Topics

11

General Mach Discussion / Laser fixed pulses per distance (power proportional to feedrate)

« on: June 10, 2009, 10:31:02 PM »

To get uniform cutting depth the laser power needs to be proportional to the actual feed rate which will vary as the laser head accelerate and slows down. This is commonly done by pulsing the laser on for fixed power burst every time it moves a fixed distance. For example it can fire every 0.1mm (4mils). So by first setting the power level by the duty cycle modulating the laser by for example 25% duty cycle and then pulsing it every time it moves the fixed distance the cutting power will be uniform.

After that long introduction comes the question: Can the Mach-3 software do the proportional pulse control? If not what suggestions do you have? I can always build a little embedded controller looking at the X-Y movement and calculate pulses based on that but I really do not want to spend the time doing that.
I have to hook up my CO2 laser to my Mach3 controller instead of the mill this weekend.  Any god references or reading material?
TIA for any suggestions.
Bertho

12

VB and the development of wizards / Understanding the Wizard structure.

« on: September 04, 2008, 03:40:52 AM »

I have been studying the Digitize Wizard to learn how to write my own.  I understand the code section but I am missing some obvious steps:  There are sections of binary code in the beginning and at the end.  Where do they come from and how are the sections linked.  There got to be some obvious help and information available.  Where should I go looking to learn more?  TIA
Bertho

13

VB and the development of wizards / RS232 instrument I-O

« on: September 04, 2008, 03:32:47 AM »

I am working on a touch-less digitizer and at each X-Y location I need to send a command to the instrument to take a reading.  The instrument will then respond by nnnnn.
I found the command to send a string in the "Customize Mach-2" manual but nothing about receiving RS-232.  I also saw an old post since 2006 that said that it is not available.
How can I read the data coming back in Mach-3?  TIA
Bertho

14

General Mach Discussion / Mach 3.00 problems

« on: January 02, 2008, 07:58:17 PM »

I downloaded and installed 3.00 and I have been having some problems:
I am running on XP-Pro on a recent and fast computer and a Taig Micromill DSLS 3000.  The G-code worked previously and after reinstalling 2.58 all was OK again.  #2 & #3 are repeatable problems; I only tried the installation once.

1.   Upgrading previous versions has worked just fine by installing it in the Mach 3 folder.  This time some of the pin configurations were changed and of course it took a while to realize what had happened.
2.   On a rapid move of a couple of inches, it tried to accelerate too fast and it got out of sync after about half an inch.  It is not a speed problem since it never had time to get up any speed.
3.   The feed rate override control quit working in the middle of the program.  I had it set to 200% and it worked fine cutting pockets and then halfway through the program it drops the actual federate to 100% although the screen says 200%.
Bertho

15

LazyCam (Beta) / Layer-Chains out of sync

« on: January 02, 2008, 08:47:48 AM »

I have a DXF file with 7 rectangular cutouts with radiused corners.  It imports OK and I clean and optimize.  All looks good so far.  I then offset each one identically inside and it create 7 new layers: Offset2, Offset2, Offset3, Offset4 Offset5, Offset6, Offset7.  Note dual Offset2.

The first Offset2 lights up the cutting path when selected by clicking on it in the left panel.  Clicking on the associated chain under that layer lights up another layer’s chain! 

Under the second Offset2 there is no layer!

Am I overlooking something obvious or is this a bug and if so, how do I work around it?
TIA
Bertho

16

LazyCam (Beta) / LazyCAM Beta- Pro installation

« on: January 01, 2008, 11:00:11 PM »

I downloaded the LazyCAM 3.00 and installed it on my office computer and it worked fine.  I looked all over and I cannot find the option to enter my PRO registration code.  I gave up and then on the workshop computer downloaded the full MACH3 and it installed Mach3 and optionally LazyCAM.  That version recognized my Pro registration code so all is well there.

Now, how can I install just the LazyCAM Pro version on my desktop?  I do not want to install Mach3 since it will never be used there and I cannot find an installable LazyCAM 3.00 Pro version.
TIA
Bertho
M Beta- Pro installation

17

LazyCam (Beta) / Insects

« on: January 01, 2008, 10:47:53 PM »

Is there a list of known problems and suspected ones?  I hate to go through verifying and documenting a problem if it is already known.  Here are a few that I have noticed in the latest version:

1.   If a DXF file is open in AutoCAD, there is no error message except it says no chains loaded.  It ought to explain why.  It took me long time to figure out what was wrong.  Regardless, it ought to open the file since there is no conflict that LazyCAM will try to write data to an open file.

2.   Offsetting sometimes happens outside even though I specify inside.

3.   Clicking on a chain and selecting it and then hitting the delete key often does not work.  I have to deselect the chain and then select it again and then it finally works as expected.
Bertho

18

LazyCam (Beta) / List of problems & bugs

« on: June 25, 2007, 02:29:12 AM »

It would be a very big timesaver for a lot of people if we had a "sticky" list
with known limitations, problems, and bugs.

Preferably it could be arranged in sections:
Limitations and not yet implemented features
Verified problems
Multiple reported problems but not verified yet
Suspected problems.

It is discouraging to spend a long time fighting with a problem, finally verifying it and
then do a careful write up so it will be easy for Art and Brian to fix if the problem,
and than it turns out that it is an already known problem.

I am not complaining about problems, this is a beta, and even if it wasn’t, problems
happen.  We need to try to be efficient about finding and correcting them.

Here are a few possible problems with the latest download:
Equipment: New fast computer with Win-XP and all updates and LazyCam Pro. 
Also please remember that I am very new with both Mach3 and LazyCam.  I only
tried to use the regular version once before just now switching to the beta.
(The project is a rectangular panel about 75 x 500mm, with 5 milled holes, not pockets, in it)

1.  Selecting the zoom box and then drawing a zooming rectangle, it fails to
zoom to the drawn box size.  The zoom area is approximately twice the size of the drawn box.

2.  Using offsets to allow for the cutter size works except backwards:  I have to select “outside”
to create an inside cutter path.  This was OK on the previous version.

3.  Deleting a chain does not update the outline, which is presumably OK, but creating an offset updates it.

4.  I do not think it is a problem but at least initially it was confusing: There is a fast plunge
depth in the layer menu and there is another one on the post menu.  The two offset add together.

5.  There used to be an option to add opening and closing G-codes in that post menu on the
previous revision and it is missing now or I did not find the option.

6.  I saved a LazyCAM project and then opened it again and it had changed.  A deleted chain came
back and two chains got linked somehow.  Selecting one and the other one also got selected
and I do not know how to split them apart.  I have not tried this last again but the previous
items are repeatable happening.

Comment/ question:
The absolute positions of the holes are critical as referenced to the physical panel which goes
into a fixture with 0/0 set.  If I run the “clean” command it sets the reference to the lower
left which is good.  Since I do not want to cut the outside of the panel since it is already finished,
I remove that outside chain.  If any time later, the Clean” command is used, I will loose the physical
reference of the lower left corner.  I saw a button with something about permanent references
or something but do not know how to use it.

How should I handle this situation?  Now I only clean once before removing that outside chain.

The work piece size and clamping are typically not mentioned in the great videos.  It shows a
workspace that is the full size of the project but not how to fixture it and that often the work
piece is bigger than the final product.

A similar list for Mach3 would also be desirable.
Bertho

19

General Mach Discussion / Strange backlash compensation

« on: June 23, 2007, 10:42:03 AM »

I am running the latest official Mach3 on a fast Win-XP and a DSLD 3000 Micromill..
With the backlash option disabled and running a program or jogging it behaves as normal. 

In metric mode I set backlash to 0.1 and I tried federates from 1 to 100% with the same problem behavior. 
It is most obvious if I jog in fast (continuous) mode.

The table accelerates as normally for maybe 20 mm and then slows down to a crawl (presumably doing the
backlash comp) then it accelerates up to normal speed again and continuous fine.  Another jog in the same
direction works normally.  If I jog back, it does the slowdown to take care of the backlash and then subsequent
 jogs in that direction works fine.  If I disable the backlash option all is back to normal.

Should it not be doing the few backlash comp steps first and then go full speed to the next point. 
The same thing happens when a program is running.
What am I overlooking or what should I do differently?
TIA,
Bertho

20

General Mach Discussion / Mach-3 interface questosn

« on: June 10, 2007, 02:41:41 PM »

I have a Taig DSLS 3000 mill with Mach-3 software and it is basically working.  I added an extra parallel port interface
board so I have available extra inputs for home switches and general I-O. 
Most of my problems are presumably operator related but here we go:

1.  On the “Program Run Screen” there is an indicator: Green color= normal condition,
Yellow color=  abnormal condition.  It is continuously alternating between the two states about twice per second. 
Everything works, I can run programs and it looks OK on the diaganostic page.

2.  After successfully running a program the machine is disabled.  It looks like the controller detected an out of sync
error with the shaft encoders or something.  When I jog the machine it does not move and there are no error
messages on the screen.  The DRO changes so it looks like Mach-3 is sending pulses to the controller. 
Clicking “Reset” twice and all is fine again.

3.  This might be related to the problem above:  If it looses steps by going too fast or hitting limits, the controller
properly shuts down but I do not see an error message or indication that it happened.
Any help or suggestions are appreciated. 

By the way, added extra parallel port shows up at an address of C400-C407 when A PCI card is used. 
As a result most or the port monitoring and test programs do not work since they only expect the old
DOS address with just three characters, for example 278.  Mach-3 works fine with the 4-character address.

This is also true when a parallel port PC card is used in a laptop.
Bertho