Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Not cutting circles neatly

« on: April 08, 2020, 08:33:10 AM »

Advice needed again.

I noticed that circles on my machine don't cut nicely and seem to have an odd shape where the Y axis reverses direction - see attached pic.

The CRV file is just a test to return to X Y zero for a tool change and reset Z zero.

Cheers

Peter

12

General Mach Discussion / Unable to reset

« on: April 03, 2020, 11:34:24 AM »

Hi all

My home made CNC is working just fine - or at least it was. Yesterday I was using it, and fortunately I was only doing a test cut to check tangency, but then it started to stop functioning with no predictable pattern, and the reset button on the screen was flashing red. I was able to reset from the PC screen as normal and it would work for a while then stop. This was regardless of whether a G Code file was running, or I was moving the gantry manually using the L/R, F/B, Page up/down keys. Again, with no predictable pattern.

The gantry was nowhere near any of the safety limit switches.

I turned it all off and went to ponder as to whether I had done something stupid or not. I'm pretty sure I haven't, all I had done prior to this problem manifesting itself was to edit the Code file to lift the cutter, return to zero so I could change the tool, reset Z zero and continue on. i.e.

Z10
X0 Y0
M0
(reset Z zero)
Z10

Not the most elegant bit of code, but it worked.

This morning all was working fine, until this afternoon. I now can't reset at all. I get a scrolling message saying 'Emergency mode active" and below that in the status box it says "External E Stop requested" I can't say that I've ever noticed this message before.

I checked the limit switches and the LED's on the interface board go out indicating that these are working correctly (board is CNC interface board LV3.3 - pretty much the same one everyone uses).

Has anyone else had this issue?

All suggestions will be appreciated.

Cheers

Peter

13

General Mach Discussion / Re: Setting Z height with a manual tool change

« on: March 07, 2020, 04:02:02 PM »

Thanks Craig

14

General Mach Discussion / Setting Z height with a manual tool change

« on: March 07, 2020, 01:01:13 PM »

Hi

I have a home-made CNC machine – surprisingly accurate – but it doesn’t have an auto tool changer. So far, I have been setting the Z height between different tools using the ‘bit of paper’ method, then resetting Z zero in Mach 3.

This works well enough for my purposes, but I felt that there has to be a more sophisticated way. So I tied into my emergency stop circuit and with a connection to the cutter and another to a 0.0015” feeler gauge. I can lower the Z manually and the machine stops instantly when the cutter touches the gauge then I zero Z. But 0.0015 is a bit flimsy and I want to use something more rigid.

I have a piece of Aluminium which is 1.77mm thick. How can I use this to set Z zero?

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 Windows 10 update -- don't do it

« on: February 09, 2020, 04:06:04 PM »

I'm sure there are many people who have no issues with W10 and who love it; I'm not one of them

16

General Mach Discussion / Re: Program pause command?

« on: January 19, 2020, 08:24:33 AM »

Well, it worked.

17

General Mach Discussion / Re: Program pause command?

« on: January 19, 2020, 05:00:05 AM »

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

Why am I not using it? because I'm new to this. However, I think I've just answered my own question. I think it will go along the lines of:

(Time for tool change)

Z75 (Raise tool 75mm)
M00 (Stop program)
(Stop spindle the using the good ol' "switch it off" method)

(manually change tool, ensuring Z height is correct)

(Turn on spindle, hit cycle start to continue running the code)

Does that sound like it would work?

Cheers

Peter

18

General Mach Discussion / Program pause command?

« on: January 19, 2020, 03:16:59 AM »

Hi

Is there a G command that will pause a running program. I don't have option for an automatic tool change and want to use different tools on one piece, so I will have to manually change the tools. The G4 dwell code could give me a period of delay of however long I needed, but that is far too dangerous as it would start again once the time was up.

I could hit the 'Pause' button in Mach3, but a line of code would be far more elegant.

I have looked through the G and M code lists, but can't see a pause option.

19

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 Windows 10 update -- don't do it

« on: January 19, 2020, 02:51:15 AM »

Windows 10 being rubbish - who'd have thought

I know that some people are going to be upset by this but.....

My loathing for windows 10 knows no bounds, don't get me started on all the reasons why, there's not enough time in the day.

I loved Windows 7, it just worked, but W10 is the best advert for a Mac ever. However, gripes aside, I use an old Dell 32bit computer running XP to control Mach3, it's not connected to the internet and is really quick. The ten year old interface adds a touch of pre social media nostalgia, (a simpler, and may say, a happier time) and I can play solitaire without any adverts.

20

General Mach Discussion / Re: Open vectors

« on: January 12, 2020, 06:18:22 PM »

Hi

Thanks for this info. I was able to do a profile cut, I got a notification that there were open vectors and chose the option to ignore these. I was able to make the cut with a 3mm end mill.

I will check the quick engraving.

Best

Peter