Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / I would pay to have fixed

« on: October 21, 2013, 06:15:02 PM »

I want so bad to be able to do cnc machining, but maybe it is just too complex for me. SO I started with a 6040 Chinese machine just to see if this hobby was for me. I LOVE IT, BUT, I am having issues. Since day one, on SOME things I want to cut, the machine stalls. It just starts to make a grinding / binding noise, then starts to move properly again however, it is way off course. I have tinkered with motor tuning, feeds and speeds of my VECTRIC software and I can't fix it. Sometimes I will cut an entire project with NO issues, and other times I cant get thru one piece. Not sure how many know of the VECTRIC free project called the "BLING BOX". I cut the sides and bottom out PERFECTLY. Now I am trying to cut the top. After 3 failed attempts, I set my speed in my VECTRIC software tool path to 2200 mm per minute and plunge to 700 per minute. I ran the entire tool path in thin air with NO WOOD, and it ran the whole thing perfect. I put a piece of pine on the machine, and it stalled on line 336. NEVER stalls on the same point. There seems to be NO consistency to when it will do it.

ANY IDEAS? I would pay someone to fly to Arizona and fix this problem. I want to buy a new 48x96 machine, but if I cant get the little one to work why spend 20K on a big one right??

Anyway, below are my specs, and I have also attached my .xml file. This is ALL the info I know, so if you start asking me about screws, pitches, frequencies etc, I will be lost. One thing I will tell you is the MFG told me to set the machine in mach 3 up like this:

Steps: 640
Velocity: 2500 XY 800 Z
Accel: 200 XY 150 Z

When I set Steps to 640 everything is doubled. I run the step calculator in Mach 3 and it says to set steps to 320 so I did.

SPECS:
Dell Computer running windows XP
ETHERNET SMOOTH STEPPER
Chinese 6040z + S65J
VFD SPindle usually run at 300khz or 18000 rpm

.XML attached

Any help and patience would be appreciated, and if the help is I am over my head, so be it. I just gotta know cause it has been driving me nuts for 6 months now.

2

General Mach Discussion / Jog Pad issue...TIME TO UPGRADE

« on: June 08, 2013, 07:58:52 PM »

Milling a project, out of no where, machine looses step or something and goes off course. OK, maybe motor tuning not right although have done many projects today with no issue. Closed and rebooted everything, NOW when I hit tab to open JOG PAD within MAch3, buttons do not respond. Up Down arrows and side to side arrows as well as Page Up and Page down ON KEYBOARD work fine, but JOG PAD within Mach NOT working.

And then I guess I just don't understand how the projects can be going great and then all of a sudden she goes off path. Motor Tuning? But the three projects I did before this one went without an issue, and they were even bigger.

Any ideas? Or should I just upgrade to GREENBULL CNC from BuildYourCNC.com?

I use an ESS Smooth Stepper from Warp9 and the version of Mach is R3.043.058 as suggested by smooth stepper.

Would appreciate any guidance.

Jeff

3

General Mach Discussion / My settings are GONE

« on: May 30, 2013, 09:24:08 PM »

Used Mach3 ALL day yesterday, shut it down as I always do, came to shop tonight loaded MY profile that I always use (6040_CNC), and everything had reset to a "new" profile. ALL settings back to default.

Any ideas? Can I load the .xml backup from last night somehow?

Jeff

4

General Mach Discussion / And on line 32427 it all went haywire

« on: May 26, 2013, 07:54:09 PM »

Good afternoon,

So, cutting a simple little sign for practice with my new cnc. About half way thru things went weird. This happened the first time right about the 5 minute mark when my computer is set to sleep. So I thought that must be the problem. Set it up again and was cruising along perfectly about 80 percent finished (oh and yes it got past the part where it messed up the first time) and then all of a sudden it begins again. It just began going down random paths that made no sense at all. This time there was no interruption or anything.

Any ideas? Good news is that as I am practicing and getting a sense of how all this works, I am using some cheap plywood. However, at some point I would like to be confident I am not going to ruin a good piece of wood.

Anyway, if one of you kind folks could extends your courtesy one more time and point me in the right direction I would be forever grateful.

Jeff

5

General Mach Discussion / Thanks

« on: May 26, 2013, 10:27:29 AM »

Hello,
I just wanted to post a quick note to say thanks to all the great folks at Artsoft as well as warp9. I am new to cnc machining and both companies were more than accommodating in helping me thru email. However, I thought I should join the forums rather than be a pest. So, I just wanted to give a quick shout out to you all and say thanks. I finally at 1 am this morning machined my first simple sign and can't wait to get started today.

Again thanks for the support, and I am looking forward to posting on your forums to see if I can't get good at this hobby cnc thing.

Regards,

Jeff