Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 thinks it's moving Z from THC but Torch height unchanged

« on: January 05, 2007, 01:12:08 PM »

Actually Jim stopped by to check out my set up. Great guy. THC is working great now.

Thx much.

12

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 thinks it's moving Z from THC but Torch height unchanged

« on: December 21, 2006, 09:43:30 AM »

Seems to be working now.

Thanks a bunch.

13

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 thinks it's moving Z from THC but Torch height unchanged

« on: December 18, 2006, 12:42:43 PM »

Wow!!! I hope it's that simple.

I'll try it tonight.

14

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 thinks it's moving Z from THC but Torch height unchanged

« on: December 18, 2006, 11:58:37 AM »

Here ya go.

Thanks much.

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 thinks it's moving Z from THC but Torch height unchanged

« on: December 15, 2006, 08:26:37 AM »

Please forgive my ignorance.

You mean the acceleration rate of the z axis or the Z speed correction factor?

16

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 thinks it's moving Z from THC but Torch height unchanged

« on: December 13, 2006, 09:02:16 AM »

I emailed Jim Cullins about this issue also. The last thing Jim had me do is add a grounding rod near the table and ground the plasma chassis and table with a 1 inch copper strap.

The problem is consistent. The THC300 sends up and down signals to Mach3 and Mach3 thinks it's moving the z axis, according to the DROs and It will quickly get to the maximum correction of +/- 1.000 inches, but when I physically measure the z on the table it is unchanged or at least no where near 1 inch of change.

The software and table function fine as a 3 axis mill including the z axis and I can plasma cut parts all day long without the THC as long as my material is flat.

Below is the simple GCode I'm using for testing.

N0030 G20 (Units: Inches)
N0040 G53 G90 G40
N150 M3
N200 G1 Y20 F90
N300 M5
N310 M30

Thx for any help.

17

General Mach Discussion / Re: Success Story with Mach3

« on: October 02, 2006, 01:02:50 PM »

Absolutely.....

18

General Mach Discussion / Re: Success Story with Mach3

« on: September 28, 2006, 12:49:48 PM »

Forgot a plug for Gecko Drives and transformertechnology.com. Everybody has been very helpfull. I blew up a Gecko drive like a firecracker and I also misswired and fried a Breakboard from Bob Campbell. Both companies replaced the components free of charge knowing it was my fault. I'm a mechanical guy, electronics is not my obviously not my forte. The sparkies here at work make fun of me cause I've been known to shock myself.

19

General Mach Discussion / Success Story with Mach3

« on: September 28, 2006, 11:18:24 AM »

Since I've only posted about some small issues I've had setting up my home built plasma cutter, I'd just like to post how happy I am with the Mach3 software. Best $150 dollars I ever spent. You can see some samples of the parts off my table at http://www.hausmetalworks.com/page3.html. Also very happy with the steppers, breakout board and THC300 purchased from www.campbelldesigns.com. You can see some pics of my table in the Show & Tell section. http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=690.0

So far this is just a side business but I have no doubt I'll probably be doing it full time in the near future.

Great Software.

Thanks for the support.

Bill H.

20

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 sometimes doesnt move with THC on

« on: September 18, 2006, 10:27:20 PM »

I'm having some trouble getting my THC300 working consistently. Many times directly after the arc fires with the m3 command Mach3 will not continue with the program even though I get an Arc OK inside Mach3 and on the THC300 controller. I'm sure it's probably something in my profile. I am testing with a very simple straight line cut.

N0030 G20 (Units: Inches)
N0040 G53 G90 G40
N150 M3
N200 G1 Y48 F100
N300 M5
N310 M30

M3 is just DoSpinCW() and I have my metal on a slight slant to test. Sometimes it works well and other times Mach3 will not move on to line no N200 but I can see the z axis changing from the THC. I am using no dwell.

Thanks for any help.