Messages

4221

General Mach Discussion / Re: NEWBIE MACH3 LATHE PROBLEMS

« on: June 25, 2018, 02:47:11 PM »

Hi,
sounds like the lathe  Estop input is inverted relative to your mill profile.

Open your mill profile and on the Config/Ports and Pins/ Inputs page note whether the Estop input is either active high or active low.
Now open your lathe profile and confirm the its Estop input has the same setting as your mill profile.

Craig

4222

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: WHATS THIS ERROR..??? Clearing a spurious limit hit latch event,

« on: June 25, 2018, 02:40:06 PM »

Hi,
Steve's 100% if you have a VFD....don't use ordinary line filters, they wont work and may cause more problems than they solve.

Most manufacturers specify 'line reactors' on the input side of a VFD, not filters at all. Most manufacturers recommend NO output filtering on the output side UNLESS there
is a big (30m plus) cable run between the VFD and motor. Even then the filters are specialized....ordinary line filters will not do it.

Craig

4223

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Are #100 thru #199 #vars safe for user functions?

« on: June 25, 2018, 02:32:26 PM »

Hi,
I second that.....I've read that manual before but not recently and Chapter 6 is a new addition to me. Kool!

Craig

4224

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: WHATS THIS ERROR..??? Clearing a spurious limit hit latch event,

« on: June 25, 2018, 12:29:53 AM »

Hi,
this sort of thing:

http://nz.element14.com/schaffner/fn2020-20-06/filter-20a-chassis/dp/1191370

Ideally one on the input and it wouldn't hurt to have one on the output too.

Craig

4225

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: WHATS THIS ERROR..??? Clearing a spurious limit hit latch event,

« on: June 25, 2018, 12:24:01 AM »

Hi,
the electrical noise is being generated by the speed controller and your spindle motor.
It is being radiated to your signal lines in your machine. They are sensitive. A big
noisy (electrically) motor running right next door will induce small voltages and currents in signal
lines close by.

You can jump up and down and blame Mach if you wish but it wont do you any good, this is
physics...you could blame James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879), the 'father' of electromagnetics...
but hes just a little bit dead at the moment!

Good practice put all the high power lines like your spindle wires as far away from Machs signal lines as possible.
The next best practice is to put filters on the input and output of your speed control. If you have
a VFD you MUST follow manufacturers recommendations or you will blow your VFD up.

Your speed control is very much less high tech and good line filters will help a great deal without risking
your speed control.

The next technique is to reduce the sensitivity of the signal lines to electrical noise. If you have a look on
the ESS Config plugin, Pins page you will see that inputs have a filtering setting. Try putting a setting of 100
say in each of your limit switch inputs. It may help.

Best practice is to prevent your speed control generating noise ie line filters, next best is reducing the coupling
of noise into your signal wiring, ie physical separation and screening, the next best is introduce filtering on the inputs,
ie the software filter I've mentioned and/or RC low pass filters on the pins.

Craig

4226

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: WHATS THIS ERROR..??? Clearing a spurious limit hit latch event,

« on: June 24, 2018, 08:59:39 PM »

Hi,
that speed control is fairly noisy, its a phase controlled bridge rectifier.

As an experiment try plugging your speed control into a different (different circuit)
than your PC and CNC machine. It may be that the noise transferred back into the mains
is getting into your machine.

Other than that you are going to have to filter both input and output of your speed control.

Have you tried increasing the filter time in Mach4? Stopping the speed control from producing noise
is the best solution. Increasing the filtering on your signal (limit) lines is often effective but not the first
line approach.

Craig

4227

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: WHATS THIS ERROR..??? Clearing a spurious limit hit latch event,

« on: June 24, 2018, 08:35:14 PM »

Hi,
the spindle really starts producing noise as it comes under load....ie cutting.

What kind of spindle and spindle drive do you have?

Craig

4228

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: WHATS THIS ERROR..??? Clearing a spurious limit hit latch event,

« on: June 24, 2018, 08:32:37 PM »

Hi,
sounds like electrical noise, almost certainly from your spindle, propagating to one or more
of the limit switch circuits.

Are you using Mach3 or Mach4?

You could try increasing the de-bounce in Mach3 or increase the filter time in Mach4.

Craig

4229

General Mach Discussion / Re: FEED ADJUST MACH 3 LATHE

« on: June 24, 2018, 05:34:15 AM »

Hi,

Is it possible to adjust feed rate during cutting at all?

The short answer is 'I don't know' however I think not.

My reasoning goes: Machs trajectory planner plans a move and passes that P(osition) V(elocity) over T(ime) data to the motion controller. The motion controller
calculates the required pulse stream to the motor drives for the axes involved in the move. Once that move is under way THEN you want to change the feedrate.
I don't think your motion controller can recalculate the pulse streams that are already under way. It could and would recalculate the next and subsequent moves
just not the current one.

Craig

4230

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Mach3, Windows 7, XP Mode

« on: June 24, 2018, 04:23:18 AM »

Hi,
have you hooked up an Estop? Does the Estop switch cause Mach to disable?

One thing at a time......prove you have an Estop working.

Craig