Hello Guest it is March 28, 2024, 09:46:22 AM

Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - reuelt

411
Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: 3d Probing on Granite slabs
« on: March 22, 2019, 08:45:19 AM »
Cutting granite makes stone dust. Will sliding a ring across the dirty surface make scratches in the polished surface?
A dust chute for the auto pressure foot may help.
(This I made myself)

412
Is your Mach3 the latest patched version of Mach3Version3.043.062 ?
Sometimes workings sometime not working is NOT good.

413
Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: 3d Probing on Granite slabs
« on: March 22, 2019, 07:41:51 AM »
"The flexible spindle mount or the spring nose cone are both very cool ideas, but I engrave the granite slabs on passe."

This is the theory:-
The nose ring will only determine the final depth say 5mm (ie. the last 1 or 2 passes) when the z: motor is by then be lowered a little more lower than 5mm below surface so that the ring would then determine the final depth.
Before the final 1 or 2 passes, the z: motor could still be engraving 0.5mm at a time for 8/9 times since the nose ring would NOT be touching any surface as yet.
Of course the feasibility would depend on how even/uneven or how level the slaps are loaded. Is a spirit level used?

If this method can be made to work, it may save the time needed to do probing.
Saving time can mean saving money and increasing profit.

414
General Mach Discussion / Re: Limit switches and PWM for laser
« on: March 22, 2019, 01:58:44 AM »
We need definite model #
Perhaps
Unplug the power cable of the control box, open the lid and use your mobile phone camera to take a clear picture or two of the Break Out Board.
Usually the model number of the Break Out Board (BOB) will be engraved somewhere.
Upload the picture to this forum after some resizing and croping if necessary.

Don't change anything yet. Close back the lid and plug the power back on.
From the picture(s) some forum members might be about to suggest how you can connect the limit switches and what PWM adapter board you might need to buy for the laser.

Reuel

415
Maybe don't optimize in lazycam (just turn optimization off in lazycam).

416
General Mach Discussion / Re: Limit switches and PWM for laser
« on: March 21, 2019, 07:51:17 PM »
I think you have confused the VFD inverter "PRT-e1500w" with the usb motion controller (& BOB).
You connect limit switches not to "PRT-e1500w" but to the Break Out board (BOB) model of which you have not identified by name.

https://madexp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/PRT-E1500W-.pdf has good reference information for your "PRT-e1500w". Download that and save for later use.

But until you name your USB motion controller-break out board model, it is impossible to answer your question.

417
General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 / PMDX-122 Issue
« on: March 21, 2019, 06:01:20 PM »
Ethernet is very noise resistant because the signal is a difference between the two twisted pair cables. Since noise will affect both twisted pair equally, the difference will remain the same. There is a differential circuit at each end.

USB, limits switches do not use "differential circuits". Noise will change the signal cable but not the ground cable.

419
General Mach Discussion / Re: Do you use a Charge Pump?
« on: March 21, 2019, 06:44:56 AM »
Why use the CHARGE PUMPS.
Mach3 outputs a constant pulse train of approximately 12.5 kHZ (5kHz for laser) on one or both of the parallel ports whenever it is running correctly. This signal will not be there if the Mach3 has not been loaded, is in EStop mode or if the pulse train generator fails in some way.

If your  MACH3 parallel port kernel speed is set at 25,000Hz, it is unlikely that the charge pump will work correctly since the pulse freq could be only about 2K instead of 12.5K.

The purpose of the Charge Pump is mainly SAFETY but may also protect material, tools and even the machine from accidental damage.

A good Break Out board (BOB) with a “Charge Pump Circuit” will stop all motors + Spindle + pumps etc UNLESS the capacitor(s) had been CHARGED PUMPED UP by the pulse train(s) of 12.5KHz from MACH3. That means that nothing will move when Windows Powers Up, or Shutdown or when Mach3 program is frozen - since that (CHARGE PUMPED) capacitor(s) will discharged quickly to 0 volts and all motors get disabled.

People who invested in the Gecko G540 motion controller and use the default XML from Gecko are likely to have the CHRGE PUMP working correctly on MACH3 already.

Cheap BOB that do not have a CHARGE PUMP CIRCUIT often have an “enable pin”.  An enable pin will not be as good as the CHARGE PUMP but is better than everything ALWAYS ON.  If you use the enable pin, an EStop mode will allow you to manually move the axis by manual cranking/rotating. It will also cool down the motors when EStop button is pressed or limit switch is activated.

If on booting up Windows and MACH3 is not running and you have not press RESET YET but, you find that the spindle is already spinning or pumps already pumping or Stepper motors already activated, you can do something about it...by getting the CHARGE PUMP(s) working.

If External Motion Controllers cannot support charge pump correctly on all the ports they claim to support, there is a danger that MACH4 could turn out to be less SAFE than MACH3 with two Parallel Ports. So feedback to the vendors.

420
General Mach Discussion / Re: Have you ever blown up a PC?
« on: March 21, 2019, 04:51:31 AM »
Most industrial machines run their limit switches on 24V to improve reliability. A noise must change nearly 12 volts before giving a false trigger.
In those situations, opto-isolation of the parallel port in very important.

If we run our limit switches on 5V only, it is unlikely to blow up the parallel port even if the BOB only use ttl buffers and NOT opto-isolation for the inputs. Limit switches at 5 volts can be more easily triggered by noise. A change of 2.4 volts can already cause a false trigger.

While I have NOT blown up any PC myself, I have customers returning PC with USB ports burnt or the Parallel port burn. When the parallel port is on the motherboard, the circuit nearby like the Ethernet and USB got burnt too. I had a cheaper PCIe parallel card destroyed too.
Customers do make mistakes. e.g. some would set the motion controller from USA to 110v and then plug into Australian 240v instead of the step down transformer supplied. The company that I sold PCs to, repairs a lot of blown external motion controllers by sending them back to USA for repairs.
Now I only sell PCs with AXXON 5V PCIe parallel Port cards from Canada which can withstand 15,000V without breaking down. They cost even more than ESS or UC300..but they are very robust for industrial use.