Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / How to correct losing steps?

« on: November 24, 2019, 04:58:23 PM »

Im going nuts trying to figure this out lol. So my cnc will not maintain its position on the Y axis after running a program. It looks almost as if each pass (on this particular program) is losing around 0.1mm. So after running 40 passes im out about 4mm. When the material is cut it cuts one side narrow, and one side elongated ( as it grows that side slowly). However.. it does not always do it. there are odd occurrences when it runs perfectly (or very close to it) but most times it is constantly losing steps.

Machine - OmioCNC X6-1500 USB.
Currently running on acer aspire laptop with XP installed with standard processor not ACPI.

I have tried 2 different PC's (same result)
swapping stepper motors between x and y (same result)
lowering acceleration and speed (same result)
increasing pulse width and the other option next to that up to 5 (same result)
Swapping cables (same result)
running program with and without load (same result)
Setting Mach3 to have realtime process priority (same result)

I have a few ideas but i cannot test these without spending more money.
try another PC.
try a UPS.
Give up and buy a new machine (which will happen but cannot affords it atm)

Any idea's on what to test or how to fix this issue.

2

Mach3 under Vista / Losing Position during running. win7

« on: November 11, 2019, 04:51:35 PM »

Hi all, Ive got a OmioCNC x6-1500usb (chinese cnc) running mach3. Ive had it for years and never really had a problem, but currently i am close to ripping out whats left of my hair lol.

Im setup on Win7 64bit (never had any drama running the cnc on it or setup), but im finding the cnc is losing its position (losing steps?) randomly during the operation. The code is flawless.

Ive been reading about changing ACPI to standard processor, but im running a gigabyte brix 1900 - and for the life of me i cannot see how to change this. there is no option or driver compatible for it. also ive been reading to run a drivertest - well i cannot find drivertest.exe anywhere in my mach3 folder, and i downloaded mach3 again and there is no drivertest.exe either.

ive played with the motor tunings and slowed everything down etc, but it still occurs. The connecting point from the steppers to the axis are solid and its not slipping physically.

any ideas on what i can do?

3

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Conditional programming

« on: March 19, 2018, 08:14:51 PM »

I’ve heard before and read many time Mach 3 doesn’t support conditional programming. Though the posts are many years old. Has this changed at all with an update or anything? (While end if else end)

Does Mach 4 support these conditional programmes? (Ie should I attempt an upgrade from 3 to 4)

Still not sure how to do VB scripts yet and there’s no simple tutorial on them I can find either.
Quite simply (at first) all I want to do is set a program to loop while the Z height changes each loop. This would be much better than copying all the code and pasting with a new Z height.

4

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Headaches with Mach3... one of many lol (G68)

« on: November 27, 2015, 02:25:29 AM »

Gday everyone. how are we all this life? Me? well I'm absolutely fantastic. But thats enough about me lol.

I've had my little CNC machine for a while now and it uses Mach3. It works fine bar a few hiccups here and there. But a few things drive me crazy.
Right now I'm having dramas with G68. (Id rather use WHILE END but... yeah mach 3 doesn't like that).

I just can't figure it out. Or wonder if it even works. Im getting sick of coding everything to every point rather than using equations and algorithems to make my patterns.
Ive simplified the code to see if anyone here can assist me with a little knowledge on what I'm doing wrong. basically its just going to the centre of my workpiece and up to the top and back, then 45deg up and back 90deg up and back etc.

(code)
G1 X0 Y0

G1 X100 Y100
G1 X100 Y200
G1 X100 Y100

G68 X100 Y100 R45

G1 X100 Y100
G1 X100 Y200
G1 X100 Y100

G68 X100 Y100 R90

etc.

all i want to be able to do is write a design, and rotate it at the centre of my workpiece (100 radius) and repeat the pattern. but it just doesn't rotate on the centre point at x100 y100.
can anyone help? my codes work perfectly on NC Plot but Mach 3 they just don't go the way i want.

thankyou