Messages

131

General Mach Discussion / Re: Pausing while cutting

« on: February 26, 2009, 01:40:34 PM »

Just something quick to try while Overloaded is looking at your code.

It may be that a G4 command (Dwell) has been included after the plunge. The timing for this is denoted by the P comand, which in you case might be set at say 5. This can be 5 milliseconds, which you wouldn't notice, or 5 seconds, which you would.

The time delay multiplier is et in Config/General Config/fourth column, 2 item. If it is not ticked (seconds) then tick it (milliseconds) and this may get rid of your problem.

The only other thing is - will your supplier come and fit me a new CPU

132

General Mach Discussion / Re: PWM on spindle

« on: February 26, 2009, 01:08:20 PM »

Go into Config/ Pulley and set your spindles speed for as many pulleys as you have got.  The way I did this was to put the VFD on manual and set it going, and then read the speed input by Mach 3.

I have just fitted about 6 pulley sets, so I did this with each one. My VFD, like most, I assume, although the motor is twice the size of the original, looses power below about 50 % of full speed, and most of my work is turning steel.

I set the spindles, in order to cover all the speeds up to my maximum, to give me the best power output at working speed.

Once they are in, Mach 3 remembers them, and if you select a speed outside the range that pulley is set to, it will show a warning.

If you only have the one pulley - i.e. no changes - then set pulley one between 0 (min) and your maximum speed, as obtained above, and you should find Mach 3 complies.

133

General Mach Discussion / Re: Output turning on when Mach3 shutsdown

« on: February 24, 2009, 03:03:28 AM »

The opening and closing sequences of computers vary, and therefore the outputs on the various pins vary, so sometimes they will be on, and turn off, or vica versa.

The only safe way it to keep all your auxilliaries turned off, until your computer is up and running, and you have Mach 3 on the screen. Mach 3 then has control of all the outputs before you turn them on.

Mine will turn the spindle over 1 rev as the computer starts if I turn the VFD and Digispeed on first - its a bit of a ******* if I left the chuck key in. I soon learned.

134

General Mach Discussion / Re: Oval pockets

« on: February 24, 2009, 02:57:14 AM »

The mathmatics of an oval are well know and can be looked up in Wikkipedia, so you could soon write a bit of VB script to give you the relative x,y positions. The problem is then running it on Mach3, becasue there is a circle command, which, I assume constantly changes the x in relation to y as the cutter moves, but that is all.

All other "shapes" come from many short lines, all joined up, not a smooth transition.

There must be a way to control say the x axis in relation to the y axis smoothly, becasue it is already done for a circle, but how you do that on the fly, so tp speak, with a different equation,  I do not know.

We would certainly be getting beyoud the bounds of the original CNC machines then.

135

General Mach Discussion / Re: New error message: "Radius to end of arc"...

« on: February 24, 2009, 02:36:58 AM »

To go back to the M3 and M4 - they are mutually exclusive, because on most spindle controllers they must be, or a fault occurs.

They are not general Input/Output commands, they are output only. On the spindle page, you will see in the top left hand corner, that you have to allocate M3 and M4 to outputs, and then allocate the outputs to pins on te Port and Pins/Outputs page. If you do not need M3 and M4, do not allocate them.

You do not say what additional outputs you require, but if they are for your limit switches/home switches, they are already catered for, just allocate them to the pins. If the are general outputs for tiurning something on, then allocate an #output to a pin and turn that on, either by using a button, which you can add to your screen set, or a macro.

When you write the GCode, write M*** in the code and it will turn on the output, you will need an off command as well.

You can limit M3 and M4 by ony using one of them, e.g. do not allocate M4, and use M3 and M5 for on and off, or you could use the coolant commands in a similar way, but I think it is better to write you own command specifically for what you want to do, rather than alter something that is there for a specific purpose.

The various commands and OEM codes are shown in Hoods post at the top of the main forum page, and also in the Wikki.

136

General Mach Discussion / Re: g54.295

« on: February 22, 2009, 04:24:35 AM »

I don't know - the table only goes up to 253, and when I try and use 254, it reverts to 253 anyway.

Can anybody explain - and what the command means.

137

General Mach Discussion / Re: can you move the motors manually

« on: February 22, 2009, 04:10:02 AM »

All the suggestions are valid, and the reason the DRO's do not work is that there is no feedback from the motors to Mach 3, in fact Mach 3 is not counting where the motors are, but where it THINKS they should be after it has put out a ceratain number of pulses.

I can see that, to set position before commencing a program, it would be useful - and I would move the tool using MDI commands - e.g. G0 X0, flick off the X drive and manually adjust the X axis to the 0 position and turn it back on - thus avoiding the problem with no feed back.

Having said that, if you look at config, you can set up your jogging to make very small corrections, I have mine to do 1,2,3,4,5 then 10.20.30.40 and 50 thousanths of an inch, so can ajust to the nerest thou (Although I am metric now, so convert to mm's). It takes a little bit of setting up, but is very useful.

138

General Mach Discussion / Re: dual arm control

« on: February 20, 2009, 03:26:49 AM »

Do you mean that you are wanting X Y and Z movement on both arms, in other words vour robot is very clever and can draw left or right handed. If so, you will need six axis, one for each movement - an axis can ony control movement in a straight line on one plane. It is the combination of X Y and Z that produce shapes.

I will echo what someone has put before - yes it is possible, but the software to control it will take some writing, especially for complicated pictures that involve anything other than straight lines, or arcs of a circle - both of which are GCode commands.

The  second three axis, A B and C are controlled by their own commands, and can be linear or rotating axis, so software for one arm can be used on the other by substituting AB and C for X Y and Z

139

General Mach Discussion / Re: G31 Bug?

« on: February 20, 2009, 03:15:36 AM »

I take it you mean the Mach 3 drivers installed - because it seems to work alright on both my computers, one with and one without machines attached, but both with drivers..

140

General Mach Discussion / Re: Greenhouse automation with Mach3

« on: February 20, 2009, 03:09:54 AM »

Thanks Ray _ I think you have put it into context, Mach 3 is brilliant at what it does becasue it is designed for just that.

I was thinking, however, to mount  a solar panel on an X,Y movable platform then use Mach 3 to drive the leadscrews (principally becasue I think I have learnt a lot about mach 3) and I have the leadscrews spare when I put ball scews on my lathe.

There are various articles on the net about sunangle, and how to work in out, and I thought I might build one during the summer for an experiment, comparing the output with a fixed installation on my roof.

The only thing I am stuck for is the equation for the VB to work out the sunangle. There are many little programs on the net will do it for you, but no explanation with them.