Messages

5321

General Mach Discussion / Re: z zero plate problem

« on: February 09, 2018, 09:18:59 PM »

Hi,
all touch off routines rely on a G31 probing move.

The general form is:
G31 Z -1 F10

So the machine will drive to Z=-1 inch at 10 inches per minute. There's a couple of things that an go wrong and may explain what you've described.

The first is that the tool needs to be above the surface by a small amount, I can't remember what the number is but I always make sure that the tool is at
least 1/16 inch above the surface. The second problem is what happens if the surface is already at -1.2 inch. Even if the tool is just above the surface as I
recommended above it would still start out lower than it was supposed to finish the move! Believe it, I've done it myself and wondered what the hell was going on!

Double check these two items and let us know how you got on.

Craig

5322

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Message Box with Cancel?

« on: February 09, 2018, 07:28:15 PM »

Hi,
Chaoticone's link to the Lua 5.2 manual is great, I usually have it open when I'm doing any coding, I still have to delve into it a lot.

Just be warned there is a Lua 5.3 and some things change and can and will trip you up if you blithely believe that Mach can handle 5.3.

Craig

5323

General Mach Discussion / Re: mach3 randomly doesnt follow the correct toolpath

« on: February 09, 2018, 06:53:48 PM »

Hi,
kool John, there are many happy users of UC300's and I'm sure you'll be another.

Mach3 vs Mach4 is about flexibility, Mach3 is entirely adequate for the majority of users. I don't know much about UCCNC but understand its similar is nature
and capability to Mach3. Given it is a commercial product you may have somewhat less access to its internal features for the purposes of customization but is
otherwise very capable.

Craig

5324

General Mach Discussion / Re: MACH3PLASMA LIMIT SWITCHES FOR G540/PROMA

« on: February 09, 2018, 06:28:02 PM »

Hi,
I just downloaded a copy of the G540 manual and it can be done very much simpler again, disregard the previous diagram....

Craig

5325

General Mach Discussion / Re: MACH3PLASMA LIMIT SWITCHES FOR G540/PROMA

« on: February 09, 2018, 05:03:50 PM »

Hi,
you need two microswitches which can be mounted at the ends of the Z axis. You could use proximity sensors if you wish, but simple and bang for your
buck microswitches are fine.

You need a powersupply, I've shown it as 5V+ in the diagram, but whatever it is on your G540, hooked through the two normally closed contacts to one of your spare
input pins on the G540. Probably a good idea to include a resistor so that you can be sure the input pin goes low when one of the switches opens. Hook a 10k (approx.)
resistor between your selected input pin and earth on the G540.

The input pin can now be assigned as your Z++ and Z-- inputs with Mach3 and they will be active low.

Craig

5326

General Mach Discussion / Re: mach3 randomly doesnt follow the correct toolpath

« on: February 09, 2018, 04:08:43 PM »

Hi,
if your serious about doing the business then the Hicon board from Vital Systems is about as good as it gets. I couldn't afford one at the time and have an ESS
from Warp9 and am very happy with it. Likewise I've heard good reports about PMDX, PoKeys and CNCDrive.

Ultimately if you are doing this as a business you will appreciate the flexibility and robustness of Mach4. If you are making money with it you are obligated to get the
Industrial version at $1400. It does give you support advantages and a couple of very useful features....they wont mean much to you at the moment but they will
in the months to come.

My advice would in the first instance get Mach4 Hobby ($200) and work with it. Once you've got your machine sorted and starting to do business with it then get Industrial.
I don't think having a spare copy of Hobby will do you any harm.

There are some perfectly good arguments for sticking with Mach3 as well, including that it is the simplest and quickest way to get to production ready status.

I run my machine with a dual core Atom single board PC with on chip graphics, 4 gig and 32bit Windows7. It is about the least grunt you can have in a PC and still
call it a PC! It is slow to load and draw large files but otherwise runs Mach4 well as it did with Mach3 before. With a good external motion controller like the Hicon
the PC is not really a big determinant of performance. Don't waste your money on buying a PC with 'muscles on its muscles' you don't need it.
Better to spend the extra on servos...then your talking!

Craig

5327

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Glad |I asked first

« on: February 09, 2018, 03:37:56 PM »

Hi,
Steve has made a very nice summary of those situations where backlash compensation can be benefical.

For a mill with high cutting forces its not going to help.

.2" of backlash, INCHES? Tell me that's a typo!

No its no typo....and yes at 0.25 inch per turn, its almost a complete turn. The brass yoke is that worn the remaining threads must be so thin they break out some day soon.
While from time to time I do give this machine some hard work mostly it sits a month between jobs. I work repairing welding equipment and we might use it for facing
or otherwise shaping some insulation or shaping copper electrodes for a spotwelder for instance.

Despite the backlash you can still do some pretty good and accurate work with it but it takes patience and practice. Software cant do it, I can, and I prefer
to call myself 'squishyware'.

Craig

5328

General Mach Discussion / Re: uc300 analog input outputs

« on: February 09, 2018, 03:24:16 PM »

Hi Tony,
you sell yourself short...

I'm a mechanical engineer with fair electronics skills but practically zero software ability or understanding, I would get tied up in knots trying to set that lot up!

The software that accompanies these late model devices makes it considerably easier than you might imagine and certainly much easier that setting up and tuning
a PID loop.

Craig

5329

General Mach Discussion / Re: mach3 randomly doesnt follow the correct toolpath

« on: February 09, 2018, 03:18:31 PM »

Hi John,
your story of frustration an anger at products that don't work and are largely unsupported is all too common and Chinese manufacturers are grossly over-represented
in that category.

The following manufacturers have all been in the Mach market for a long time and have built a great reputation selling and supporting Mach3 products.
I have limited this list to those of them who produce boards which are Mach4 ready and have a reliable Mach4 plugin ready to go. I should point out that
while all of these are good they are not all the same. A time passes various functions which are enacted by the controller, not Mach4, are added. So for
instance PMDX smart BoBs don't have Backlash compensation whereas the Hicon does and the ESS has got it but still buggy. Having said that they all
work and do the basic stuff well, but if you need some specific feature like backlash compensation, or THC, or lathe threading you'll need to do some more
research.

https://www.pmdx.com/
https://warp9td.com/
http://www.vitalsystem.com/portal/index.php
https://www.poscope.com/
https://www.cncdrive.com/

And to complete the list I'll add one more, they make great Mach3 products but by their own admission their Mach4 plugin is still developing, is does work but you'll
need some patience, but you'll also have some superb hardware.

http://en.cs-lab.eu/

Take a look at all the offerings. By all means ask for advice and opinions on the forum, advice and opinions can be had for free, its too late if you've already shelled
out bucks for something that doesn't work.

Craig

5330

General Mach Discussion / Re: Nmotion Controller

« on: February 09, 2018, 02:49:59 PM »

Hi Gerry,
that's my experience also that the only time steppers lose steps is when I'm pushing beyond their limits and closed loop steppers are similarly beyond their
limits. While they may try to 'catch up' by virtue of the closed loop they will fail to do so because of overload.

I'm of the opinion that OP may have been better placed if he'd spent a little less on the closed loop steppers by the simple expedient of getting ordinary open loop
steppers and paid a little more to get 'a known good' external controller.

Craig