Messages

5971

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 and parallel port

« on: November 07, 2017, 01:13:19 PM »

Hi,
NFS never wrote the Darwin plugin, that was Art Fennerty.

Craig

5972

Modbus / Re: Who can I call to help me setup this automation direct vfd

« on: November 07, 2017, 01:11:56 PM »

Hi,
well you've got the Hex address, just read it. It may be that you just type an H in the address box with the numeric data and the Modbus plugin will read that
or you may have to convert the Hex address to decimal and use the decimal address in the usual way.

Craig

5973

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can I install the Mach3 software on more than one computer?

« on: November 07, 2017, 01:07:59 PM »

Hi Billy,
Linux CNC is still free and a very good alternative to Mach.

I, like a lot of others can't be bothered with Linux and consequently buy Mach instead. Value for money Mach is good. Were it much more expensive
then Linux CNC would become irresistible.

I don't really follow Linux CNC but because its a realtime system ALL Linux CNC strategies include the CPU in the control loop and reject the notion the a control
board can handle certain time sensitive tasks. Realtime Linux is good but no way its ever faster than dedicated hardware. There seems an almost 'blinkered'
insistence that Linux CNC is the master. Given that Linux CNC was born out of frustration with traditional controller (no Mach at that time) 'blinkered' insistence
that 'theirs is the only way' seems a bit strange that they should fall prey to the same thing.

Any way, we have a choice....you and I have chosen Mach and are happy with that, what others choose is up to them.

Craig

5974

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 and parallel port

« on: November 07, 2017, 12:41:50 PM »

Hi,
AFAIK the USB Smoothstepper does not have a complete Mach4 plugin, the Ethernet version does. The plan is that the ESS plugin will be finished before
serious work begins on the USB plugin. Backlash Beta has just been released (last week). Much of the code is written for lathe threading and THC but is not
yet working, next several months is my guess.

Warp9 are talking an API for the smoothstepper which would be a quantum leap forward but is some time away. The Mach4 plugins completion is their stated
priority.

One last question about the charge pump....have you ever had the charge pump shut down and prevent an immanent runaway?

Craig

5975

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 and parallel port

« on: November 07, 2017, 12:30:25 PM »

Hi,
rubbish, I've been using Mach3 for three years and Mach4 for another year and I've never had a crash where the machine lost it because the PC went wild.
I've had plenty of crashes and in every case I've done something wrong. I've also had a few where the PC stops or is temporarily overloaded which can
break tools but I've never had a machine run away like that.

A charge pump is a bit like the airlines offering you a lifejacket as a safety measure, as if you're ever likely to survive getting off the thing in the first place!

Craig

5976

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Missing Parallel Port Driver Files

« on: November 07, 2017, 12:20:49 PM »

Hi,
I think you need a Darwin Licence before you can install the plugin.

Quite frankly, $25 for a Darwin licence verses $125 for a PMDX-411 or genuine UC100 (watch out for the cheap Chinese knock offs of the UC100)....?

Craig

5977

General Mach Discussion / Re: General question about small CNC mills

« on: November 07, 2017, 12:15:35 PM »

Hi,
SS is very tuff material to cut, it work hardens like hell.

The temptation is to go for extremely light cuts but it doesn't work, the tool just gives the material a 'damn good rub' and work hardens it.
I would be looking to get a feed rate of 0.5-1 um per tooth per rev.  With a 1/8 inch two flute endmill spinning at 6000 rpm for a surface speed
of 56m/minute which is right for austentitic stainless you'll want a federate of 12mm/min for a chip load of 1um per tooth per rev. Very slow, you
can up the feed rate but the risk snapping the tool.

Another temptation is to increase the rpm, if you up the surface speed against stainless you will fry the tool. You'll want coolant anyway but if you try to spin
too fast it wont stop the tool from cooking.

I don't know what sort of torque your spindle has but it will want plenty, if it stalls the mill will overdrive a stalled tool and snap it before you can blink.
Ask me how I know.... In the end I made a high torque low speed spindle based on a 1.8kW AC  servo and a RegoFix ER25 collet holder.  Even though
the servo and drive was second hand it cost me $2000NZD to make it. It makes mincemeat of steel and stainless. Problem now is......rigidity; trying to
hold the thing steady!

5978

General Mach Discussion / Re: Local rotated system ang G68 doesn't work

« on: November 07, 2017, 11:53:36 AM »

Hi,
just to double check go to Help/About Mach3 CNC Controller and it will show the name to whom it is licenced. Is it your name?
Mach will still work in absence of a licence but in Demo mode it is limited to 500 lines of Gcode.

Craig

5979

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 and parallel port

« on: November 07, 2017, 04:59:25 AM »

Hi,
just having a Mach4 plugin doesn't guarantee that it will work. Pokeys, PMDX, Warp9 and Vital Systems have the most mature Mach4 plugins. CSLabs
and CNCDrives have only just been released. I have seen some threads that indicated that CSLabs had some minor bugs which, given their stated intent, to
hold back on a Mach4 plugin release until all bugs had been worked out must be very annoying.

Even a mature Mach4 plugin can have issues, Warp9s ESS plugin has lathe threading code but won't synchronise at the start of the thread, a fatal flaw. So just
because a company has experience in releasing working Mach4 ready plugins does not make them immune from faults.

At this stage all of the manufacturers have a well established and good reputation in the Mach market with existing Mach3 products and are producing very
creditable Mach4 products. What happens when our Chinese friends start producing their versions remains to be seen, if their Mach3 products are anything to
go by then probably not too flash!

Craig

5980

Modbus / Re: Who can I call to help me setup this automation direct vfd

« on: November 07, 2017, 04:36:25 AM »

Hi,
just seen something in the manual that may help with the frequency command. As you know I urged you to program your drive parameter P 3.00
to accept control from the serial comm interface but I should have in addition told you to program P 4.00 to the value 05 to accept frequency
commands from the serial comm interface as well.

Craig