Messages

41

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: controlling JP-3163B in 6040T USB CNC with Mach4

« on: December 27, 2017, 01:15:35 PM »

BTW, I went a similar method to you.  I purchased a 6040 frame without electronics and purchased my own electronics.  Went through 2 motion controllers till I found the ones that truly support MACH4.

42

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: controlling JP-3163B in 6040T USB CNC with Mach4

« on: December 27, 2017, 01:13:11 PM »

Replacing the stepper drivers would typically accompany replacing the steppers with a similarly rated capability.  You typically match the current rating of your stepper motors with a driver that can output a minimum of the steppers maximum capability.  I would simply replace the motion controller with something compatible with MACH4, get it running, and then upgrade steppers/drivers if you find it necessary.

43

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: controlling JP-3163B in 6040T USB CNC with Mach4

« on: December 27, 2017, 12:48:51 PM »

The stepper drivers you have should work fine.  Only the motion controller board you have won't work.

44

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: controlling JP-3163B in 6040T USB CNC with Mach4

« on: December 27, 2017, 11:56:12 AM »

My guess is your controller doesn't have MACH4 support.  I'd suggest not wasting too much time with it.  I'm also not sure the Gecko 540 has a MACH4 driver either.  I don't see one on their website.  Plus that is a Parallel port board, not USB or Ethernet.  For an all in one, I'd suggest a POKEYS57CNC or the PDMX-424 board.  I just got my pokey board up and running and the support from PoLabs is excellent.

45

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Setting to millimeters

« on: December 27, 2017, 11:41:33 AM »

I think I've narrowed the bug down.  If I go to MACH setting and change motor speed on the Motors tab, when I jog 1mm, it goes 24.5mm.  I have to exit and restart after that to fix it.

46

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: First cuts

« on: December 27, 2017, 02:53:55 AM »

Hey Joe.  You were close on the spindle.   The Accel and Decel time in the grid is the wait period when you don't have a speed signal from the VFD.

And I understand the use of the probe and have one on order.  It just doesn't look like I can manually do it with a tool change without a probe.  Not a big deal.  Thanks for explaining the Tool offset.

47

Mach4 General Discussion / First cuts

« on: December 27, 2017, 01:39:51 AM »

I've generated my first GCode file out of Fusion 360 and ran my first "air" cut.  All things considered it worked great.  I do have some questions:

1.  How do I put a delay in the gcode output from Fusion 360 to give the spindle time to get up to speed?  Is this a change in the Fusion 360 post processor config, or is this a custom script in MACH4?

2.  I presume if I don't have a touch block (ordered), I can't manually jog the Z-axis to reset the starting height based on a new tool?  I guess I have to create the tool gcode outputs separately to be able to make this adjustment?

3.  When I get the touch block, I have to modify my M6 script to deal with re-checking the tool length, correct?

4.  On the Offsets tab, the Set Z under Z Offset is where I set my starting Z height based on my Fusion 360 setup starting position, what is the Tool Offset option for?

Think that is it for now.

Thanx,

Rob

48

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Spindle Controls

« on: December 26, 2017, 06:54:25 PM »

I can write the script.  I was just initially confused and thought I had a board problem with the PoKeys57CNC.  All is good.  Just questioning why the SRO% is the way it is.  I figure there must be a reason for NFS to code it that way.

49

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Spindle Controls

« on: December 26, 2017, 06:39:25 PM »

The SRO% seems to only affect the motor a little bit based on the S#### speed value set.  I thought it would be a % of total speed (which it is not) (i.e. I can't turn on spindle at 100% setting and expect my maximum spindle speed).  Seems to only be a % of commanded speed with the S#### code.  I think they could identify that a little better.  I'm just getting into customizing the screen to my liking. 

50

Mach4 General Discussion / Spindle Controls

« on: December 26, 2017, 06:18:43 PM »

Ok what is this SRO%?  I thought it was % of spindle speed (i.e. 100% = max spindle speed, 150% overdriving spindle speed).  Apparently that is NOT true.  It appears to be a % of commanded spindle speed.

Thanx.