Messages

481

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: February 11, 2018, 11:12:19 AM »

Well, that was an educational, worthwhile couple of hours spent in Fusion....

I have some aluminium parts i make regularly, i do these on the high-speed setup using single-flute bits designed for aluminium. Run time is 26mins, paths created in Aspire.

I moved the part to Fusion, imported the DXF and run the CAM, same amount of tool changes, changed to 2-flute tools still recommended for aluminium. Run time 29:30.

Now, allowing for the massive drop in spindle speed from 24,000 to 4,000 I think that is very impressive, what helps is the two-flute tools plus the fact that due to the canted-out design of the high-speed head I have to baby the feed rates or it starts vibrating badly - no amount of fiddles seem to help this, you just have to go easy on it whereas with the main spindle I can whack the feeds up to proper limits - the tools are only 5mm and 2mm so she wouldn't even notice.

I need to do a test run to prove it but the other significant bonus is that i can use repeatable tooling instead of setting Z height 3 times for each part - this will likely save the lost 3 minutes

I was impressed anyway

482

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: February 11, 2018, 07:39:46 AM »

Thanks TPS, I think this just highlights some of the hidden things lurking behind Mach3 and external controllers / plugins - i guess once Mach development stalled, nothing could be done to fix them, and never will now.

I see the answer was to dump the xml and downgrade to 022 but that gave another issue with overrides it seems.


I tested the machine in pseudo-ATC mode today - let the machine make ALL the moves and i just change the tool - it works perfectly which is good and i can run with that now as its easier than reaching for the keyboard every tool change

483

General Mach Discussion / Re: gcode conversion

« on: February 10, 2018, 04:03:52 PM »

I could check monday.
Did you try loading it and did you get a complete image?

Hi

yes it loads, i see thousands of what look like circles, a max Z travel of -1mm, dia about 98mm

484

General Mach Discussion / Re: MACH3PLASMA LIMIT SWITCHES FOR G540/PROMA

« on: February 10, 2018, 03:10:40 PM »

What Craig said ++++ 

485

General Mach Discussion / Re: MACH3PLASMA LIMIT SWITCHES FOR G540/PROMA

« on: February 10, 2018, 02:41:33 PM »

Yes, thats what i saw on the web for G540 wiring examples - it should the 0V line IIRC

486

General Mach Discussion / Re: MACH3PLASMA LIMIT SWITCHES FOR G540/PROMA

« on: February 10, 2018, 02:14:41 PM »

In ports & pins, inputs, set UP, DOWN & ON respectively to the inputs you wired - ON is ARC OK signal.

487

General Mach Discussion / Re: MACH3PLASMA LIMIT SWITCHES FOR G540/PROMA

« on: February 10, 2018, 01:54:25 PM »

Looks like you want pin12 NOT 7 as com.

488

General Mach Discussion / Re: MACH3PLASMA LIMIT SWITCHES FOR G540/PROMA

« on: February 10, 2018, 01:32:40 PM »

Not usually - it all depends on what signal your BOB is looking for - some go to 0v on the BOB, some goto +5v on the BOB etc

Is there no connection for "inputs common" on the BOB?

489

General Mach Discussion / Re: MACH3PLASMA LIMIT SWITCHES FOR G540/PROMA

« on: February 10, 2018, 01:19:50 PM »

Great- you got the dangerous bit working OK

the rest is just simple inputs, nothing more. you can even debug by replacing the proma with simple push switches - all you need is to get proper up & down control of the Z axis.

490

General Mach Discussion / Re: gcode conversion

« on: February 10, 2018, 01:17:58 PM »

Have you got a License installed for Mach, it has a line limit otherwise, that maybe the issue