Messages

1191

General Mach Discussion / Re: MPG issue

« on: April 23, 2021, 04:09:08 PM »

Hi,

Plus its the users that give you the suggestions on there forum rather than the company.

Well, you might be right. I guess the 'proof is in the pudding'....to OP, 'have you had a response from the CNCDrive Forum?'

I have to compare this situation to the Warp9TD Forum, the manufacturer of the ESS, and there, Andy, the dedicated support employee
of Warp9TD answers all enquiries. Other forum members are invited to participate in the discourse but the site in principally a vehicle for
manufacturers support.

Craig

1192

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: surface map

« on: April 23, 2021, 08:42:49 AM »

Hi,

autoleveller does not work with Mach4

BS.....I use Mach4 and Autoleveller day in and day out and have done for years.

They say it is working so as a user u have right to expect that it is working. 

And to my knowledge it does work....or at least did when I tried but it just to damned slow for repeated use.

Craig

1193

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: surface map

« on: April 23, 2021, 05:12:57 AM »

Hi,
I don't think Surface Wizard is the best choice for levelling PCB's.

I have used Surface Wizard and it probes the bed of the mill an then automatically adjusts the Z coordinate in all and every
Gcode program you run thereafter. Its seems to work well, but seems also that it was intended that you would probe your machine
only occasionally.

For levelling PCB's you need to probe EVERY new PCB because there is always some flex/twist/bow in the material and must be measured
and corrected for good results.

Autoleveller is a good freeware utility made specifically for levelling PCB's....and it works a treat.

http://www.autoleveller.co.uk/

I've been using it for years, and over the last year I use it daily. Today I made three PCB's, each one requires levelling ergo I used
AutolevellerAE three times today alone.

Craig

1194

General Mach Discussion / Re: spindle speed control

« on: April 23, 2021, 04:56:56 AM »

Hi,

so is there any way i can make it work at its max speed without PWM supply? like with the 24 supply i have provided it.

No, you need a motor speed controller...and the breakout board you have is not it.

We still don't know what spindle you have, is it DC or BLDC or an asynchronous motor or what?
You need to give us some details.

Craig

1195

General Mach Discussion / Re: spindle speed control

« on: April 22, 2021, 12:09:18 AM »

Hi,
in order to control the speed of a spindle with a PWM signal you need a controller that will accept a PWM signal,
or effectively, a 0-10V siganl and control the motor speed. Do you have such a device?

Second question is 'do you need it?'. Most of the time my mini-mill sits at 24000rpm and stays there all day. I can control
the speed both manually and programmatically but I seldom need to. I imagine you'll be running your diamond tools at a constant
speed for hours at a time....so where is the need for speed control?.

My limited experience with diamond tools tells me its more important to keep them really cool and well flushed. That suggests that reliable
coolant operation is more important than spindle speed.

Craig

1196

General Mach Discussion / Re: MPG issue

« on: April 15, 2021, 02:55:04 AM »

Hi,

I have put an enquiry on the cncdrive forum but no help.

Are you surprised?

CNCDrive is the manufacturer of the UC300 but also the software UCCNC, which is a competitor to Mach.
I can't imagine why anyone at CNCDrive could get too excited by trying to help you when they have others
to help whom use UCCNC software.

Craig

1197

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 and servo motors =S

« on: April 13, 2021, 08:36:22 PM »

Hi,
I have used an Ethernet SmoothStepper (Warp9TD) for six plus years, been great. It is a step/direction controller
so it WILL NOT support analog servos but WILL support any step/direction motor drive from steppers through servos.

I have bought three 750W B2 series Delta servos for my new build mill, and I  run them up to 5000rpm with 1um (linear)
resolution which requires a Step signal rate of 416.7kHz, and the ESS does that easy.

US made, and has a manufacturers sponsored forum for support, has both Mach3 and Mach4 plugins.

Craig

1198

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: SSR m7 serial

« on: April 12, 2021, 08:48:28 PM »

Hi,

I am out of outputs available with this setup.
For a mist system I have a 3vdc - 12vdc SSR
What is the easiest way to control that switch?

That's why God invented PLCs. Just about ethernet connected PLC will work. You use Machs built-in MODBUS plugin over ethernet
to the PLC. The PLC depending on model will have digital inputs and outputs at the very least, and analogue inputs and outputs
optionally.

Craig

1199

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Rtx64

« on: April 10, 2021, 04:19:11 AM »

Hi,
all decent Ethercat servo drives have at least three digital inputs, two for pos and neg limits and one for home.

An Ethercat servo is responsible for it own slice of motion control and must therefore be at least able to handle its own limits
and home switch.

If you need realtime inputs beyond what is provided in each of the servo drives then you have to use an Ethercat IO module.
This is an example of Ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Beckhoff-EK1120-EtherCAT-Bus-Coupler-Module-New-Out-of-Box/274107416790?hash=item3fd21340d6:g:9fsAAOSwrAxd1qQ~

It's new and for $129 not to bad a price, and note it is Beckhoff.

Craig

1200

General Mach Discussion / Re: mach3 support G43.4 g-code or not

« on: April 09, 2021, 05:17:27 AM »

Hi,
I'm not sure about Mach3...I haven't used it for six years or so......but Mach4 has a similar idea to what you are asking.

Code: [Select]

G43/G44 – Tool Length Offset
Activates a tool length offset selected with H. When activated the position DROs will be updated to
display the position of the program point of the tool, generally the tip. The tool offset can be applied in
the positive direction with G43 or in the negative direction with G44. Generally G43 will be used to
apply the tool offset. There are a number of ways of touching off a tool and determining the offset
value, see tool offsets in the operation manual for more details, but they are all called and applied the
same way.
Format: G43 H__ X__ Y__ Z__
If axis positions are specified in the same block as G43 the machine will move to the commanded point.
If the axes are omitted there will be no motion.

So the syntax in Mach4 is
G43Hnnn   where nnn is the tool offset to apply.

Mach4 in general, and was designed to be consistent with Fanuc 21i Gcode...and it is very very close.

Craig