Messages

21

General Mach Discussion / Re: Future of Mach3 ??

« on: July 11, 2015, 06:39:42 AM »

Officially there is no future for Mach3 being as they have no plans on fixing the many bugs that plague it. If you are running a 3 axis basic machine with no plugins and don't mind breaking a bit every so often because the spindle doesn't start then Mach3 isn't too bad. Beyond that it's a crap shoot.

I too am looking at linuxcnc and the Mesa cards. Things seem to have matured a bit since I checked them out last.

22

Promote and discuss your product / Re: Free G76 Macro Helping program for Mach3 Turn

« on: July 03, 2015, 07:46:42 AM »

I would imagine they are targeting more popular downloads. Can't be too careful though.

23

Promote and discuss your product / Re: Free G76 Macro Helping program for Mach3 Turn

« on: July 03, 2015, 06:39:19 AM »

With all the crap going on with sourceforge injecting malware into downloads you may want to use a different repository.

24

Others / Re: Ezilathe - Tools for the CNC lathe

« on: June 27, 2015, 06:05:45 AM »

Nice work. I watched the videos on youtube and I'm very impressed with the amount of effort you put in this.

Will it work with round inserts? I user a 6mm round for contour cutting.

Also what version of Mach3 are you running?
Thanks
Derek

25

General Mach Discussion / Re: UC 100 setting probe on mach3

« on: June 09, 2015, 06:58:49 AM »

Something has to tell the machine what to do. I'm no expert as I use Calypso screen sets and the buttons for probing are all pre scripted. G31 is a probing code. Do some searching on that.

26

General Mach Discussion / Re: UC 100 setting probe on mach3

« on: June 09, 2015, 06:47:26 AM »

I have probes on pin 15 on two machines and they work fine.
Check your wiring and whatever script you're using for the probe.
If the probe activates pin 15 LED on the UC100 plugin then it's your script. If it doesn't activate it then it's your probe, the UC100 or your wiring.

27

General Mach Discussion / Re: Auto-aligning gantry during homing.

« on: March 09, 2015, 06:21:06 AM »

Make sure one of your switches is easily and accurately adjustable. There is no provision in mach to electronically offset the switches.

28

General Mach Discussion / Re: Steps to making mill bulletproof

« on: January 12, 2015, 06:18:10 AM »

I would try a different brand of drive on one axis and see if that helps.
I had Gecko drives on my first router and suffered the same kinds of problems. Everything had to be perfect electronically for them to be dependable. I'm not slamming the drives as they are very popular, just relaying what worked for me.

29

General Mach Discussion / Re: M3 and M4 compiler issues...again

« on: November 22, 2014, 04:43:38 PM »

So how about an update.
Been running the mill monday through friday for the last 2 weeks. Tapped around 3000 holes. Did the same routine every day. Fire up computer and let mach auto start. Close mach and restart. Didn't have a single compiler error or broken tap.

Not anything conclusive but at least it's working for me......For now:)

30

General Mach Discussion / Re: M3 and M4 compiler issues...again

« on: November 11, 2014, 06:40:07 AM »

Hi Graham
No PP driver. UC-300 motion controllers.
Since hopefully this will become a repository of what people are trying let me add some more. I'm using the Calypso Ventures MSM screen set. It uses custom M3 and M4 scripts. I don't think that's the problem though as I have the same issues with other machines running the OEM screen set.
One thing I did that I forgot to mention was I opened the M4 macro in the mach script editor. The one listed under operator. I ran the script and when I closed it I was asked if I wanted to save it. I said yes.
So I've made a fundamental mistake on trying to nail down a problem. Change two things at once. I remembered this last night.
My other machine that is running MSM screen set is unmolested. It was missing the M3 command on a regular basis. I'll be trying the restart on it.

You know I could live with this if mach would estop on compiler issues. I understand Brian not wanting to mess with Mach 3 but this is absolutely influencing my decision to move to Mach 4. I have a huge investment in time and money in mach 3 compatible hardware, screen sets, and custom macros. I try not to monetarily reward this type of service.

And yes I'm pissed. Been using Mach since it was master 5 so I feel entitled to be pissed.

Derek