Messages

501

General Mach Discussion / Re: 3D printing with Mach 3, who is doing it?

« on: March 19, 2014, 01:48:00 PM »

I have a cartesian machine in the form of a cnc mill with extruder head.  The delta style in theory can provide greater accuracy at higher speeds for printing.  I am building a large one with a friend and we will see if that holds true as they get  bigger. This one will have a circular work envelope 22" in diameter and 25" tall. Also it is somewhat easier to have a heated build chamber as the motors can be below the chamber and not heated by it.

502

General Mach Discussion / Re: 3D printing with Mach 3, who is doing it?

« on: March 18, 2014, 11:56:42 AM »

Ozy,
It won't work with Mach 3. You are building a delta, three axis in a triagular configuration which to to produce a straight line must move all three axis simultaneously.  The kinematics of that kind of motion are not part of Mach 3.

503

General Mach Discussion / Re: New to Forum

« on: March 17, 2014, 05:14:13 PM »

It won't run under Windows 7 unless you are using a 3rd party motion control card such as smoothstepper.

504

General Mach Discussion / 3D printing with Mach 3, who is doing it?

« on: March 16, 2014, 09:31:14 PM »

I have just about got the extruder installed and wired, and the heated bed is working, almost.  The bed controller melted down due to a cheap under rated connector, and the extruder stepper motor is bad, another motor runs just fine on the drive.  I realized the QuBd extruder I bought was a really poor design and had to redesign it before I even mounted it. So I am ready to finish up configuring it, and I have questions about what others have Mach 3 controlling and how that works out.  Anybody got a Mach 3 printer running?

Thanks,

505

General Mach Discussion / Re: CAM Software

« on: March 14, 2014, 06:30:31 PM »

I tried lazy cam which does work. However I really like Cambam. I spent a couple years manually writing G code and Since using Cambam I haven't needed to do that. 40 uses before you need to buy, built my whole machine, then purchased it!

506

Tangent Corner / Re: About Motors

« on: March 06, 2014, 04:35:06 PM »

Russ,
The load on a treadmill isn't constant, it changes with every step you take.  Every treadmill maker has a flywheel and I would guess it is because a person walking or running would really feel the speed changes when their foot hits the belt and it suddenly is loaded.

507

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Call G91 sub from G90 main program?

« on: March 03, 2014, 07:28:40 PM »

For a sub like a pocket operation that you want to use at multiple locations you need to program it incrementally. Otherwise you can't use it at multiple locations.

508

General Mach Discussion / Re: Recommendations on BEST Breakout Board by General Mach3 Users !

« on: February 28, 2014, 08:45:42 PM »

Not really impressed with CNC4PC boards however the PMDX-126 is one heck of a nice board.

509

General Mach Discussion / Re: Recommendations on BEST Breakout Board by General Mach3 Users !

« on: February 28, 2014, 08:44:18 PM »

Tweakie,
That's the board I have in my homebuilt machine. I reported a problem with jogging continuing on it's own sometimes. However others reported the same problem with Mach3 and other boards.  I solved it for safety reasons by disabling the arrow keys and using the job controller pop up only. That said it actually works very well.  I actually have a smooth stepper and a PMDX-126 to replace it, but it has worked so well I'm thinking I don't want to make the effort.

510

Tangent Corner / Re: Is this possible on a 3 axis machine

« on: February 27, 2014, 09:23:55 PM »

I had a mill cutter modified with a notch in the flutes to cut the lip.