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Messages - Sam

891
Tangent Corner / Re: Roman Numerals
« on: February 21, 2008, 12:15:55 AM »
http://www.simplythebest.net/fonts/
Pick your poison. Pretty much anything with a capital I, X, and V will do.

892
Mach Screens / Equivalents and tap chart
« on: February 19, 2008, 08:42:24 PM »
Here are some handy dandy charts for a custom screens tab. Not the best quality, but not the worst, either. I done a search for tap chart and decimal chart and didn't turn up anything of similarity already posted, so here are some. Surprised similar charts have not been implemented already in custom screens. Then again, I've only tried out a couple of them.

893
Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: c10 bob
« on: February 19, 2008, 06:50:52 PM »
Yep, it's always good practice to have spare parts. I looked up part numbers for my electronics so I have spares on hand when I need them. I THINK digikey and newark have minimum orders, but if you have a glance through the magazine you can always find enough to triple the minimum order, at least. Solder, new iron tips, fuses for the geckos, zip ties, cable, cable ends, cable connector assortment, resistors, heat shrink tubing, flux, capacitors, flux capacitor, milk, bread, eggs and cheese. Thats only a small part of what you really didn't go there to buy in the first place. Also, keep in mind that most of the time, if you buy spare components from the same place you bought the original item from, you will pay a premium. I don't want to mention any names, but take for instance, say....a maker of hobby CNC unipolar stepper driver kits that use a SLA7062M driver chip. If you were to buy a replacement chip from them, it would have cost 15 clams plus another 7 for shipping. (NOTHING pee's in my cheerios more that inflated shipping charges...NOTHING!!!) Thats $22.00 for one chip. Hey, if he can get people to pay those prices, more power to him. I, however, being the tightwad that I am, done a bit of research, and had 10 chips delivered to my door for $44.00. Another helpful hint...Certain chips have a minimum chip amount per order. Take the time to get all the part numbers written down/typed up for the parts you need, and quantity of them you desire. Do not place your order online. Call the sales department. Be nice. Be extra nice. Ask how the kids are doing. Fine weather were having. Lots of rain, but we need it. Avoid politics and religion at all cost. Try not to mention things like ringworms, having the flu, hate your job, dog has fleas, etc... Do whatever it takes to recruit them to your side of the fence. Tell them what part number you want, but you just cant purchase 1000 of them without first buying a ski mask and making a bank withdrawal. They will usually try to help out if at all possible. This advise was not free. Being as it is that you have already read above mentioned text, and have no way of 'forgetting' it, there can be no refund. Please send payment of $15.00, plus $7.00 shipping/handling to me. If you wish to avoid shipping charges, I also accept paypal. Please send a one time low payment of $15.00 plus a small $7.00 processing fee. Thank you. Enjoy your cheerios.

894
Your manner of thinking is all wrong. What you should NOT be asking yourself is "I wonder how long it will be before she finds out". We all know that she IS going to find out. What you should instead be asking yourself is "What lie am I going to tell when she finds out". Well, Tweak, thats what were here for. First, you go and tell her what you did. I know, I know, your thinking.."Are you *&#^#* crazy!?!?" The truth of the matter is, well...yes a little bit. Sometimes we have to be to survive. This is how it's going to play out. Bear with me here.
Go to her, with Neptune in hand. State your dominance with a strong, bold voice--"Marvel at what I have sculpted, woman. It is Neptune. God of the mighty sea. It is a tribute to him so that the plague of darkness will not fall upon us or our family."
This statement will obviously startle her. A question will obviously ensue. "..what are you talking about?"
"I (insert name here), man of one less rib, have saved our family and many other families by paying homage to Neptune by creating his likeness from our cheese board."
Now she will most likely get a scowl look on her face and start looking for the ill fated cheese board, all the while torturing your ears with words of scorn and pain to be paid.
This is where your creative talents will really come into play.
Assert your alpha-male qualities with a swift smack of your hand on a solid surface, so as to make a loud startling sound.
"Evil woman, everybody knows that cheese cut on a wooden board gets into the fibers of the wood. Then said cheese will fester with mildew and other microscopic bio-hazardous life forms. Cheese draws mice like a moth to a flame. The mice alone are not a threat, as they have built up an immunity to such hazards, but the fleas that feaster upon the mice feed upon the blood of the mice that have fed on the bio-hazardous fungi infested cheese board fibers. The tainted blood then mutates inside the flea as the dreaded "black plague".  Mouse infested ships traverse the oceans, trespassing upon the mighty Neptune, spreading the disease worldwide. Millions would surly perish upon Neptune's wrath if not for our sacrifices."
This should definitely get you into the clear. I would go so far as to say you will get to place this plaque anywhere of your choosing without repercussion. Front door, above the bed, on the ceiling, wherever.
If any more problems arise, just call Arts support staff. $1/minute-5 minute minimum. If you make many projects from household items, you might opt for the silver or gold support packages. Your welcome.

895
General Mach Discussion / Re: when cutting the machine goes wrong direction
« on: February 17, 2008, 02:12:55 AM »
You did not need to move your home switches.--Page 13. http://www.machsupport.com/documentation/Mach3%20Setup%20Tutorial.pdf
More good reading here. http://www.machsupport.com/documentation/Using3Mill.pdf
People are more than happy to help here on the forums, but you will find a wealth of information quickly by looking at the very well written help files. There are also some great videos that Art has taken the time to produce for us. Seeing as how your just getting started, there is no doubt there will be many more questions come along, and nothing has a faster answer than a good manual. If only they were written in Chinese and translated to broken English...would make us feel right at home!

896
Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Finally up and running
« on: February 15, 2008, 10:52:29 AM »
That looks nice! I know absolutely nothing about foam cutters, but everything looks nice. First time I've seen a foam cutter in action too. I bet your proud of it.

897
General Mach Discussion / Re: Parts are being cut smaller than the gcode #s
« on: February 14, 2008, 07:40:24 PM »
If you have an indicator, mach can figure out the math and set your axis for you automatically. In the settings page, there is an axis calibration feature. Move the axis into the indicator a small amount, take note of the number on the indicator, or zero the dial. At the bottom left of mach there is an axis calibration button. Click it. Select the axis to calibrate. Click the pop-up window to make it active (bug?), then type in the distance you want it to travel. Be careful not to over-travel your indicator. Mach will then ask how far the axis actually traveled. Type the actual distance in, and you should be good to go!

898
General Mach Discussion / Re: Belt Drive Help
« on: October 23, 2007, 12:18:24 AM »
Pitch is the distance between the teeth. XL is 1/5 pitch. Thats 5 teeth per inch. 120 teeth is 24 inches. That would allow for around 12 inches of travel. Belt drive units are not cheap. In order for your 4X4 travel, you would need at least 8 foot of belt....per side. This is assuming that you are using a 'loop' method, and not a single strip of belting thru a tension system.  A 4 foot long gantry will have way to much whip without driving both sides. It may not seem like it does on dry runs, but wait until those cutting forces come into play. So thats 16 feet of belting, not counting the wrap around for the pulleys. With an 80LB gantry, your not going to want anything less than .75 wide belt. That gives you 1.5 inches of belting taking up forces. Forget about driving it at 300IPM. The belts would not hold up to the abuse of 80 pounds starting and stopping at such speeds. I'm not sure a direct driven motor could even stop it within a reasonable distance. A 2.25 HP router would CERTAINLY limit you from achieving anything close to that speed anyhow, at least in wood.

16' of "L" pitch .75 belt        $80.00
4 flanged pulleys                  $88.00  There are recommended minimum pulley diameters for belt sizes.

These figures are conservative at best. You would also need some way of driving both sides of the gantry at the same time. I achieved this using two 3/4" rod through 4 bearing blocks. Other methods are out there, I'm certain.

4 mounted bearings              $30
.75 rod                               $20

Don't forget about having a way to tie in the belts. Clamps are around $50 a piece. I would advise making your own.
I don't mean to sound harsh in this reply. I'm just stating some opinions that I have formed by similarly doing what you are trying to do now.
I have no idea about your torque requirements. Driving this gantry directly at 300 ipm would take one massive motor, for sure. Best of luck with your project!

899
General Mach Discussion / Re: G81 weirdness, newbie
« on: September 28, 2007, 04:12:47 AM »
I had the same issue today while cutting a part. Luckily I was only using a 1/8 end mill for the drill cycle, before the unintended (lack of G0 or G1)rapid through my part. I did manage to find a post that fixed the problem. It is here.. http://www.artsoftcontrols.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=c685ee2eef12b97183a34a2803b770b4&topic=1306.0 Also fixes the line 1 error by putting the line numbering before the program number. There could be other potential causes for a crash using this post rather than the default post, I simply do not know. I did have to go into the control definition manager and turn on "write NC operation information" in the 'file' section to avoid the pop-up during the post process. I did use an earlier version of this post, so it may not have to be done now.