Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Plea for help!!

« on: March 13, 2013, 09:30:21 AM »

Well, as you can see, yours is the only reply so far. I've just got too many plates spinning to get this stuff down. Need help - S.O.S.!!

2

General Mach Discussion / Plea for help!!

« on: March 11, 2013, 02:07:08 PM »

I'm looking for someone in the Springfield MO area that can help me set up my Mach 3, V-carve Pro, and the machine I'm using. I need a hands-on tutor to explain / teach me as we go and, I'm willing to pay for your time.

I've gotten some terrific advice here, in fact, it was in this forum that V-Carve Pro was suggested, and it did exactly what I needed it to do. What I'm having a problem with now is, well, time for one - this machine will be used to mark a product, and I've had to spend more time on the product than the engraving system. Two, when I try to put all of this together with what I HAVE learned, I get lost in all the stuff that's going on simultaneously and then go back and start from the beginning. Each time, something different isn't right, or isn't working. I'm about to hang myself with the stepper cable harnesses. 

Any folks with some time to help, please let me know - I've got to get this thing going.

Thanks so much.

Bill

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Need graphics help

« on: February 03, 2013, 05:58:23 PM »

Thanks Brett - that looks like it'll do the job.

Bill

4

General Mach Discussion / Need graphics help

« on: February 03, 2013, 03:12:31 PM »

I have a small machine running Mach 3 that I would like to use to engrave a logo .005" deep in aluminum. The problem I have is that the artwork is in .jpeg format and I need to convert it to .dxf. For all of my searching out there, I can't find a program that will accomplish this - there MUST be a way to do this. Any help or guidance will be most appreciated.

Thanks.

Bill

5

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Engraving... Again

« on: October 06, 2012, 09:10:41 AM »

Thanks Rich,

     The other post sent up a warning that it had been inactive for a long time and that, perhaps, I should start a new topic. So, I have both now.

     To answer your other reply, yes, I bought a licensed copy, but I have only begun to study with it - unfortunately, what I need the machine to do is only a small part of my business so, while I'm running around putting out fires, it has been difficult to immerse myself in learning all of this.

     Thanks.

     Bill

6

LazyCam (Beta) / Engraving... Again

« on: October 05, 2012, 03:54:00 PM »

I'm a fairly complete noob with Mach 3 & Lazy Cam but, I have a CNC laser engraver with software that allows me to import .jpg images, lets me size them, and turns them into code. All I have to do is establish where zero is for that particular application and hit "start".

Now however, I need to engrave in aluminum and have turned to Mach 3 with Lazy Cam on a small 4 axis machine and I am lost... Why can't I have it NOW!?!?! I just want to find a WYSIWYG software That will work like my laser software, or figure out a workaround in M3/LC. I have a logo, and text in a specific font.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

7

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: engraving

« on: October 05, 2012, 03:50:44 PM »

I'm a fairly complete noob with Mach 3 & Lazy Cam but, I have a CNC laser engraver with software that allows me to import .jpg images, lets me size them, and turns them into code. All I have to do is establish where zero is for that particular application and hit "start".

Now however, I need to engrave in aluminum and have turned to Mach 3 with Lazy Cam on a small 4 axis machine and am lost... Why can't I have it NOW!?!?!  I just want to find a WYSIWYG software That will work like my laser software, or figure out a workaround in M3/LC.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: REALLY noobie stuff

« on: May 26, 2012, 09:10:54 AM »

Thanks Tweakie,

This looks like a good start.

Bill

9

General Mach Discussion / REALLY noobie stuff

« on: May 25, 2012, 09:17:15 AM »

Hello,

     I originally posted this in the introductions until Dick was kind enough to let me know it needed to be out here. I'll just re-post the gist of it all

     My name is Bill Moll and I've been building guitars professionally for almost 45 years however, not using CNC, as many of my contemporaries do. I'm also a half-a$$ed hobby machinist and gunsmith which gives me a change of pace once in a while, but I enjoy doing that the old fashion way as well - at the lathe and mill. I've never had anything "against" using NC for either endeavor - except for the costs, and the learning curve. :-)

     Well, one of my gunsmithing projects has now turned into a product. Tolerances must be very, very tight however, so I have contracted with an outside CNC shop to produce some of the parts for me. I will engrave my own logo, model, and serial numbers though, and have bought a copy of Mach3 to see if I can get my stodgy old brain around all of this. The "tutorials" that came with my software - "getting started easy with Mach3", had nothing to do with learning how to use the program, only getting your steppers, ports, and boards configured correctly. (help)

     I understand that "Lazy-cam" will convert a .dxf file into G code but, all I have the ability to produce are .jpg's, .tiff's, .bmp's, etc. I've committed myself to learning this stuff thoroughly as time allows, but I need to get up to speed on the "simple" engraving work as soon as I can. Any, and all, help will be greatly appreciated.

     Thanks for being here - I now plan to do a lot of reading!

     Bill

10

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: May 24, 2012, 07:04:32 PM »

Hello,

     My name is Bill Moll and I've been building guitars professionally for almost 45 years however, not using CNC, as many of my contemporaries do. I'm also a half-a$$ed hobby machinist and gunsmith which gives me a change of pace once in a while, but I enjoy doing that the old fashion way as well - at the lathe and mill. I've never had anything "against" using NC for either endeavor - except for the costs, and the learning curve. :-)

     Well, one of my gunsmithing projects has now turned into a product. Tolerances must be very, very tight however, so I have contracted with an outside CNC shop to produce some of the parts for me. I will engrave my own logo, model, and serial numbers though, and have bought a copy of Mach3 to see if I can get my stodgy old brain around all of this. The "tutorials" that came with my software - "getting started easy with Mach3", had nothing to do with learning how to use the program, only getting your steppers, ports, and boards configured correctly. (help)

     I understand that "Lazy-cam" will convert a .dxf file into G code but, all I have the ability to produce are .jpg's, .tiff's, .bmp's, etc. I've committed myself to learning this stuff thoroughly as time allows, but I need to get up to speed on the "simple" engraving work as soon as I can. Any, and all, help will be greatly appreciated.

     Thanks for being here - I now plan to do a lot of reading!

     Bill