Messages

211

General Mach Discussion / Re: CSMIO / IP Probing fails

« on: June 12, 2018, 05:59:24 AM »

Ok so Z is at 2 and the surface of the material is somewhere lower i.e more negative so -3, -4 etc.

To test this out, do not use a tool etc, just verify first that when you ground the touch plate the PROBE led lights up, before that though make sure you have the PROBE input set correctly in ports and pins, probably is though.

Now, presuming you are in inches....

Enter in MDI

G28.1 Z-4 F100 and press enter

The Z axis should start moving slowly downwards -does it??

If yes then it should stop as soon as you ground the touch plate i.e. make it think it has found the tool.

No tools are needed, its safe and easy this way

report back

212

General Mach Discussion / Re: Torch Height control Methodology.

« on: June 12, 2018, 03:19:46 AM »

In a nutshell, unless you are running a slow machine, Proma sucks. I tried it and it worked ok for a tiny machine built with a hypertherm 30XP system but when i built my bigger table and got the 45 system, it was far too slow at processing to be any good at all. If the sheets warped etc it just failed miserably.

In the end i forked out some money on a CandCNC MP3000 THC which was much faster but still not fast enough for bad warps etc, I still run this box today though, just have to learn its problems.

The fastest systems take direct control of the Z axis and run the stepper themselves, its the only way to cut the loop process times down to a minimum I think.

I still suffer the odd crash and dive but thats life with a plasma i think.

213

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: June 12, 2018, 02:07:58 AM »

I never knew there was a torque figure!

I have a 10" spanner and just lean on that as hard as i can.

I do have a torque wrench so i'll check tonight.

214

General Mach Discussion / Re: CSMIO / IP Probing fails

« on: June 11, 2018, 02:45:13 PM »

It works anywhere you can call a G31, there is also G28.1 IIRC - do a google on these two commands

215

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: June 11, 2018, 01:28:15 PM »

Well,,,,

If fixing what i found tonight does not do the job then i’m packing my bags and giving up!

I tested the head tram and it was out about as much as it could have been out!

Badly off in BOTH axes by a frighteningly big amount, more in the X but both very bad, I’ve never had the nod move before, usually just the rotation.

Whatever happened when that cutter loaded up was far more severe than i thought, odd that it failed to break but just have smacked the head a fair bit.

It's back on now and i have cut a customers one-sided job ok, I won’t know about the two-sided issue until Wednesday as jobs piled up again

I can’t believe that fixing this issue would not fix the job, fingers crossed.

216

General Mach Discussion / Re: CSMIO / IP Probing fails

« on: June 11, 2018, 01:22:21 PM »

You must use something like

G31 Z-20 F100 instead

G31 is a probing move - this turns on the probe input.

Z-20 tells it to move Z negatively 20 units before stopping, if no probe contact then an error is returned.

F100 is the travel speed

217

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: June 11, 2018, 02:15:08 AM »

Thanks TPS but i proved the code was ok by just making a part with two points - one on each side.

That makes it simple to read and it still came out shifted on the mill.

Will know more once i have checked it over again.

218

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: June 10, 2018, 01:21:25 PM »

I thought that too, but,,,

There is now a possibility that my head is off-tram despite my thinking otherwise.

I am going to go through it tomorrow and verify before any further testing as it would explain a lot.

219

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: June 10, 2018, 05:52:41 AM »

Finished my last test and it just muddies the water more:(


Made a part with two 20mm through bores at known XY offsets, I chose 35mm Y and 25mm X offset.


Without removing the part I then set my XY ref on the centre of the lower left bore and probed the upper right bore for its offset to verify the work,

The offset was verified on the DRO’s as 24.964mm X and 34.997mm Y, pretty accurate i thought


Next, I flipped the part as before, set my XY ref on one bore and probed the other, result was 24.970mm X and 34.984mm Y - still good.

I then set my XY ref on the other bore and probed the first one, result was 24.972mm X and 34.981mm Y - still good.

This tells me i should be able to machine two sides if i use a through-bore as a ref ?

But what i don’t understand is why i can't use the edge as ra ef when all logic says I should?

Probing the holes as above means the machine was in X+ and X- quadrants so is pretty realistic to the work.

I tried both mechanical and electronic probes and got results so similar that the difference is irrelevant to my work so will stick with my electronic probe.

Any thoughts?

220

General Mach Discussion / Re: Torch Height control Methodology.

« on: June 10, 2018, 04:50:41 AM »

IIRC anti-dive is an internal Mach routine, not a controllable input.