Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Re: Radius to end of arc differs from radius of start line

« on: November 14, 2018, 12:10:28 PM »

I removed all the GOO lines at the end of this code because I was getting the duplicate lines error with the GOO lines at the end. Should I have removed all the GOO lines at the end, or just certain ones? Could removing these lines be the problem? I am attaching the original, along with one with the GOO lines removed.

12

General Mach Discussion / Radius to end of arc differs from radius of start line

« on: November 14, 2018, 11:44:38 AM »

I n mach3, when running a gcode, I get this error message. I was going to look it up in the search box, but the search function is not working. Does anyone know why this is happening? I changed the ij line to absolute, as suggested after in one forum. That didn't work. I am at a loss.

13

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 changed my Z settings by itself!

« on: November 24, 2017, 09:38:47 AM »

  I may have came to the solution for this.
  The workroom I have is chilly. I believe that because of the cold, the Z axis is losing steps.
 I ran the gcode again and again, and at the beginning, it would sometimes slightly stutter.
 I am  turning up the heat the room and turning down the velocity and acceleration.
 Being new to this, I don't know if the cold affects a CNC machine or not. But it didn't do this when it was warmer.
 Does anyone know about cold affecting a CNC machine adversely?

14

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 trial fully functional?

« on: November 24, 2017, 09:29:30 AM »

Joe and Steve,
 Thank you.
 After doing the research, and reading these posts, I may stay with Mach3 for now and try to work out the problems.
 Learning and setting up Mach3 was difficult enough, and with the holidays approaching, I won't have the time or energy to do and buy all that is necessary to get mach4 up and running.
 I believe that will be a project for this spring.

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 changed my Z settings by itself!

« on: November 24, 2017, 07:57:21 AM »

ger,
 Thank you. I have been talking to tweakie and didn't read the moderator's name in the reply. Sorry about that.
 And tweakie, yes i am thinking about upgrading to Mach4. It seems a good deal for $200. The hobby edition, I mean. But I just wanted to make sure the trial version was the same as the paid version, so that I would get no surprises if i purchase it.
 I turned everything on and my soft limits were moved!
 I am beginning to think there is a ghost in the machine.or more likely, a bug in my computer.
 I may have to uninstall Mach3 completely, perhaps even restore my computer, then either reinstall Mach3 or try Mach4.
 Which option would you suggest? Mach3 or 4?
 

16

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4 trial fully functional?

« on: November 24, 2017, 07:31:37 AM »

 Mach3 has been a little buggy lately, losing steps, dropping my soft limit settings, etc.
 I was thinking of trying out Mach4.
 Is the 30 day trial version exactly the same as the paid version?

17

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 changed my Z settings by itself!

« on: November 24, 2017, 07:26:30 AM »

 tweakie,
 It may be.
 So, would it be better to increase or decrease the steps?
 

18

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 changed my Z settings by itself!

« on: November 24, 2017, 05:01:05 AM »

tweakie,
 Unfortunately, I didn't notice the if it was the correct reading or not because I hurriedly pushed the stop button and raised the spindle to see if there was any damage to the spindle or bit.
 Luckily, i caught it in time and there was not.
 The odd part of this is that I am cutting ten 2" squares from plywood.Both times that this has happened, the 1st square will cut out perfectly, but when the spindle goes down to start cutting the second square, it goes deeper than is in the code.
And when I raised the spindle, the stop limit had been lowered an inch.
 I am going to run this code again today and see what happens.
 If it happens again, I am definitely going to check and see if the code matches up.

19

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 changed my Z settings by itself!

« on: November 23, 2017, 06:08:41 PM »

i was happily running a gCode to make a part. I had my soft limits set and thought I had no worries. The gcode contains a drilling operation, followed by a profile operation. The drill operation went perfectly, then the profile operation kicked in and did one profile cut perfectly. Then it moved over to the next cut, and sank deep into my salvage board, past where the soft limit was set. 
Confused, I raised the spindle up, and to my shock, the settings on the z axis had been lowered almost an inch! I knew this because the stop limit had been lowered an ich from the top, which lowered the bottom stop limit and allowed the bit to sink deeply into the wood without the stop limit kicking in.
 What can the problem be? Everything has been running smoothly until this happened.
 It has happened twice so far. So it is not just a one time accident.

20

General Mach Discussion / Change direction of workpiece

« on: October 31, 2017, 06:18:44 AM »

 I finally got everything up and working, thank goodness!
 However, I have a project file that involves drilling several holes down the length of an 18" board. When I run the file, the machine seems to assume that the board is placed horizontally on it. It is a CNC 6040, which is approximately 19" wide. Therefore, there is not enough room to drill the holes with the spindle going side to side.
 I need it to assume the board is placed in the machine along the the length, not width.
 Is there a setting in Mach3 so I can change the direction of the board and the machine will recognize this?