Messages

681

General Mach Discussion / Re: Ports and pins current state in Mach 3

« on: April 23, 2008, 02:11:31 PM »

Brian - I dont know - but yes - I was looking at the same display yesterday, thinking the same thing.

If you have a set of manual switches that you can access - e.g. your limits and your homing - then I would set them up as 10,11,12 and 13. If you then press them manually, in order,  you should see them light, which will give you an idea where they are. All the diagrams of the LPT1 inputs/outputs I have show 13 pins top row, and 12 pins bottom row and pin 1 is top right, pin 14 is bottom right - if that is any help.

I cant do that myself, unfortunately, all my inputs are electronic and relying on the table moving too and fro.

682

General Mach Discussion / Re: Tangential control manualy?

« on: April 23, 2008, 02:02:34 PM »

Dennis - I am not offering an answer - but I am facinated by the question.

What do you mean

683

General Mach Discussion / Re: Boxford 160TCL

« on: April 22, 2008, 03:08:24 AM »

Just to go back a few posts - to the 5 wires to the motor - the two spare wires could well be for a large ballast resistor for the braking. I have one on my inverter (although three phase) - the principle will be the same. I understand it cuts the back e.m.f. and stops damage to the control electronics.

684

General Mach Discussion / Re: A axis 'stuck' in angular mode

« on: April 22, 2008, 02:53:59 AM »

So - what is it not doing that it should do (or vica versa).

Mach 3 does not bother whether an axis is rotary or linear - all Mach 3 does is say "I need to move this axis 2 units" - How many pulses is that - and then puts out the pulses on the "step" pin.

The only time Mach 3 bothers is when you change from Imperial to Metric (G20 and G21) - an axis that is angular does not change.

Reading what you are trying to do, I would suggest you look at the "number of pulses per unit" under Config/Motor Tuning and make sure that when you swap A for Y you are getting the right result.

685

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lathe motor question "Variable Speed"

« on: April 21, 2008, 04:42:38 AM »

Sorry Hood - Finger twitch. I knew you would pick it up as soon as I saw it - at least I didn't say Scotch !!

686

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lathe motor question "Variable Speed"

« on: April 20, 2008, 05:54:59 AM »

Yes - Hood is about right - much under 50% frequency and torque drops off quite quickly - which is why I asked if you had a gearbox. I am just having to make one to turn wheels for my miniature railway.

6" wheels at 100 ft per min mean something in the order of 70 to 100 rpm. My motor runs up to 1300 rpm so I could do a 10 or 12 to 1 reduction to keep the torque.

The figures for Hoods motor are pretty impressive. He's a Scott - make him an offer for it 

687

General Mach Discussion / Re: I'm really desperate and will pay $2 million dollars for the answer

« on: April 20, 2008, 05:35:54 AM »

If you are in UK I have a 1h.p. motor taken off my Warco lathe - perfectly sound, and I have no problems with it.
I took it off to replace it with a three phase for speed control.

You might consider doing the same, and running the new motor through a single phase/three phase inverter. A bit pricey to start with, but if you have to buy a motor anyway, look to the future.

688

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to link three G320 for fault protection

« on: April 20, 2008, 05:28:49 AM »

Yes - pin 5 is normally at 5v for normal running. If it is taken to 0v then it shuts down the drive. If a fault occurs on the drive, it goes to 0v.

The problem is Mach 3 has no "two way" pins - i.e. those that work as inputs and outputs. So therefore you must wire all three Geckos together so that they shut each other down - with a lead , via a diode, to the input pin of Mach3, to tell the computer.

The problem is, is you have Mach 3 shutting down the drives, then it will also put a 0v signal into the input to Mach 3 telling it there is a fault - and, therefore, you will need some complicated logic to sort out the timing of the signals.

Let the Geckos look after themselves, I think.

As far as the 5v reset signal is concerned, the easiest way is to drive a small relay from one of the output pins - and have this put a 5v signal into the Gecko. This can be software driven from your reset button - or perhaps cycle start button -  on a Macro. It can be timed to put a 5 sec pulse, or whatever is required. At the end of the pulse, you can check the "fault" input pin and see if it has reset,(it will, whilst the 5v from the relay is present, not show a fault, but revert to 0v if there is still a fault on the Geckos)  and then return.

689

General Mach Discussion / Re: Tool Probe XY Positioning

« on: April 20, 2008, 04:34:21 AM »

If you set up a couple of User DRO's and call them temp tool pos X and Y or something similar, and put them on the screen, and have the Vis Basic post data to them, they are persistant, even when Mach 3 is turned off.

I have several on my front screen - all to do with Macro turning routines that I can call up. They are persistant if I enter the data from the keyboard, so I can't see any reason why the wouldn't be when fed from Vis Basic.

It will also be re-assuring to see that the data is still there.

690

General Mach Discussion / Re: Ref all Home

« on: April 20, 2008, 04:24:35 AM »

Also have a look at the Z DRO - does it move. It could be you have backlash in your Z axis, and the movement is taken up by this. Cut down the speed of the homing, and this will make it clear what moves where - it might be better to cut of the auto-zero as well while you check it out.