Messages

1951

General Mach Discussion / Re: SheetCam And ToolChange ?

« on: February 20, 2016, 03:31:33 PM »

Self-help forum

I scanned the code and missed the tool change bit first time round thats why it didn't make sense, found it with a search

Test running it in my laptop setup of Mach3 gives exactly the desired effect

1952

General Mach Discussion / Re: SheetCam And ToolChange ?

« on: February 20, 2016, 12:57:48 PM »

Ignore this question, I've just re-read my code and sheet cam takes care of it by moving to a programmed position and calling M6 T1, 2 etc so as long as my tool table is empty it should be ok.

1953

General Mach Discussion / SheetCam And ToolChange ?

« on: February 20, 2016, 12:46:50 PM »

Hi all,

I'm building a small CNC mill and trying to figure out how to program sheetcam to tell Mach3 I want to change from a roughing tool to a finish tool?

I have a toolpath set in SC and it all looks good, I've left a finishing allowance etc.

I presume I need to program a code snippet to tell Mach3 I want to do a manual tool change as the tool holder is a collet and all tools will be referenced to zero every change so i'm not using the tool table etc. - all entries are zero in the TT

Then I presume I need to create another operation in SC to run the finish pass on the new tool???

Of course I may be totally wrong here

If right, what code tells Mach to stop and wait for run start?

1954

General Mach Discussion / Re: Educational Sources???

« on: February 16, 2016, 08:04:32 AM »

Sounds good,

I gather thats a plate of known thickness which is allowed for in the routine pretty much like the switch offset in plasma cutting IHS?

Something like single-sided PCB - insulated from the bed?

1955

General Mach Discussion / Re: Educational Sources???

« on: February 16, 2016, 07:32:22 AM »

Ah, but what does it use for height sensing??

1956

General Mach Discussion / Re: Educational Sources???

« on: February 16, 2016, 03:37:22 AM »

Thanks, I'm mostly heading for small cutters in aluminium so will see how it plays when i get going.

Specific questions related to say 3mm aluminium cutting....

Holding tabs - would you use these on small internal features like holes etc, say 10mm x 20mm cutout or just let the scrap part loose?

Holding tabs - outside edge/final cut how thick should they be, I am guessing at maybe 0.25mm based on my experiences on the manual mill?

Spoil boards - when doing aluminium, what would you place underneath to cut into presuming you want full depth cutting with tabs?

Z Zero - Say i have a 2mm endmill in the collet, how do you set the surface zero on a router/mill?

Thanks

1957

General Mach Discussion / Re: Educational Sources???

« on: February 15, 2016, 03:45:00 PM »

This place is an absolute gold mine of information and helpful people, hard to find these days.


Thanks to all for the help so far.

1958

General Mach Discussion / Re: Educational Sources???

« on: February 15, 2016, 02:52:03 PM »

Great stuff, found out how to do a ramped spiral cut, works well in simulation anyway.

Also found the "sharpen corners" features, will need that for a job in mind, again it looks ideal for my needs.

Nice, and I never even knew it could do it

1959

General Mach Discussion / Re: Educational Sources???

« on: February 15, 2016, 12:57:45 PM »

Thanks again TP,

Its all falling slowly into place now, once that happens i can get a grip on things

I will save the multi speed head for an upgrade, the spindle I have coming is 2.2kw and supposed to run from 8,000 to 24,000rpm

From what speed/feed calc i have dabbled with so far (not many) the feed rates seem fine.

Any recommendations on a Scam post??

1960

General Mach Discussion / Re: Educational Sources???

« on: February 15, 2016, 10:39:33 AM »

Are these plugins still available?

want, want, want........

Is there a good post? I see I have one called "Mach3" or various other machine names.

Been messing with my Scam and it all makes sense when you get to an app your'e familiar with

Specific question,
I have one job in mind that is ally, 3mm thick and has some 3mm dia holes in it, if I had say a 2mm single flute cutter in, would i change to a drill or just plunge-cut with the mill and open out to 3mm in a circular pass??