Messages

71

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach-3 interface questosn

« on: June 11, 2007, 06:37:21 PM »

Yes, only X_Y_Z_A are enabled.  I forgot wherer the enabling function was.
Thanks,
Bertho

72

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach-3 interface questosn

« on: June 11, 2007, 05:32:44 PM »

Thanks again Hood!
I am getting closer on understanding the #1 abnormal blinking button.  If I start the program and click
reset I can jog and in general all is well.  If I go to the diagnostic page and click on reference an axis,
for example Z, the homing works properly and it senses my home switch and automatically set the Z
axis to 0.  This is true for the other axis too and all appears well.  Except as soon as an axis is zeroed,
the Abnormal Condition starts blinking, and the message is:  “Axis are not refed to normal condition.”

You asked about how many channels I have activated but I did not find a place to control that. 
Presumably I have overlooked it too.  I have a 4-axis controller.

I just found the screen customization program and I love it.  It is amazing how much development
effort has gone into these programs.   I removed the extra axis in the Screen-4 program but it did not make any difference.

Hopefully someone will help with saving the fixture offsets and how to use them.
Bertho

73

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach-3 interface question

« on: June 10, 2007, 05:24:25 PM »

Thanks Hood for super fast reply.

#1:  Clicking on the “Abnormal” button gives: Axis are not refed to normal condition.
I have homed X-Y-Z and clicked on “A” axis in referencing on the diagnostic page so X-Y-Z-A are green and they are automatically set to zero and it appears normal.
Axis C & D are red and I do not know how to disable them if that has something to do with the error message.

I hate to click “Let Mach-3 fix it” since then I never learn what was wrong.

#2: You were right, I had “disable all output” enabled in the config menu.  No error message or warning that I can see that the machine is disabled.  Maybe the error is covered up by the #1 problem?

#3: No warning message when not working.  Maybe it relates to #2,

New question:
#4: I saved a fixture offset using the save option for fixture #1 G54.  The screen shows “Current Position”. 
I expect that clicking on the G54 Fixture 1 button it would bring back my saved value and replace the current one. 
That does not happen.  I have been reading up on the fixture offset commands and issuing a G54 via the
MDI command line nothing happens.  I am obviously overlooking something.  Any ideas?
TIA
Bertho

74

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

75

General Mach Discussion / Re: Proportional control Joystick

« on: June 08, 2007, 05:33:04 PM »

Kris,
I bought a USB joystick but I have not had time to hook it up yet.  I am still busy with home & limit switches and adding a real E-stop.
Unfortunately, work is interfering with my hobbies.  Hopefully I get a chance to test it over the weekend.  My Mod I-O board also arrived yesterday.
So many toys- so little time!
Bertho

76

General Mach Discussion / Re: Digitizing

« on: June 05, 2007, 04:52:03 PM »

Hi Mark,
If you want to make it as convenient as possible for people to buy styluses, you might want to
consider using 5mm thread instead of 4mm.  I checked their web site:
www.itpstyli.com  and there are 87 choices of 4mm tips but an incredible 379 choices of 5mm tips.
Hopefully it will help to make your probe sell more.
Bertho

77

General Mach Discussion / Re: Digitizing

« on: June 05, 2007, 09:56:55 AM »

Great lead Jeff!
It would be a good idea to standardize the mounting to fit a common probe tip to give people a choice for the future.

DIY ought to work if the rod tip is cut out to roughly fit the surface of the ball and then a microscopic
drop of high strength epoxy is used to permanently attach it.
Bertho

78

General Mach Discussion / Re: Article/Tutorial CNC newbies may find useful... Getting Started in CNC...

« on: June 03, 2007, 12:06:15 AM »

Thanks Richard,
Very well written and informative with lots of good links.

Have you tried the plaster-of-Paris for the vacuum forming yet?  Are there any problems with the plastic sticking to the plaster? 

I built a rather big unit handling 24” x 24” plastic sheets and the 3mm thick plastic sticks tight to my aluminum
molds when the plastic shrinks.  I wonder if the plaster would survive. 
It might be ideal for thinner plastic though.  It is also a great idea for making the rubber molds.
Thanks again,
Bertho

79

General Mach Discussion / Opto-Interrupter home switch repeatability evaluated

« on: June 01, 2007, 04:59:45 PM »

I got curious and spent too much time, but I wanted to know the achievable repeatability of an Opto-Interrupter type switch.
If done correctly, it can be extremely accurate: 1 micron repeatability= 0.001mm = 39 micro inches.  For the details see:

http://www.vinland.com/Opto-Interrupter.html

Enjoy!
Bertho

80

General Mach Discussion / Re: Digitizing

« on: May 30, 2007, 03:49:09 PM »

The resolution is amazing!  And the display is very nice after it has been run through the mapper.
How is the probe doing for measuring in X-Y planes and repeatability?

I saw a wizard for finding hole centers but is there an option to use it as a regular CMM function
where the ball diameter is subtracted from all measurements, X-Y-Z.

Even further, how do I go from either a point cloud or controlled data points to a 3-D CAD model?
TIA
Bertho