Messages

21

General Mach Discussion / Re: Any way to ignore spindle speed commands?

« on: May 21, 2015, 03:07:30 PM »

Seeing as no one knows exactly how your spindle is setup I do not have anything else to offer.

The only other option is to MOD your cam POST to only output S2000.

(;-) TP

Nothing in the hardware should matter for this - but it's a small Hitachi VFD feeding the stock Bridgeport 2hp motor then into the 2J Varidrive head.  Mach just sends PWM commands to the VFD.  I can reprogram it without much issue, I just don't feel like it ... but it looks like I'll need to.  Bleh ...

I was just hoping - vainly, it seems - that Mach could do it in software.  Read "M3 S1500" or whatever and ignore the S part, only ever sending the 2000 signal to the VFD.

22

General Mach Discussion / Re: Any way to ignore spindle speed commands?

« on: May 21, 2015, 01:50:59 PM »

Just set up(program) your VFD to always use 60 hz and let Mach3 turn ON /OFF the drive .

(;-) TP

Ideally I'm looking for something that's just within Mach itself ... if I have to reprogram the VFD, I will, but I'd prefer not to.  I was hoping there was just an option button somewhere that I had somehow missed ...

23

General Mach Discussion / Any way to ignore spindle speed commands?

« on: May 21, 2015, 01:42:48 PM »

So I've got an old Bridgeport BOSS 3 that's been converted to run under Mach.  I didn't do the conversion, I bought it already set up this way.  It runs very nicely, but there's one quirk that I don't really like, and that's the VFD.  The machine is set up so that if I set the Varidrive to 2000 RPM, the output from Mach to the VFD will have more or less the correct speeds ... but I don't get the same torque that I'd get if I just use the Varidrive.

What I've been doing is just putting values of S2000 in my programs (that gives me 60 Hz, more or less, at the VFD) and then using the Varidrive to control my actual spindle speed.  This is annoying because when I'm doing my CAM stuff (I use Autodesk Inventor HSM), I get screwy values for my SFM and chip load, plus I have to remember to manually set my speed to 2000 for every tool.  (Yes, I know I could just edit my tool library for the default value, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.)

So.

What I'd like to do is tell Mach 3 to just ignore the S command and just always give a command of 2000 RPM to the VFD.  Is there any convenient way to do this?  When I set the pulley max / min to 1999 and 2001, that doesn't seem to work - if it gets a command outside that range the spindle doesn't turn on.

Thanks in advance!

24

General Mach Discussion / Re: Losing steps in an oddly specific - and extreme - way

« on: January 19, 2015, 04:34:22 PM »

Hm.

Turned off backlash comp, re-homed and re-ran the cut - you can see where the toolmarks are slightly different, but there's no difference to the touch across the surface so I'm not too concerned with this part.

The underlying problem on the other hand - that concerns me.  I've got about .002" backlash in both Y and Z after 400 moves of 1" each.  I'd like to see that get a little lower and I was hoping that backlash compensation could help me out with that ...

25

General Mach Discussion / Losing steps in an oddly specific - and extreme - way

« on: January 19, 2015, 02:36:12 PM »

Okay, so what I was expecting here was a nice basic facing operation.  Climb milling with the passes along the X-axis.  .04" on the first pass, .01" on the second.

I've been using Mach for a little while now, but this is a new one on me.  Never seen this happen before.  Only thing I can think of that changed from the previous cut to this one is that I turned on backlash comp for Y and Z axes ... but this was happening in X, not in Y or Z, and I did enough testing (x0, x-1, lather-rinse-repeat several hundred times) to verify that the adjustment in backlash was returning me to 0 on the dial indicator reliably and repeatably.  Anyway, on each pass, the X zero was moving in the positive direction by something like .098", according to the DRO. (I've got one of the early Bridgeport CNC's, it still has the mechanical DRO's on it.)

So, here's the picture.  If I can figure out how to attach a file I'll attach the XML and the gcode.

Anyone got any ideas?

(yes, I know the finish sucks - this cutter is just about worn out.  I didn't need this part to look pretty though, just be mostly flat.)

26

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 support in Inventor HSM Pro?

« on: November 01, 2014, 08:51:50 PM »

The standard Mach2 post that ships with HSM and CAM360 works just fine for me.  For my implementation all I had to do was turn off the G28's from the post screen.

I've been using HSM with Mach since the first public beta.  I'm milling something with it right now, for that matter. 

27

General Mach Discussion / Can I mix NC / NO limit switches? If yes, is my LPT1 broken?

« on: January 27, 2014, 06:17:00 PM »

I'm updating the controls on an older router right now to use a Gecko G540 and Mach3, and I'm having trouble with the limit switches.

The manufacturer used NO for the Z axis and NC for the X & Y, and they're giving me fits.

Obviously I can't use NO & NC together when wired in series, so I've got each switch (all ++, used for both ++ and home on each axis) set up on a different input on my Gecko.  They're plugged into pins 1-3 on the Gecko, in order of X-Y-Z.  One wire goes to the Gecko, the other goes to the -48VDC pin on my power supply.

When I disconnect the switches and use a meter on them to check continuity, I get the expected behavior.  The Y-axis switch shows 0 ohms, and goes open when I press the button.  The Z, of course, does exactly the opposite.  When I wire them in, however, things start to go south.  The switches don't respond to anything anymore.  Automatic input setup doesn't recognize them as inputs.  I've even gone to the level of pulling the manufacturer's wiring harness and adding a new one of my own, so I know it's not the wiring.  I'm almost wondering if it's an issue at the Gecko, because even if I disconnect the switches and jumper the input to the -48VDC pin, nothing happens.  (It's unlikely to be a Gecko problem though - it's brand new.)

Anyway.  Next possible culprit is my parallel port.  If I'm not in the right mode (EPP vs ECP vs w/e), will I have LPT1 pins 11/12/13 as inputs still?  I know that pin 10 is still being used / recognized as an input.  Is there a way to tell if my LPT1 is set to the right mode?  (My BIOS doesn't show the info - my only options there are enable & disable.)  Computer is a Gateway E4300 running Windows XP SP3.


Thanks ...

28

General Mach Discussion / Re: Piggybacking on / Hijacking An Existing CNC Controller

« on: December 18, 2013, 09:50:45 PM »

Well, problem solved, and mission partially accomplished.

1)  The existing controller doesn't enable +5V control power to the drivers unless it actually wants to run the motors.  This problem was solved by cutting the cable off a USB mouse and connecting that to P1:4 on the drivers for all 4 axes.

2)  Enable / disable is not needed.

3)  +5V from the USB will also run the E-stop.


So, now I've got the motors running.  It seems that all I need to do now is sort out the lead screw settings and motor tuning.  Oh, and maybe not have a rat's nest of unshielded wiring hanging loose and free.

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General Mach Discussion / Piggybacking on / Hijacking An Existing CNC Controller

« on: December 14, 2013, 11:45:50 AM »

I have a router made by Vision, with a Series II controller.  The controller as it sits now only accepts HPGL from a proprietary software supplied by Vision.  (I have it, but I don't like it - I want to do 3D work, so I'm attempting to retrofit it to work with Mach3.)

I've opened up the controller and isolated all the inputs / outputs that I need, except for the limit switches.  The steppers are driven by IM483 boards, which are quite well documented and I'm not finding many particular issues there.  I'll take STEP / DIR from each of the 4 to pins on a new DB25 connector that I'm adding to the housing, while leaving +5V connected to the existing controller.  I'm not bothering with a BOB here, as the drivers are fully opto-isolated, and they're still being powered by the PSU inside the controller.

Now the question I have about the drivers is the ENABLE pin.  It's currently being driven by the controller.  Should I leave it there, or connect it to the DB25 and drive it through Mach?  I'm guessing that this will kill the steppers when the E-stop is active?

Next question: the E-stop itself.  The controller has a 2-wire e-stop.  I'd like to keep it connected to the controller, as that will still be powering my spindle(s), dust collector, steppers, etc.    Can I simply take a tap off one leg of the e-stop wire (probably the black one) and run that to one of the input pins, and set that one as active-high in Mach3?  I guess the same question applies for the limit switches ...

30

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Mach3 with Vision Router

« on: December 07, 2013, 04:46:51 PM »

There's not a whole lot of information out there on this.

I've acquired a Vision 2448 router / engraver.  It's got a proprietary control panel setup (series II, with serial connection) which doesn't seem to be friendly to anything other than their own software, which doesn't seem to be really useful for what I want to do with it, which is 3D stuff.

Anyway.  The controller has a 25-pin connector to the table, and separate cables heading to the spindles.  Anyone ever tried to figure out the pin outs for the table on a Vision router to drive the table with Mach3?