Messages

971

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How to change the direction of rotation of the motor?

« on: December 11, 2021, 02:36:59 AM »

Hi,

I'm not sure how to adjust it, so I'll try it while trying it out.

The basic idea is to experiment until you find the best settings for your machine.

Most people concentrate on getting their machine to go as fast as possible in the expectation that the toolpath will run fastest.
That is often not in fact the case. With a complicated toolpath with many direction changes high acceleration is the answer.

When a toolpath changes direction, lets say a right angle corner, then the machine must decelerate to a near standstill in one direction
and then accelerate off in the new direction. The higher the acceleration capability the better and faster the machine can follow the programmed
toolpath. Its more about how quickly you can get up to speed than how fast the eventual speed is.

To find the best settings:
1) Set the velocity to be low to moderate based on your experience/guess.
2) Gradually increase the acceleration (while leaving velocity alone) until the machine starts to lose steps or stall.
3) Back off the acceleration until the machine accelerates and decelerates without losing steps, typically 20% lower than absolute max
and the onset of stalling.
4) Now gradually increase speed until the machine loses steps/stalls
5) Back off the velocity until the machine is stable and loses no steps.

Note that if you decrease the acceleration you may be able to increase the velocity, but given my earlier comment, don't take it too far,
high acceleration is best for good toolpath following.

Craig

972

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How to change the direction of rotation of the motor?

« on: December 09, 2021, 06:38:33 PM »

Hi,
another way to swap the direction of a stepper, without any programming, is to swap the polarity of one (just one) winding of the stepper.

Craig

973

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mirror Toolpath

« on: December 09, 2021, 06:36:19 PM »

Hi,
g51,scaling and mirroring is a Gcode feature, it does not depend on Mach3 OR Mach4.

Look at page 43 of  'Mach4 CNC Controller, Mill Programming Guide,Version 1.1,Build 3775' in the Docs folder of Mach4Hobby.

Craig

974

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Output always has voltage

« on: December 09, 2021, 05:54:17 PM »

Hi,
I can't say what the breakout boards are doing but the ESS is TTL output, that is, low is guaranteed to be less than 0.8V but typically as low
as 0.2V. I imagine that any buffering on the breakout boards will be a similar design, ie they will get close to zero volts but not actually zero.

Craig

975

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can't FIx Machine Coordinate

« on: December 09, 2021, 05:46:49 PM »

Hi,

I've watched the video above to Zero machine coordinates but this doesn't work for me.

You cannot set machine coordinates arbitrarily. The only way you can set them is to 'Reference All Home' or 'Reference' an axis.

If you have no home switches then the machine will 'Home in Place'. That is the machine coordinates will be set to zero (or Offset if programmed) wherever the machine
is at the moment.

If you have Home switches the machine will move to each Home switch in sequence and set the machine coordinate of that axis to zero (or Offset if programmed)

When a machine coordinate is set to zero it is possible to apply an Offset. For example if you program the x axis 'Home Offset'=75mm then you <Ref All Home> when the x axis
gets to its home switch the machine coordinate will not be set to zero but rather -75mm.

These are the only means of setting machine coordinates. Work coordinates CAN be set arbitrarily but not machine coordinates.

Craig

976

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 demo and XHC MK-3V

« on: December 08, 2021, 03:03:49 AM »

Hi,
Peters price for the ESS was $190USD and the shipping to NZ was $56AUD....am I going to try to complicate matters just to save
$20AUD??? Would you? I want to save as much as anyone but I'm not prepared to be dickhead about it either.

I need the ESS and the servos for a machine conversion, the customer is paying, so I just got on and did it. Two weeks after ordering and paying
for the goods I have them.

Craig

977

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 demo and XHC MK-3V

« on: December 08, 2021, 02:12:38 AM »

Hi,
Peter chose Australia Post Express, wasn't cheap, $56AUD, but I got it in about 10 days, so you get what you pay for.

I just took delivery of two Delta servos from China and I paid $285USD for DHL, and I had them in four days from Hong Kong.

Craig

978

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 demo and XHC MK-3V

« on: December 08, 2021, 01:41:15 AM »

Hi,
yes.

Craig

979

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 demo and XHC MK-3V

« on: December 08, 2021, 01:12:24 AM »

Hi,
I got a SmoothStepper from a reseller in Australia, got here on Monday morning. Cost $375 NZD including freight from Australia.
I'm sure the same company would ship to you.

Craig

980

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 demo and XHC MK-3V

« on: December 07, 2021, 10:43:37 PM »

Hi,
XHC used to make quite good controllers but, I am guessing here.....but believe the lead engineer/developer/designer has departed or died, because XHC seem to have zero ability
to rectify faults with their hardware. It seems like the policy is  'we've got your money so we don't care about you anymore'

Is South Africa still on the planet Earth? If so its possible to get stuff from the US and Europe....even if hard. Do it. Get yourself an Ethernet SmoothStepper by Warp9TD for $180USD.
It has both a Mach3 and a Mach4 plugin, so when you get sick of Mach3 you can get into the real thing.

Craig