Topics

41

General Mach Discussion / Compaq pc any good?

« on: August 04, 2016, 02:38:57 PM »

Having just lost another, and my last Dell Optiplex pc on my plasma cutter, seems cheap pc junkers are getting more expensive

Are there any know issues with Compaq units/win XP / parallel port


Thanks

42

General Mach Discussion / Tool Offset Macro...

« on: July 27, 2016, 01:24:51 PM »

Ok, been messing with the tool offset table, I think I have it sussed now but looking for a way to smarten up offset measuring.

I have attached a macro that sort of contains what i want (plus a lot of junk i think) but looking for help in tuning it up or replacing it.

What i want, what i really really want is to fit the reference tool and zero that, then fit the new tool and run the macro and have it give me the resulting difference in length each time in a message box or similar.

Seems the tool table offsets are always negative if the new tool is shorter than the ref tool so the sign needs to be correct in the answer too.

I'm sure someone can assist, probably already been done a million times;)

43

General Mach Discussion / Machine setup help - urgent if possible :)

« on: July 23, 2016, 08:08:28 AM »

Hi all
I'm in the last stages of my Bridgeport conversion but i think something is backwards?

Todays task was hooking up the z axis at last - the final step. I have motion from my CSMIO/IP-A and have done a basic pid tuning on the servo drive.

Limits are working and homing does too.

What i need to know is :- Z++ is at the highest point and all cuts are taken in the negative direction so a 1mm depth of cut will be -1mm yes???

At present the DRO on this axis is backwards - it reads lower as the axis rises.

How do i reverse the Z axis on this setup???

44

General Mach Discussion / Control inputs - active low/high?

« on: July 08, 2016, 04:31:07 AM »

Seems the safest way is to have the limit switch loop as active low i.e the switches are all in series and are normally closed, this way a broken wire will trigger a stop instead of being ignored.

But control inputs - cycle-start buttons, home switches etc - active low or high?

My PLC stuff was always active high - normally open contacts that supply a voltage when and action is needed - this way a short to ground of the supply wire will blow a fuse, short to ground of the return will do nothing, only a supply-return short could be dodgy as it will be seen as a request for action.

Does this all remain true in the world of CNC?

45

General Mach Discussion / CSMIO-IP/A and max velocity setting?

« on: June 29, 2016, 08:57:41 AM »

I'm going through the settings on my bench setup of ac servo drives and the CSMIO-IP/A controller with Mach3.

I have steps per set as shown for my leadscrew/drive connection ratio but how do you calculate max velocity - It seems that if it is too high the drive faults on ePid error, too low and the 0-10v output does not reach 10v so velocity is wasted/lost.

How do you calculate the correct velocity to give 0-10v output or does it not work that way??

46

General Mach Discussion / Output control - smart solution sought...

« on: June 07, 2016, 06:09:54 AM »

I need to activate an output when Mach is running code or in feed-hold, or to use another point of view i need to deactivate an output when Mach is in stop mode.

Is there a smart way to achieve this?

47

General Mach Discussion / Mill Dual Z axis?

« on: May 31, 2016, 10:33:47 AM »

I'm in the process of converting my Bridgeport to CNC, servo's, CSMIO etc.

If I had a motor on the knee-lift screw as well could it be tied into the Z axis DRO in Mach3 as well as the normal Z axis ??

Only one would be moving at a time.

Just a thought.

48

Mach Screens / 2010 Screen-set Tool-change routine...

« on: May 11, 2016, 11:36:03 AM »

TWO PART QUERY...

Part 1...

I'm using the excellent 2010 screen-set on my mini-mill and so far it's been amazing, however after watching  the tool-change routine a few times I notice something a little odd maybe?

My routine is...

Ref machine,
Load material,
Set X & Y home,
install 1st tool,
Run Initial tool-change routine - the tool probes the work, touches the plate, re-probes, rapids to clearance plane, rapids to fixed plate position, probes etc  - this all works fine.

Then when it comes to the next tool change, the G-code calls M06 Txx and the head goes to my tool change position which is 0,0,0 in machine co-ords so front, left and high up.

I change the tool and press cycle start, it then rapids over to the fixed plate position but proceeds to probe from Z0 (high up) to plate surface instead of what I think it should do which is rapid down to clearance plane and then start probing.

Just a minor point but it takes a fair while to move down at probe speed

Is this an error or something I have set wrong somewhere??

Part 2...

After running one job on say 5mm plate and three tool-changes, say the next job is on 3mm plate and two tool-changes, do I just use the "simple auto zero" button or the "initial zero" button??

Thanks

49

General Mach Discussion / Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: May 10, 2016, 10:13:32 AM »

Anyone here converted a manual Bridgeport mill to CNC?

After building my plasma table and my mini-mill, both of which are working lovely, I WANT MORE CNC 

The old Bridgeport is looking for some love but is it worth it?

It would need a ball-screw conversion kit, these are available, plus I am guessing servo drives on X, Y and Z so I have encoder display, the knee doesn't seem to get driven on the few vids i have watched so far.

On the plus side, its already driven via a VFD  and i could likely recoup some cash by selling the working power feeds and new DRO i fitted last year.

50

General Mach Discussion / Odd behaviour?

« on: May 04, 2016, 02:42:22 PM »

I'm tweaking the post-processor for Vectric Aspire for use on my mini-mill, by default it puts a tool change at the start of each file, I don't really want this.

This is the start of a file...

N240 G00 G21 G17 G90 G40 G49 G80
N250 G71 G91.1
N260 T2 M06
N270 (T2 - 5mm Carbide YG)
N280 G00 G43 Z20.000 H2
N290 S19000 M03
N300 (Toolpath:- Apertures Roughing)
N310 ()
N320 G94
N330 X0.000 Y0.000 F1000.0

When edited I get this...

N240 G00 G21 G17 G90 G40 G49 G80
N250 G71 G91.1
N260 G00 Z20.000
N270 S19000 M03
N280 (Toolpath:- Apertures Roughing)
N290 ()
N300 G94
N310 X0.000 Y0.000 F1000.0

Seems ok to me, I tried running it but the mill started running the file with the spindle off, luckily I e-stopped early enough to stop damage.

I then reset and tried an M03 in the MDI box and I got "Compiler error in M03.m1s" message, could not get spindle to start, rebooted and suspecting the code was wrong I returned the file to it's original state and tried again to get the job done - it worked ok this time.

So, I don't know until i try again if the code change was wrong or it was just some sort of duff boot-up first time round??