use fusion and mach3 and bugs still exist after this many years....mach3 is still being sold to new customers today...gzzz 

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 Turn tool offsets just don't work

« on: December 05, 2023, 03:58:36 PM »

I think I've sorted this out..hopefully.....and I wanted to add this in case someone ends up here with a similar problem. It looks to be related to the X homing configuration, my home switch is at the front so it homes in the X+ direction. I left the auto zero function on setting the Home Off value as X 0.000, I then set the Soft Min at -3.9" and Soft Max at 0.000".
  This set the X travel range from 0" to -3.9" moving front to back, this didn't seem to cause any problem jogging the axis around and in theory it should be perfectly fine. 

Instead I changed the Home Off value to +3.9", and Soft Min to 0 and Soft Max to +3.9". So now the X axis travel range is all positive from 3.9" to 0 moving front to back. Since making this change the X tool offsets have been stable after each machine startup or homing operation. It seems to be a bug of some sort, it just doesn't like the X axis machine coord to be all negative.   

8

General Mach Discussion / General lathe axis direction help needed

« on: December 04, 2023, 12:09:52 PM »

I'm trying to sort out proper lathe axis direction of movement, its just normal front mount tool holder type lathe. The Z movement seems standard wherever I read, Z+ is away from the chuck or towards the right.  But X axis movement seems to not be a standard, I have it configured as X+ towards operator, or X- is towards stock, but maybe this is wrong?
 I am using fusion 360 and I have to set it to Turret 102 for the tool movement to be correct, but in the G-code comments on tool change its saying add tool to REAR. So this leads me to believe I have it reversed.   

Used mach3 for many years on a mill but this is first time on a lathe, so really need some schooling on this. Thx

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 Turn tool offsets just don't work

« on: December 03, 2023, 09:26:31 PM »

yes...yes...yes... the is the exact same issue I am experiencing....2017 omg...I can't for the life of me see how anyone uses mach3 turn with any reliability. I have set up all my tool offsets  a number of times now and verified them just like the original post explained only to have them all way off X center line once again. I haven't narrowed down the event that causes the issue...I've already waisted so much time. My plan was to switch to mach4 as I need threading ability(pokeys57 board), so I'm almost at the point of scrapping mach3. But surely there must be more having the issue, so I thought resurrecting this post might shed a little more light on it. If it matters I'm using version R3.43.066 and F360 CAM.           

10

General Mach Discussion / Refurbed IBM ThinkCentre = bad parallel port for mach3

« on: February 17, 2012, 04:59:29 PM »

Just wanted to put this info out in case others are in the same boat. I picked up two refurbed ThinkCentre's from Tigerdirect, think they are model S50, to use as control PC's.  Switched over from deskCNC to Mach3 to try out and motors would run very rough and stuttery. I scoped out the pulses from the PC and found that the onboard port only outputs about 3.5 volts. I'm connecting directly to older 5A choppers drives and they totally don't like this low logic voltage.  

The Solution, I picked up a PCI parallel port card for $22 from the local computer store and now get a full 5volts, and motors now work great.....
Got this one http://ca.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/Parallel/Low-Profile-1-Port-EPPECP-Parallel-PCI-Card~PCI1P_LP

Also just to add, if your trying to find out how to tune the current output on the old Camtronics 5A chopper drive boards(kit), here's the details:

Connect the VOM with the black lead to ground and the red lead to the Vref test point. These are located by Q9 and Q10. They are the large pad with the heavy white outline. Set the Vref for the current that you require. The formula is Current = Vref times .1/Rsense. Since the value of Rsense is .05 ohms . The current will be Vref*.1/.05. So if you place black lead of your VOM on one of the mounting holes and the + Red lead on the test pad  and adjust R38 and R39 to the value that you want.  Thus a Vref of 2.5V on the two test point will yield a output current of 2.5X.1/.05 for 5.amps.