Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Another newb, another issue...

« on: October 09, 2012, 11:58:55 AM »

Ron, thx for the reply...I woke up last night and decided to rewatch the tutorials from the very beginning. In doing so, I learned a whole lot that I had missed in my skimming through. I was able to get it up and moving last night(early this morning) with a sharpie in the collet and the spindle off. The important thing is I have it functioning properly now. Now I just need to change the orientation of my table in mach3 and make a spring-loaded pen plotter and I think I'm set. I know that I should plane my mfd spoil board, but I haven't had time and don't have any extraction in place as of yet, so I'm just playing for now.

12

General Mach Discussion / Another newb, another issue...

« on: October 08, 2012, 02:51:47 AM »

I'm going with a sharpie, but having trouble A)getting my G code from Aspire (different computer, licensed copy) to my router pc B) made a lazy cam file of the aspire file, with G-code, but when I start it, it jogs to position then triggers the Z+ limit switch and stops. Being my first g code output, lack of knowledge/experience, I know that it's my Z settings, but at this point. I can't even think straight. Perhaps tomorrow, but I won't hold my breath lol

13

General Mach Discussion / Another newb, another issue...

« on: October 07, 2012, 10:46:53 PM »

Hey, good idea!  Yeah, I've seen those plotter marker inserts for the routers, I don't have a use personally, but I think I may fool around with that tonight, to quench my curiosity. I was hoping to purchase a unit with a liquid-cooled spindle for longevity and noise factors, but the fan-cooled on the one they fired up at the factory wasn't quite as loud as a shop vac, and I can always upgrade at a later time(although I'd have to make it work with my unit, ez-router only offers fan-cooled spindles), I guess the controller software would take care of controlling it?  I devoted a lot of the past 2 months to learning Aspire and designing my parts and optimizing tool paths, now I feel a bit overwhelmed with all this controller and post processor stuff. I knew that it wasn't "easy" or everyone would be a machinist, but damn. I feel like I'm taking a crash-course in mechanical engineering, computer programming and digital design/engineering all at once with only cliff notes to prep for the test lol.

14

General Mach Discussion / Another newb, another issue...

« on: October 07, 2012, 10:09:08 PM »

I can't even remember the last time I've had to deal with a parallel port lol. I've been able to get everything to its home location and played around with jogging to make sure all axis and switches are functioning. I haven't fired up the spindle yet, as I'm watching all the videos on setup and configuring before I get into that. Not sure if it'll happen tonight, seeing how its already 9:00 an I have a 18month old son sleeping on the other side of one of the garage walls. But at least I know that everything (so far) seems to be functioning properly. Plus, I still need to figure out the tool touch off and all of that stuff, then there's getting my Gcode into mach3 (I assume that my aspire file has it embedded so all I would need to do is load the file into the Mach3 software). Again, I haven't got that far lol

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: Another newb, another issue...

« on: October 07, 2012, 02:44:41 PM »

Problem solved, I am officially an idiot, and I'm embarrassed to say this, but I had the parallel cable plugged into a parallel port-looking port on the back of the supplied PC, not the printer parallel port.  I didn't even see the pink colored one before honestly.  Got my unit zero'd and homed, now I'm gonna get set up to plane my spoil board and try running a few designs in some scrap wood...after I read a lot more, that is lol  thx again, sure this won't be the last time you hear from me, but I promise to research before posting hehe

16

General Mach Discussion / Re: Another newb, another issue...

« on: October 07, 2012, 01:42:40 PM »

that's what I'm thinking as well.  I got in touch with him, but will have to wait till tomorrow to speak with a tech.  I figured as much, it's the story of my life.  Oh well, now to just reset everything and power back down.  Perhaps next weekend I'll finally get to fire up this thing that cost more than my 2 vehicles combined, that's now been sitting here for a week taking up my whole garage.  Thanks for the help guys, i guess I have a whole day of reading and videos ahead of me, might as well be productive of some level lol.  Thanks for the help, sorry to trouble yall,
Kevin

17

General Mach Discussion / Another newb, another issue...

« on: October 07, 2012, 01:02:38 PM »

Got the .1024 loaded, thx. But still no joggy... I'm gonna try calling my guy at ez-Router, hopefully I can get ahold of him today, I have a day job m-f and I need to get this thing running so I can get the bugs in my designs worked out before materials start arriving for the jobs I've landed. I know, wish you had a dollar everytime you read this lol.

18

General Mach Discussion / Another newb, another issue...

« on: October 07, 2012, 12:46:38 PM »

Yeah, I put a message through to support last night cause I wasn't sure where to start. I understand the estop needing to be switched in the pins and ports, as sort of a safety feature (I guess), but the tripped condition of the home switches on all 3 axis upon power up when no limit switches are being contacted makes me wonder if I'm missing a step somewhere. I am typically the type that only uses a manual as reference, but in this case, when I'm spending this kind of money (investing is better terms), I don't wanna skip any steps and I want to learn as much as I can about every aspect - both software and hardware, which I fully understand, takes lots of time and trial and error. So all that said, I am really pleased with my purchase, but the "manual" that came with the unit is a DVD with pdf's, broken down into not so informative paragraphs referring to another PDF file (reminds me of a Haynes repair manual - looking for the fuse box, you turn to the section for the fuse and electrical system and you are referred to the interior features section, where they conveniently redirect you to the external electrical and drivetrain section, and then told to check the fluids and quantities section in the routine maintenance section in the front of the book...by this time, you have forgot what you are even looking for).  I'm trying to do it right, just no real order to things.

19

General Mach Discussion / Another newb, another issue...

« on: October 07, 2012, 10:35:01 AM »

Here you go, this the jog control that pops up when I hit tab. I'm sorry in advance if this has been covered elsewhere, I'm really not trying to hit the ground running and bypass the videos and manual, at this point, I'm just trying to do the initial startup and home my axis.

20

General Mach Discussion / Another newb, another issue...

« on: October 07, 2012, 09:46:46 AM »

See, I don't have those buttons and options on my jog control popup, I've tried clicking everywhere and nothing changes. All that's there is "MPG", a blank window on the top dial, and the feed rate at the bottom, no value, just blank. As I stated, prior to shipping, they tested my unit with my computer and everything worked. I'll take a screenie shortly