Topics

1

Mach3 under Vista / 32 bit win 7

« on: June 21, 2014, 04:41:13 PM »

I've looked and not found a specific answer to my question. seems everyone is looking for the 64 bit answer. I down graded the win 7 I had to XP and installed a P port card. Can I go to a win 7 32 Bit and still have the Mach3 work as it does now. I don't use the PC for anything other than Mach3, solitaire and a big calculator. No internet connection. I hear a rough noise from the HD after its been running for a couple of hours so I'm sure a new HD is in the future and thought I'd go with win 7. I'm not sure there is a reason to drop XP other than the hype of your computer will explode if you keep XP on it. Should I just leave it as is. It works fine. Well, with the exception I will need a new HD sooner or later. So I guess my real question is if XP in its current config will work fine after a new HD should I even worry about win 7?

2

General Mach Discussion / probe inside

« on: June 27, 2013, 12:49:22 PM »

I have been looking for a macro to probe the inside of an object in x and y only. i know there is one user that is working on something like that but the last post I found he was off to work out the bugs. Can someone point me in the right direction. it would be used to......... say you have a box with an irregular shape and you wanted to cut a lid for it with a piece that actually slid into the box. I might not have phrased my search right but after looking for a couple of days I can not find anything. I looked in the tool box anddid may searches with multiple key words.
Jim

3

General Mach Discussion / trim pot adjust

« on: May 26, 2013, 11:40:18 AM »

I just replaced my toshiba board with a g540. Holy Cow what a difference. I need to adjust the trim  and I need to move the motor 1 IPM. how do I do that? It was a late night and I'm still a little foggy right now. Drawing a blank.

4

General Mach Discussion / Mach 3 display shrunk

« on: April 18, 2013, 09:52:16 AM »

A friend of mine has a Mach3 demo version installed on his computer. There is no parallel port. I will generate a file of something he wants and run it on my system and view the tool path to see the representation of what would be produced. Its working fine on my setup. His however is having a couple of hic-ups. the first problem is that Mach 3 is only displayed in the upper 3rd of his monitor. no matter what he does it is full screen horizontal and 1/3 in the verticle. the second problem, and this may be related to his video issue, is after the g code runs he can not see an image on the toolpath. I did find out that he did not emulate my config, so he is running at what ever the default is. could that be the problem with not having a part on the tool path window.
 Jim

5

General Mach Discussion / Search function isn't working for me so..........

« on: April 16, 2013, 12:36:43 AM »

I know this is in here some place but The search function just make the icon spin. even after 4 minutes nothing is popping up. Am I missing a setting.

Just got my license two months ago and when I installed it to the demo version I had I didn't upgrade the version then. I'm ready to do that and i need to know... will my current configuration be saved and ............I am allowed to do that right.

6

General Mach Discussion / Pendant Tutorial???

« on: March 06, 2013, 02:59:56 AM »

I was hoping to install a simple pendant. Nothing fancy. Something to jog around the router and position it while I am close enough to see where I want to place it.  I have looked over some of the threads containing discussions on various pendants but nothing seems to be at the level I need. I have a cheap game controller and i need to know how pendants  are interfaced to the computer. It has a DB-15 connector and enough buttons for + and - on all three axis. Is there a tutorial or an article someone can point me to so I can see how to get this rolling. Thanks
Jim 

7

General Mach Discussion / How many times have you read this

« on: March 03, 2013, 03:12:21 AM »

New to cnc and nothing works and i need motor tuning help!! Once, twice maybe 3 times. 

I have been cruising around with my demo Mach3 on my homemade unit for about 4 months now. writting simple g code and basically cutting air. I got my license copy about 2 weeks ago I guess about the same time I decided to replace the single start Acme screws with 5 start. I also replaced my home made anti-backlash nuts with some real ones from an on-line linear motion place.

With the single start screws I was running 8th steps. Everything always worked. OK, it worked as it was instructed to and the instructions may not have always been valid. I replaced the screws because the single start max velocity that worked reasonably well was 18.I was setting things on fire it was so slow I finally got around to installing the 5 start screws tonight. Set the Steps per to 3200 and here is where it gets interesting. I unmounted my steppers because everything was just buzzing and making noise. I wanted to make sure I didn't change anything on the install that caused this.

 ( working with inches). I could not figure out what the acceleration and velocity. I finally got the y Axis moitor to smooth out around a velocity around 750 and acceleration maxed. I think it was around. 652 . The x Axis will not run on this setting. I have to bump the velocity up to about 1000.  I tried full steps and could not find a reasonable velocity that ran smoothly. I changed nothing else. Now first off do these numbers sound in the ballpark or am I way off. If someone could hold my hand and give me a Velocity and acceleration that has been pr oven to work I will try that.  should I just stay at 1/8 steps or go to full.
Thanks everyone.
JimP