Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Mach3Turn Offsets?

« on: January 23, 2011, 04:04:44 PM »

Trying to finally setup my lathe using Turn instead of mill.
I normally use 3 tools on the lathe. A parting tool that I also turn my profile with. It is on a QCTP. I set machine 0 with this.
Then I use a spot drill.
Next is a drill bit.
Question is when I have setup all my tool tables with the correct offsets, do I then need to use the same offsets on tools in my Cam software?
Dolphin Turn.
It seems a little redundant to me.

Also, what would be the file name for my XML in Mach 3 Turn?
I looked, but it wasn't really apparent to me.
Thanks in advance.

2

General Mach Discussion / Spindle turns with any Z move?

« on: January 31, 2009, 01:08:18 PM »

Hey Guys.
Here is an odd one. On my lathe, I am still using Mach mill. I'll do it like this until I get better with Dolpin turn. I am coding my production parts by hand. No issues with that.
I have the spindle setup with a Homann DC06. Just like on my mill. I have the same motor driver as well. Just a different treadmill motor.

I only have Z and X steppers active. I think X is pins 7 and 6 and Z is 5 and 4 or something.
My spindle is one direction and runs on pin 16.
I have a C10 BOB from CNC4PC.
I don't have a switch yet to the spindle motor itself, but I will install one for safeties sake. Especially now.
Here is the problem.When I jog with the Z keys on the keyboard, my spindle cranks up.
It does this too if I hit Go To Zero and have the Z travel very far.
Any ideas what is causing this?

Thanks.

3

General Mach Discussion / Wizards?

« on: January 07, 2009, 09:02:12 AM »

Are there some wizards that I need to pay for to use? I tried using the copycat and teach. Both state that they are not licensed. I do have Mach lic. though.
Thanks.

4

Screen designer tips and tutorials / Coding the file string and error bars?

« on: September 11, 2008, 11:07:25 AM »

Hi Guys.
Finally getting around most of the quirks in Screen 4, thanks to ya'lls help on this site.

To do a screen design fresh from the start, how would I include these two or three sections in the new screen?
I have been opening two instances of Screen 4 and using one to look how Mach's standard screen buttons are coded.
These text areas are done differently somehow. Are they VB scripted or something? If so, how do I go about incuding them on my new screens?
Thanks.


I will just share some of the things I used to get going in Screen 4.
Make the background image small enough that scrolling isn't needed. Lock the background image in place. When entering any new buttons, turn off the background image with the switch up top.
Then turn back on to size and place the buttons over the image.
Don't lock buttons in place. Work on one button at a time. Save your work often.
These things have helped me alot.
Thanks.

5

Screen designer tips and tutorials / Adding function to standard screen?

« on: September 07, 2008, 04:16:33 PM »

Guys, what is the quick and dirty way to add a function to the regular screen?
I would like to add a touch plate area that would have a dro and a couple items. Similar to this.



Or perhaps this?


I have played with Screen 4 till I'm blue in the face.

I have a hard time keeping things in place when trying to change the buttons and things, even though I have locked the background.

Will the standard tool area itself work without much modification? I usually keep my tool info in the cam side and until I build an auto tool changer, I don't think I would need that.
I will read more threads on here to see if I can come up to speed quicker.
Thanks.

6

General Mach Discussion / Turn?

« on: January 30, 2008, 06:06:15 PM »

Hi Guys.
Just starting to get my lathe going. I looked at turn today for the first time. I will have the tailstock motorized for drilling. How do I set up a third axis in turn? Adding the DRO's.
Am I wrong in thinking that X is my carriage and Z is my cross slide? Would the tailstock then be Y?
I have both a mill and a router that I run with no trouble, but a lathe is a little different beast. Any help would be welcomed. Thanks.

7

General Mach Discussion / Mach loading digits in DRO's @ startup. X & Y

« on: December 25, 2007, 03:04:17 PM »

This is weird and I don't recall it happening for some time. I have three different computers that run XP Home. I am getting some numbers in my DRO's on startup. All three machines and even different versions of Mach 3. I would think it has to be a setting in Mach 3, but not sure where to look. I have persistant jog on, but no saving offsets and no persistant offsets, dro's or feedrate overide. Not using machine coordinates nor software limits.
Nothing I can think of.
The numbers are -2.5500 in the X dro and -3.4420 in the Y.
Not that big a deal really, but it may help pinpoint some other trouble I have been experiencing.
Thanks.

8

General Mach Discussion / Driver Test- Missing Vectors

« on: December 19, 2007, 07:48:39 AM »

Trying to setup my Thinkpad to run my newly built mill. It's an R40. 2 GHz with 512 MB ram.
The driver test works fine in 25,000 freq mode, but when I try the 35,000, I get an error that reads "Could not locate missing Vectors."
The next time I try the driver test, it runs on 25,000 frequency.
I tried the special driver with the same results.
Will I be forced to just use the 25,000 freq mode? Is the cpu too slow to go any faster? I did a few searches and saw this a couple times, but the questions on those threads were left unanswered. Anyone have any ideas.
It won't be the worst thing to run it slower for the mill, but just really curious about it.
Thanks a bunch.

9

General Mach Discussion / Motor thunking?

« on: November 20, 2007, 11:55:18 AM »

Hey Guys. I have a question. I have some standard 270 oz steppers that are thunking on nearly every single or two rotations. Not loosing steps I don't think, but this is a new occurrence.
I had them hooked up to a Xylotex 3 axis drive. These were previously working fine on my router with this setup. No thunking then.
I swapped the drives for 3 203V gecko's and tuned them and they still do this. I am only using a 28 volt PS. That is the same one that was always on here.
I tried a few settings in Mach 3, but still having the issue. I have a fairly recent (within the last two months) version of Mach 3 installed.
Any ideas?
Thanks a bunch.

10

General Mach Discussion / Motors driving willy nilly

« on: May 05, 2007, 07:39:47 PM »

Hey guys.
Thought I would ask this here too. Perhaps someone has an idea that may help.
I am having a lot more trouble with my second build, which is a plasma cutter.
First was a router with a 3 axis Xylotex. I didn't even need a BOB for that one.
I am using Gecko 201's. I had initially setup to use a standard no frills BOB, but just swapped out to a Mini I/O2 board. I had been running the 5 volts from my lab supply, but this mini has it onboard.
I have my step and dir hooked up correctly I think. I have the estop working. All motors are working as well. The Z axis seems pretty stable, but X and Y are intermittent when jogging in either direction. Both directions will go both ways.
I am running shielded cables and they are grounded at the drive cabinet. They run all the way to the motors, but are not connected.
My motors aren't connected to anything. Not even grounded. Just sitting on the floor. I wonder if grounding them would help now that I think about it.
Anyhow.
I am getting the proper voltages at all locations. This mini I/O has the little led card that shows step and dir for the axes when running. The step leds work as they should I think, but the dir leds only come on sometimes when I jog one direction, not the other. That is to say using one key and not the other. The motors still go both ways. Also the A axis isn't even connected and those led's work at times as well.

Now I have the 5 volts connected to the gecko's 5v common. The PC ground terminals on the board are not connected, because I don't know where it would go. Instructions are kinda odd on that. It says PCGND is common for all drives. The 5V terminal says +5 for common to all drives. I realize that the +5 common is labeled that way on the Gecko's, so that was easy. The ground is confusing. I'm pretty sure it should not go to my high voltage ground. That is separate.
Sooooo.......any ideas on what the heck is going on? 

Here are a couple of photo's so you should be able to see the wiring maybe.
Thanks.

http://leestyron.com/cnc/cb2.jpg

http://leestyron.com/cnc/cb3.jpg