Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / E stop and limit issues and not on new setup

« on: July 23, 2018, 05:07:39 AM »

OK, so this is not a new topic I know, but my situation is a little different I think.
My own assumption at this point, is my switch is no longer usable.

So my machine is not a home build or new, it has done over 2200 spindle hours, so this is not me struggling to get settings correct. I stay away from any settings and never play with it.
Everything has been going fine until yesterday, when I came out to the garage to see the machine had stopped near the end of the job. Rather than change the code to suit the milled material already, I just re-ran the program and walked off.
I came out later to find it had stopped again at what appeared to be the same spot. I changed the tool paths to suit material removed and I altered the path itself so the offending line of code was gone and worked OK.
( This was cutting soft jaws by the way)   So next to that I ran another cut into those soft jaws which milled ok.

This morning I put some stock into that original cut, found G54 and hit start. About 40 mins into the job it stopped and had the ''external e stop requested '' flashing. Not sure what it had the night before, as I didn't take note.
I re-ran the program and same result. I did it again and it seemed to work and when it went to cut I saw straight away it was coming down offline. Turns out the Y axis had moved approx 4mm or so.
Found G54 again, but this time while rechecking the X axis , ''e stop requested '' several times.
I went through this all again, same results and Y axis off again.
Then I get a message saying something like ''requested home switch is active please fix then home'' .   In the diagnostic page Y axis is lit up, then starts flashing

Fast forward half a day, I cleaned the whole machine, all the switches and still have the issues.
I tried changing the pin on the Y axis , which removes the light , but does not see the switch, which is about what I expected. The switch has a little ball on top which is not stuck and moves in and out freely when pushed.
Nothing is obstructing the switch and the cover is now removed .
If I get the Y axis away from the switch then put it back on pin 11 again and push home, then it moves 10mm or so and triggers and then stays active.
Attached is the XML file .

X homes ok and since the issue finding G54 when it triggered, it has been fine.
Z homes fine.
X and Z can be jogged anywhere without issue as well.

Y now triggers every single time I try.

SO, any ideas?

2

General Mach Discussion / Centroid probe for mach3

« on: October 18, 2017, 08:51:00 PM »

I was looking to make a solution for part location on my mill, and have in the past read that probing systems do not work with Mach3 , or at least it is all a bit tricky.
Came across this http://www.centroidcnc.com/cnc_touch_probe.html    and they claim it works with Mach. So, does anyone have any experience using this on a mill running Mach3?   if so, thoughts, pros/cons?

3

General Mach Discussion / How to set tool height with face mill on auto tool setter

« on: September 05, 2017, 10:42:18 PM »

I asked this question on Google without much success, so thought one of you will surely know on here.
I have a tool height setter on my machine, which I use every time.  I have just bought a 100mm diameter face mill to speed up some operations, but now that I have taken it out of the box, I realize that it will not set the height of the tool as I normally use it, because the center of the tool is not the bottom.
So in order to measure of the cutters, how would I do that?

This will be the first tool of 4, so if I manually set this tool off the part, I am concerned the following tool will be slightly out coming of the tool setter and then again maybe not, but I would prefer to use it, as I have it.

Anyone?

4

General Mach Discussion / Limit switch help

« on: December 22, 2015, 03:48:06 AM »

OK, so I know there has been threads on this, I have read them. It didn't help me though, as I tried the easy stuff mentioned but not sure what the rest meant.
My machine is a Wabeco 1410 LF running Mach 3 and MDA Precision supplied the control unit on the machine.
I have never had any issues over the 2 years I have owned it, and it has had very little use. A few times it has stopped and gave a Stepper motor error, but that has happened only a few times and not for the last 6 months.

So currently I can machine nothing, as when I try to run a file, it trips on the Y axis and says ''limit switch triggered'' and the next line says ''E stop requested''    It also does this at start up, and never said that before.
I can jog the machine using the key board without issue and never had this error before at all.   

So in the other threads it has been mentioned ''noise'' can likely be the issue. OK, well I confess I am lost there.
I have checked the debounce settings that were mentioned and mine was extremely high as it is, way higher than suggestions given. I changed it to about 5 different settings anyway and no luck.
So next people are talking about ceramic caps and noise shielding, but I have no idea what is meant by this.
Since it worked fine for 2 years in the same location , surely there must be any easy fix that does not require a degree in electronics?

Help, please  

5

General Mach Discussion / Need help with lathe ,

« on: March 31, 2014, 12:31:38 AM »

OK,

I am new, but with help from this site I am up and running on the mill. Sure, I have a long way to go, but I have made some small practise parts and am on my way, So thanks all.

Where I am having trouble now, is the lathe.
I am using Onecnc, and its not mine, but I can get access to it two or three times a week. I think I will buy it though, as I am liking the ease of use. (for the mill)
So as I am having issues on the lathe, I decided to keep it simple.

Now I realise there is no Mach 3 post in Onecnc Lathe Expert Xr5, but the mill works on either default or its Mach3 for the post.
I have tried ''default'' and ''Fanuc'' on the lathe, both as ''Tap'' and ''Text'' files, and all four do the same thing.

The round bar is 29.6mm  and the tool path simulation shows it pass over at 29.6mm, for a length of 100mm . I have tried to zero Z and X on the start edge of the bar, then ''cycle start''
It goes out to X38 Z4.2 and starts in so slow, that it feels like it will never get to the next line. I have not checked jog boxes or such, as I am really trying to work out why it will not go to the stock.
When it gets to line N200  it is about 80mm approx off the bar (have not meausered that exactly) when it then runs the Z-100 pass.
I tried then to instead of zeroing on edge of the stock, I told it it was Z0 and X29.6.
To save time, I edited line N190 at gave it a value of X30, and the end result was the same as the first. 
It is just a test, so not trying to cut anything. Here is the code.
Anyone know what I am doing wrong?

%
O0000
N10 (PART - )
N20 (FILE - G:\TEST LATHE.XFA)
N30 (AUTHOR - DEFAULT USER)
N40 (GROUP - TOOLPATH GROUP #1)
N50 (POSTED - MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2014 12:13)
N60 (CREATED - MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2014 09:23)
N70 (SYSTEM - ONECNC-XR5 LATHE PROFESSIONAL - VERSION 30.43)
N80 (NOTES - NONE)
N90 G00 G40
N100 G28 U0.
N110 G28 W0.
N120 (OD ROUGH RIGHT 85 DEG .8 TIP)
N130 T0101
N140 G99 G96 F0.8 S60
N150 G50 S2500
N160 M03
N170 G18
N180 G00 X38. Z4.2
N190 X35.6
N200 G01 X29.6 F0.8
N210 Z-0.8
N220 Z-100.8
N230 X38.
N240 G00 Z4.2
N250 (END TOOL)
N260 M09
N270 G28 U0.
N280 G28 W0.
N290 M05
N300 M30
%

6

General Mach Discussion / tool path way out when loaded in Mach

« on: February 08, 2014, 04:41:57 AM »

OK, so I am really NEW.
Mr Hood, helped with my last question, and since then, 40 videos later as well, I am running good CAM software with Mach 3 post.

So to get my machine up and running, I designed a simple circle I want to do a facing operation on. I have max cut depth at 0, as I basically want to skim across the top to make sure all is well.

I am running the CAD program, and the CAM in MM.
So I designed one file where the circle was 151mm, and once uploaded into Mach, it is many times bigger than my table when I click that view.
I first suspected it may be in CM, so I went back and did the same file, but now in 15mm (just in case it is CM) and while smaller, same issue.
I do notice, that when I start Mach 3 in MM, and load the file, it goes to Inches. Then I type in G 21, and it goes back, but makes no difference to the massive work piece I have according to Mach 3.  A little frustrating in itself, as I started in MM, and expect it to stay in MM.
So even if it was 15'' for some unknown reason, it should still fit on my table.
So am at a loss here, looked for the issue, and not really finding anything of note.

It will end up being simple I am sure, but it is only easy if you know how.
Help!

7

General Mach Discussion / Could use some help, please guys

« on: January 31, 2014, 01:06:48 AM »

So I have a mill and lathe set up in my garage, running Mach 3 and apparently the control is Mach 3 as well.
So when I ordered this (yes I am new to cnc) I just figured I could upload my files, then define tool paths etc.
OK, that did not happen.  Here is the problem.

I have files in IGS, IPT, of the parts I want to make. These were done for me, and I do not have the experience to just draw them new. They are fairly complicated.
I open one up for example , in Spaceclaim CAD, then save it as a DXF file, upload it to Mach 3, and the drawing does not show up. There is something there, with 40 or so lines of code that are bad, as it says so on the first line.
I load the same file into Lazy CAM, then output that to a .tap file, and try to load that, same type of problems.
I used a friends program to open an IPT file, he uses NX9, and tried to save as DXF, no go.

So why is this so hard? what am I doing wrong?
I looked for this issue in the history, online, etc, but nothing to help me out, can I find. I know this is not the first or second time it has been asked, but please help me out here, I really need to get these machines working.
I am considering spending a large amount of money to purchase Onecnc xr5 with Mach 3 post to make it a little simpler, but right now, I need to make Mach 3 work for me, to get going.