Messages

101

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 and a tube bender

« on: February 13, 2009, 03:43:16 PM »

ok, try this...

since it is counts/unit

and the unit you are looking for is degrees... then 4 ticks of the encoder should give you one degree you turn...

have you tried a value of 4?? if that doesnt do it, try a 1

what happens if you turn your encoder more than 90º say 180º or 360º, what does the dro display?

there is also an MPG calibration in the function cfgs menu

Fernando

102

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 and a tube bender

« on: February 13, 2009, 03:28:05 PM »

Since 90º is one quarter turn, then set your units per rev to 1440, i have not used an encoder before, you might need to restart mach for settings to take effect.

Regards
Fernando

103

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 and a tube bender

« on: February 13, 2009, 12:50:15 AM »

Good to hear you got it working,

As I stated over at cnczone, have you tried on putting 1440 in the units per rev?

Best regards
Fernando

104

General Mach Discussion / Re: CNC'ing both quill and knee

« on: February 11, 2009, 11:40:08 AM »

Hey Ray,
Well yes, your suggestion i simple... i was just proposing an alternate solution to whoever wants this and does not use the tool table.

Regards
Fenando

105

General Mach Discussion / Re: CNC'ing both quill and knee

« on: February 11, 2009, 10:51:49 AM »

As a suggestion... dunno if it is practical,

You could use an auto tool zero routine with a touchplate in which only the knee moves for this.

THe routine would be something like this:

-Home the quill
-home the knee (optional)
-move the knee up so that you can put a touchplate on top of the material and wait for the tool to touch it.
-zero the z axis dro (which it already should be at zero)
-zero the knee (optional too)

I guess that would be a work around if you dont have a way of putting the tools with the same lenght every time.

Best regards
Fernando

106

General Mach Discussion / Re: What would you like to see in a new Mach3 User's Guide?

« on: February 09, 2009, 01:05:38 AM »

I guess a good topic to include is coordinate systems and fixtures (G54, G55... etc...)

Best Regards
Fernando

107

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can M3 run an ancient CNC Turret Punch?

« on: February 06, 2009, 07:11:27 PM »

Well,
Mach3 in essence can handle up to 6 axis, so if that is all it has then certainly it can work. Besides you could operate a modbus plc to free some axis work from mach (toolchanger etc..)

BEing a punch, plasma and plate marker in one, make it a hard retrofit, but certainly doable.
Not for beginners though.

Maybe if you post more info on the machine
Motor types, driver types, does it have a toolchanger, how about a torch height control?

Another thing to consider is how would you generate G-code for them... plasma is no problem, dont know about the punch and plate marker.

Best regards
Fernando

108

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: PDS Columbo 90rv tool changer setup

« on: February 05, 2009, 11:31:29 AM »

Hey Tim,
Is that the spindle version that you need to add an external fan for cooling?

How much did it cost? I have emailed colombo but have not gotten a reply.

Your machine will be a good powerhorse!
Best Regards
Fernando

109

Finished Plugins for Download / Re: Mach MAD Plug in (Maintenance and Diagnostics)

« on: February 05, 2009, 12:33:57 AM »

Hey Scott,
fooled around with the plugin,
Im getting the same error when disabling the plugin, just once... no big deal though.

One thing i might suggest is that you remove the ability to tick the checkmark on LED that are not user LED

If for some reason you tick the checkmark even though the LED is turned off, it might be confusing. although it resets if you select another led and go back to the one for which you ticked.
Its no big deal though, just a thought

Great work friend.
Fernando

110

Competitions / Re: Win a free Mach MAD Plug In

« on: February 04, 2009, 10:31:23 AM »

Scott,
I got your plugin, ill install it now, and play with it a little, ill comment on it once i do!

Thanks a lot!
Fernando