Messages

81

General Mach Discussion / Re: Turn?

« on: January 31, 2008, 09:33:37 AM »

Thanks Jim.
I have been wondering if this would just work in mill instead. These bushing are really simple anyway. The only tool I use is a cutoff or parting tool. I'm sure I could teach Mach to cut these in mill instead of turn.
Less learning curve there. I am just motorizing the feed on the TS, not turning it.

Graham, I use the tailstock to drill so I can use a full length drill bit. When I sink it full travel in the stock, then I can cut and part two bushings. I don't use a center drill yet. I just use some nice and stiff cobalt drill bits and they seem to get close enough to center nearly every time. If it gets off a tad, I just reface the part and drill again.
There is really little room on a 7/12 to put many cutting tools on the cross slide. It can be done, but I intend to actually build a little bigger and better lathe using steel and cast iron with linear ways and ball screws. At that point, I'll be doing some fancy tooling on the CS and possibly a turret.

With that machine I will be looking for better precision and speed especially for tool changes. I do all this with two tools now, but it would be much more precise with three or four tools.
I will look at using mill and teaching Mach. Never tried that yet.
Thanks again.
 

82

General Mach Discussion / Re: Turn?

« on: January 31, 2008, 08:29:23 AM »

Thanks Graham. See! I do have a lot to learn with turn.
I just basically want to cut some brass bushings in varying sizes. They will all need a hole in the center though and right now the worst part of making these by hand is the drilling.

I am just going to motorize the stock 7/12 for now using the half nut. This will get my feet wet in turn. The little lathe is plenty accurate and strong enough for these bushings. If I get them within about .03", I'm happy.

This is my fastest cnc build to date though. I'll have about 8 to 10 hours in it when done.
Of course I built the control box for my plasma and I'm not counting that time.
Thanks again.

83

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.

84

Mach3 under Vista / Re: vista-virtual pc 2007-xp-mach3

« on: January 03, 2008, 07:52:24 PM »

I will be bringing my other control box inside in a few weeks to rewire it for another project. I can test my desktop then. I looked a little closer at it. It is 2007. It also shows where it should be easy to setup the ports with VPC. Here is a screen shot.

85

Mach3 under Vista / Re: mach 3 and vista

« on: January 03, 2008, 12:14:56 PM »

You may have to download a version and reinstall it. I would save all the older stuff to a different folder though. Just as a backup.

86

Mach3 under Vista / Re: vista-virtual pc 2007-xp-mach3

« on: January 03, 2008, 12:12:42 PM »

I have VPC on my desktop to run Turbocad. Lots of trouble with it in Vista.
It is a little difficult getting XP and Vista on the same page recognizing resources and drives. I only simulate with Mach 3 on this computer. I am running Mach 3 on the new shop computer though. No VPC on it. Apparently you can only lod VPC on Vista Ultimate, which is what I have on the Desktop, but only have basic in the shop.

I would like to hear though if someone has been able to run Mach in VPC.
I am having some minor issues with the shop computer. I never had those issues with my older PC's.

87

General Mach Discussion / Re: trouble with 203s

« on: January 01, 2008, 09:19:04 AM »

I wouldn't just dismiss it when the green LED is on. I just had to send one back to Gecko because it would not work with the green led lit. I did all the usual everything swapping, testing, checking...
The trouble always followed the gecko. I finally pulled out a 201 from my other controller, hooked it up and got the machine running again. I did have to run the 5VDC to the 201 instead of ground.
I now have two new Gecko 203's that arrived for my lathe project coming up, so I can get the gecko's back where they belong. I haven't heard back about what the issue is with the lazuy one I sent back, but should hear something after the Holidays.

There is also a troubleshooting guide for the 203V's in the Yahoo group files section. I found that very helpful. You will have to be a member there though. Easy enough to join.
I would also suggest you look at the Mach 3 troubleshooting video.

http://www.machsupport.com/Videos/Mach3%20Video%20Selections/Mach3%20Video%20Selections.html

That may also help you pinpoint the trouble. Your resistor sounds about right for Keling 425's. They are 2.8 amp on BP IIRC.


Also you said you have X enabled. Check out this other Mach video.
http://www.machsupport.com/Videos/Mach3%20Video%20Selections/Mach3%20Video%20Selections.html

It deals with inputs and outputs.
In the config, ports and pins section, under motor you should have the step and direction pins assigned like you have them setup on the BOB and you should make sure that the port number on the right is calling the right port. Step should be active high and direction either way depending on which way you axis travels. It can be reversed by switching that.

88

General Mach Discussion / Re: trouble with 203s

« on: January 01, 2008, 07:47:53 AM »

You may have a motor phase wiring problem. With all power off, check continuity or OHMS across the pins on the Gecko's. You should have a reading in Ohms. I think mine was 95,000 ohms or something like that. Now disconnect the motor wires. First do phase A and -A. Just check the motor wires for ohms. They should read zero. Reconnect thos if they do read zero. Now do the B phase the same way. If you aren't getting Zero when checking across the motor phases, you have a motor wiring problem. You will have to go back to your schematic and track it down.

89

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

« on: December 26, 2007, 06:46:12 AM »

I haven't actually figured it out, but when I opened just the standard mach 3 mill, this did not occur. Obviously it was some setting I fiddled with without realizing it. I just created a new profile and the issue went away. Good riddance.

90

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.