Topics

11

General Mach Discussion / 4th Axis feed problem, need to increase feed rate

« on: October 20, 2007, 07:53:30 AM »

I'm still running Mach 2 as my laptop doesn't have the capacity for Mach 3. That being said, what I have done is substituted the A axis for the Y axis in my code simply by doing a search & replace with a text editor. I believe I can accomplish the same in Mach by slaving an axis but haven't read the manual on that. Anyway, the problem I'm faced with is the mechanical difference between the A axis and the XY axis's results in a substancial feed feed rate difference. I need to determine a way to make the actual feed rate the same for  the A axis as it is for the others. Suggestions?

12

General Mach Discussion / Heelllllp!!!!!!!

« on: March 17, 2007, 04:26:57 PM »

I'm running Mach2 latest version. Went to run a job today, everything was fine until I hit the Esc key or if i Clicked the Stop button. The Machine stopped and Mach locked up. Clicking on Stop again generated the Win Error & it of course wants to email it and close. THis computer isn't on any network or coneected by modem and it's dedicated to the machine. Not used for anything else, no other siftware installed. SP2 service pack, but no other regular updates, plain jane simple.

The only thing that I did that I can think that caused the problem is I carried my CNC code to the computer on my USB drive. My USB drive had a network key loaded on it for our Zyxel wireless Router that autoloads itself. File name is   setupSNK.exe, it's genereated by Windows when you are setting up a wireless network, and you carry your USB drive to the various machines that you want to activate. Anyway, this computer has no network hardware, nothing in the Control panel indicating a network. No indication  when I plugged in the USB drive that something was loading etc. Dunno if that has caused the problem or not but it's the only thing that I can possibly think of.

I Reloaded Mach2 in a new directory, & set it up again but it made no difference. I've got a ton of work to do, and while I can run the jobs, if I have to stop in the middle of one, I'm toast. Definately some kind of Windows problem but I don't know what. All looks normal in the System menu. HELP!!!!!

13

General Mach Discussion / Mach2/3 Hardware requirements?

« on: July 23, 2006, 09:22:35 PM »

I'm literally ready to purchase the license tonite but I have a question.

I've been running TurboCNC to this point mainly because I had an old 120mHz Pentium laptop running DOS. it finally died. I'm driving a HobbyCNC controller on a bench mill and it has served me well.

I picked up another laptop with a 400mHz PII, it's an HP Omnibook XE2. I loaded XP SP2 on it and Mach2. I configured Mach2 this weekend, tweaked the backlash settings. I left most of the defaults except for my required port configuration. I've been using it all weekend mainly jogging and MDI entries. I use OneCNC and have posted a few files but they are over the 1000 line limit for the demo. Anyway, everything seems to be working just fine, no apparent missed steps, I tuned the motor settings about %20 below the point where they no longer stalled. There is nothing else installed on the laptop, it's dedicated to this purpose, I sneakernet the files on a memory stick.

Is there any reason that I should be concerned that the laptop I'm using is insufficient for the application? Can I expect Mach3 to perform similarly? I'm happy with Mach2, it  does all that I need it to do, I was wary to try Mach3 in case it might have some instabilities with the hardware, at least until I hear otherwise.  I've got some jobs to run this week and I'm ready to 'Buy Now' Otherwise it's back to Turbocnc.