Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 Turn Set-up question

« on: October 16, 2008, 07:04:50 PM »

Hood,

Thank you so much! I am not exactly "on" on the numbers but now I can see where to work from. Am I correct in thinking that I now just need to measure the actual table movement in relation to the keyed-in step movement and "Tune" until they match across a distance to within a tolerance that is acceptable?

Again, thank you for the help, I am sure that I am only one of a bunch of people that are indebted.

Jim

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 Turn Set-up question

« on: October 16, 2008, 05:56:57 PM »

O.K. So what I have is:

in X direction I probably have 8,000 steps / unit (inch) and,


<<<The Z seems to be worked off a rack in the standard Taig, is your CNC the same or does it have a screw fitted?>>>
 
       The stepper motor is connected directly to the pinion gear. and since that movement is .6" per rev then it has 1.667 rev/inch so 1.667 x 200 x 2 = 666.8 steps/unit?  I assume this has to be rounded to 667 steps / unit?

But my question now is where do I input this data in my Mach3 configuration? Is it the incoder/mpg counts/unit table? If so how do I know which is the correct one?

Jim

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 Turn Set-up question

« on: October 16, 2008, 02:14:15 PM »

Thanks!

Here is what I have... The entire lathe set-up was given to me (as in free!) but came with NO documentation at all.

1. are you setting up default units as Inch or mm
                 Inch

2. Steppers or Servos?
                 I am assuming they are bipolar stepper motors with an open loop control because there is only a 4-wire connection to each motor.

2a If steppers are they 1.8 or 0.9 degree steppers (1.8 most common)
                 I have no idea on this one and there is no marking on the stepper motor. How would I determine this?

3. What is the pitch or tpi of your ballscrews
                  Again I have no documentation on the unit but the Taig lathe specification page shows the lathe to have a Carriage travel (z) of .60" per handwheel revolution and a Crossslide travel (x) of .050 per handle revolution.

4. What kind of drives do you have and if the stepping is adjustable what do you have it set to, eg the Geckos are 10 microsteps
                  Again I am not sure.... No documentation.  The Drive controller is a DriveMaster NC 3 Axis but that is all I know on that one. I have not had much luck finding anything that looks similar on the internet. I have not had the cover off but will if there is data in there that I can retrieve that will help.

5. Is there any gearing between your motors and the ballscrew
                    Finally an easy one.... No, the drives are connected directly to the ball screws.

Again thanks for your help and patience,
Jim

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 Turn Set-up question

« on: October 16, 2008, 10:43:33 AM »

Hood,

Thanks for the input.  Using the MDI to move the x and y axis .5" the y axis moves .3750" and the x axis moves .0315"  The axis position on the screen matches the command but the physical movement doesn't match. It indeed may be an incorrect steps per unit situation but I am unsure (as in haven't got a clue) as to how to correct or calibrate this issue.  When I set up the Mill 2 years ago everything just fell into place and worked from the get-go. I guess I didn't know how fortunate I was.

5

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 Turn Set-up question

« on: October 15, 2008, 08:58:23 PM »

Need some help please!
I am setting up Mach3Turn on a 4500 MicroLathe II and a Drive Master NC 3-Axis controller and thought I was home free. However when I went to test my setup by going to the wizard screen and setting up the parameters for the OD facing template I found that when I ran the program everything was fine except the x-end diameter is off. I set my bar stock up per the posted introduction to Mach3Turn and the OD (.311 in this case) touch appears to be dead on, the rough cuts in the Z direction in distance are correct but the rough cut depth in the X direction each pass is considerably less than entered (.020). The number of passes shown on the screen also matches the number of cuts taken but the x-end diameter is considerably larger than what was entered on to the wizard template. (.263" vs entered .050).

I have tried changing the Turn Option to both radius and diameter but this seems to not make any difference whatsoever. I am sure that, as usual, this will be one of those fixes that once the solution is pointed out right in front of my nose I will say "I should have known that" but right now I am dumbfounded.

Thanks in advance for any help you can be you guys are always the best!

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Wrong way "Z"

« on: March 16, 2006, 07:06:38 AM »

That did the job!  Thank you so much.

7

General Mach Discussion / Wrong way "Z"

« on: March 15, 2006, 07:46:27 PM »

Hey guys,

I am setting up a Taig Lathe with a CNC conversion package and everything is coming along but my "Z" movement seems to be backwards both in jog and program mode (ie numerical increase as the tool advances toward the headstock) .  I am using a DriveMaster 3 axis controller and Mach3 Turn.  I think my config settings are all correct but I must be missing something. Any suggestions?

8

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: backing up in a g-code file

« on: February 27, 2006, 11:54:00 AM »

Thanks Art.  I saw the "run from here" button but when it flashed to the beginning (to get to the correct line) I kept panicking and hitting stop thinking the machine was going to start all over again.  My fault.... It worked perfectly once I let it do it's thing.

Thanks for your continued support.

9

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / backing up in a g-code file

« on: February 27, 2006, 10:25:17 AM »

Can someone tell me how to back-up several lines in a g-code file without starting over?  I have had to stop a program and would like to back up to a previous tool change and start the machine again but can't seem to find the way.  Help! I've fallen and can't get up.

10

General Mach Discussion / Tool Change in Open Loop system

« on: February 27, 2006, 09:37:04 AM »

Hey guy's I need some Mach3 guidelines,  I am running an open loop system (no limit switches yet) and when doing a manual tool change is it best to zero out the machine "z" after installing the new tool or just the machine "z"?

Also where is the "touch" feature on Mach3 and is there a tutorial on how to use it or am I doing right in re-setting zero with each tool?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Also has anyone out there have any suggestions on best way to set-up limit switches on a Taig mill?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice.