Messages

301

General Mach Discussion / Re: Only X-axis motor is working

« on: April 04, 2018, 02:27:41 PM »

I wouldn't do too much work if you are not keeping these motors - it will all change with new motors and certainly with new drives

302

General Mach Discussion / Re: Ahoy there - I'm a pirate. Arrrrrr!!!

« on: April 04, 2018, 09:20:31 AM »

I love it when woodworkers say "I threw it together..." and show a picture of a perfectly good coffee table with hidden joints and all that

I just can't get on with wood, it only exists to torment me

My attempt after a mornings work would look like this.....

303

General Mach Discussion / Re: Probing - what would i need?

« on: April 04, 2018, 05:57:10 AM »

Thanks Rich.

I think KISS only applies here if the pattern falls into place and the lightbulb turns on I'm still struggling to see the pattern and I think my bulb has blown.

I have never "touched off" a tool since going CNC, not sure if that matters or not just FWIW.

If the master tool has no length how do the other tools lengths relate to it?

I am only going towards XYZ surface probing now, I will keep my off-line tool setter going and put CNC setting on the back-burner until i get the ATC made maybe.

So, with that in mind, I can simply "measure" my probe in the setter, enter it's length and I'm good to go as that is the same as using my Haimer manual probe, the only difference is that the macro will set my DRO's and not me.

My Haimer has a length, thats why it's T100 not T0 and that length is obtained exactly the same way as all my tools - I can understand the relationship here easily.

If my Haimer was T0 and had no length, my current C axis (TLO) macro would not function, I'm not saying it couldn't function, just that it would not as written.

Maybe i'm missing a vital point?

304

General Mach Discussion / Re: Ahoy there - I'm a pirate. Arrrrrr!!!

« on: April 04, 2018, 03:34:06 AM »

Nicely done, now the fun starts

305

General Mach Discussion / Re: Ahoy there - I'm a pirate. Arrrrrr!!!

« on: April 04, 2018, 02:11:28 AM »

First thing I want to clarify though is my Mach3 license.
I'm pretty sure I have a pirated copy - the well mentioned "MaoA˜A ¯Ðtonar"

My question is: how do I fix this?
When I buy a new license from the Mach3 website, will I get a Mach1Lic.dat file and then simply replace the existing one, or will it be a bit more complicated?

Hi, yes it is usually that simple

306

General Mach Discussion / Re: Probing - what would i need?

« on: April 03, 2018, 02:36:56 PM »

Ok thanks

I'll break it down i think and only do the surface probing first as suggested earlier by you or Rich, makes sense.

The surface probing macros should keep me busy for a while

307

General Mach Discussion / Re: Probing - what would i need?

« on: April 03, 2018, 01:47:54 PM »

Nice, and you have a tool changer, i'm jealous

But do you measure tool lengths "on" the machine i.e. tell you want to load tool 10 into the carousel so you fit tool 10, it goes and measures the offset, stores it and then unloads the spindle into the carousel??

I can easily understand the touch probe and have ordered a couple up - one for surface and one for tools. I can use this immediately just by manually setting its height into my T100 location (always the height probe)

What i envision is both this AND having the machine measure tools etc - this is a bit more complex as the knee (and therefore the height probe) zero can move

I'm sure i'll be borrowing some of your ideas

308

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 , jogging with limits switch on makes the axis move very slow one way

« on: April 03, 2018, 10:50:03 AM »

No worries.

It may be easier to set up and turn on one axis at a time, all that matters is that the machine is homed and "inside" the soft-limits zone when you press the button or you get an error.

In general use the 'soft-limits" button is on all the time, it should be persistent and stay on each time you start Mach up.

309

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 , jogging with limits switch on makes the axis move very slow one way

« on: April 03, 2018, 09:10:36 AM »

Ah, soft limits, getting it now

Yes you want that.

Before pressing it, you need to get the machine homed(referenced) and work out what your soft-limits actually are - mostly about 2-3mm before each hard limit(if fitted) or 2-3mm before the maximum travel of each axis.

Those figures are then entered into the "limits" table in the "soft min" and "soft max" columns, save the data and exit the page.

Now, jog to a safe position somewhere near mid axes on all axes if you are setting XYZ in one go and the press the soft-limits button.

Fingers crossed you will not get any error messages and the LED will stay on - your soft limits are now set and you can happily jog about without risk of hitting the ends.

The jog speed should also be as defined in Jogging % on whatever screen that is on.

310

General Mach Discussion / Re: Probing - what would i need?

« on: April 03, 2018, 09:02:46 AM »

Thanks Rich, Thomas,

I see what you offer and it makes sense, I understand how my setup works as it is now, and it works well re tool & probe lengths.

Currently I set my tools offline, I also measured my Haimer probe in the same way - this gives me an easy to grasp correlation from probe to tool height.

On the machine, when I probe the surface for a setup, I position the quill 40mm down from home so Z-40 - this gives me allowance for clearance planes, retract and tool change etc
I then bring the knee up to position the work just below the tip of the probe, then probe using Z jogging.
Next I press Z DRO Zero - this ALSO stores the machine coordinates for my C (knee) axis in a variable because the relationship between C & Z are now fixed at zero.
When i place a tool, my M6end does its magic and sends the difference between tool and probe to the C axis using the stored C variable as a ref and everyone is happy

My brain-cell block is visualising getting this to work with a surface probe (this bit is easy) and also a tool plate.
I'm guessing here that i would just measure my surface probe against the tool plate as i do now??
However this is also complicated by the movable bed(knee) - the knee must be in the same position before any re-probing (breakages, new tool etc) of tooling is done??
 - currently I don't need to worry about that as the zero on my tool-setter does not move, ever.

Once I get that clear in my grey matter, I think screens and macros will be easy (once i figure out how i actually want to work) and just a matter of macro tweaking and testing.
Its just the bit in brown I need to grasp