Messages

111

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motors not turning, freaking out considerably

« on: February 08, 2015, 08:44:54 PM »

Anytime you hear a popping sound coming from an electrical control panel is not a good sign. This combined with no motor movement tells me it's time to send back the unit to Fireball.   

Just for future reference... using a Smoothstepper the pulse width in Mach isn't used so setting it to 5/5 has no affect. The same with Mach kernel frequency rate.... it should be set for 25kh when using a smooth stepper. Setting it higher has no affect on the smooth stepper and just wastes PC cpu resources. 

112

General Mach Discussion / Re: My spindle keeps shutting off randomly.

« on: February 08, 2015, 08:36:54 PM »

VFD Low voltage error message is usually due to low incoming line voltage and has nothing to do with debounce or Smooth Stepper. If this is a Chinese VFD chances are it's about to die and has nothing to do with low line voltage. 

113

General Mach Discussion / Re: "run from here" problem

« on: February 08, 2015, 08:30:29 PM »

I assume you are using V0.066 as there isn't a V0.067.  Try using V0.62... V0.066 has problems.

114

General Mach Discussion / Re: Vibration At Low Speed! Help please!

« on: February 08, 2015, 02:21:49 PM »

As most have found out including myself, Gecko 540 is the way to go. Made in America, quality parts, great customer support including a real phone number and a website with a ton of information.

115

General Mach Discussion / Re: Z creep after feedhold/resume

« on: February 08, 2015, 01:55:10 PM »

You can contact ArtSoft but I doubt they will respond. Every version of Mach 3 has some sort of quirks... it's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you will get (or not get). I guess you have to decide which quirks you can live with. Wait until you try to figure out how CV works. 

In this case the latest version is not necessarily the best option.

116

General Mach Discussion / Re: SPINDLE CONTROL SETUP MACH 3 G540

« on: February 07, 2015, 10:49:21 PM »

Welcome to the world of junk Chinese parts and no tech support... I believe there is a jumper on the drive next to the terminal wiring block that has to be changed from 4-20ma to 0-10vdc input for external control. Also the drive has to be programmed for external speed reference control. A fast and easy way to test the drive speed control input is use a 9v battery connected to AI & ACM, the drive should ramp up close to max speed.

117

General Mach Discussion / Re: Single pulse capacitance sensor selection

« on: February 07, 2015, 02:45:46 PM »

The best bet is use an industrial enclosed optical encoder such a Avtron or Red Lion. A prox switch isn't going to work.

118

General Mach Discussion / Re: Z creep after feedhold/resume

« on: February 07, 2015, 02:23:00 PM »

You didn't say what release you are using. If you are using v0.66 I have had the same problem and it's one of the bugs, along with many problems in v0.66. IMHO v0.66 should be not have been released. Now with Mach4 sort of released with it's own set of problems, Art has abandoned correcting issues with Mach 3 even though the product is still being sold and will be for another year according to the website. Sometimes I wonder who at ArtSoft is doing their marketing plan... or if they even have one.  

Try v0.62. I use the "Stop" command and "Run From Here" instead of Feed Hold.

119

General Mach Discussion / Re: spindle problem

« on: February 07, 2015, 10:32:04 AM »

Triac's require a minimum load (amps) to operate correctly, i.e. turn on and off. If there isn't enough loading the triac can still conduct voltage at a reduced level which could be the spindle creeping you are seeing. The "gate" part of the triac could be partially shorted to the output and causing voltage to feed back to the bob too. I would replace the triac with a relay and see if the problem clears up.

120

General Mach Discussion / Re: Vibration At Low Speed! Help please!

« on: February 06, 2015, 07:40:07 PM »

Wow... something is drastically wrong.   I would bet the Chinese stepper drive is not setup right or failed. People think they are getting a deal buying a $29 chinese stepper then wonder why the machine runs like crap or spend days trying to figure out how to make it work because there isn't instruction. The machine looks like a package deal to me... if that's the case contact to seller.  

Seems the Ebay market is flooded with "package machines complete with electronics"... the sellers buy cheap Chinese components then sell the systems for 1000% markup.