Messages

51

General Mach Discussion / Re: 2.5D

« on: April 18, 2007, 01:10:08 PM »

I used stuff from this place on my knee mill. The quill drive is nice in that it can be easily disconnected for manual use if you want to.

http://www.elrodmachine.com/CNC_Z_Axis_Quill_Drive.htm


Chad

(no association just a happy customer..)

52

General Mach Discussion / Re: Stand alone/dual set up or grouped in one ?

« on: April 17, 2007, 02:40:34 PM »

Hello Robert,

Chaoticone is correct. Usually we recommend doing a clean install of xp and installing just mach if possible. There are lots of programs that can interfere with mach's timing and give all kinds of headaches that are tough to track down. The mach computer doesn't have to be the latest and greatest. Anything over 1.3ghz or so should be fine with a minimum of 256megs (512 is my personal min) and a hard drive. This class of computer can be had for $300 or less and will provide a good mach user experience.

Chad

53

General Mach Discussion / Re: 2.5D

« on: April 17, 2007, 01:29:34 AM »

I believe he is after something a little different. My understanding is that the Z is 2.5d option is more intended for laser or plasma I think it sends a signal out when there is supposed to be a z move. Laser doesn't really need a z it just needs a beam on and off.

Now unfortunally I am not sure how to do what he is asking.  This would be a good Brian question.

EFI:  I would recommend just going the extra step and getting the quill going. It really makes things faster and opens up lots of capability. You are 2/3 the way there!!
 


CHad

54

General Mach Discussion / Re: slow motion if firefox is active

« on: April 05, 2007, 11:19:10 PM »

I have seen that also. Are you running the latest version of firefox? I haven't seen that in a while..

Chad

55

General Mach Discussion / Re: Hurco SM1 Mach Retro Machinist without any electronic knowledge .

« on: April 04, 2007, 07:18:36 PM »

Little time- so quick reply.

Galil- is working but not ready for prime time.

Grex- Looking better every day. - still not (quite) ready for prime time- very close.

Rutex- good, but a pain to get the tuning tweaked.

Geko- Good, simpler to setup, great customer service.. my recommendation.

80v Geko vs. 90v rutex. I would take the small voltage hit for the Geko and things would just fine. You might loose a small amount of rapid speed but shouldn't be a problem.

Chad

56

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: GRex motor tuning and general configuration ?

« on: April 04, 2007, 07:04:55 PM »

I am sorry i haven't been around much lately. I have been super busy! I will also have to finally take the plunge and update to the new gen firmware. Right now I am used to the little quirks and need my machine making things. I can see the light ant the end of the tunnel and i will be catching up on a lot of things that i have been neglecting.,


Chad

57

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: G-REX Outputs

« on: April 04, 2007, 07:01:41 PM »

That is a strange one! This will be an art question when he gets back. I haven't noticed that one but mine is buried in a cabinet and i still am on an older version of the software. ( I am waiting for some of the bugs to shake out)

Chad

58

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: GREX and Printer Ports or MOD BUS

« on: April 04, 2007, 06:58:48 PM »

At this point the you can either choose g-rex OR the printer port, not both. If you do run out of i/o the best solution is mod-bus.

Chad

59

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: Mach4 Homing and limits.

« on: April 03, 2007, 04:26:45 PM »

Hi, Yes they are baldor motors and cables. They have been rock solid. I have zero complaints about them. I have a 2:1 reduction on them and have been able to reach 420 ipm rapids. I probably could get them faster but that is scary at those numbers. I usually run about half that. Took me about 5 minutes per drive to configure..  In other words I am happy with them.

Baldor is not very good about wattage ratings or horsepower so i did some rough math and came up with that number.

I used
http://www.baldor.com/products/servomotors/c_series/bsm_cseries_spec.asp?CatalogNumber=BSM80C-375AF

Here are some pictures of our mill (about half way down the page).

http://www.artsoftcontrols.com/forum/index.php?topic=627.10

Make sure you order the microflex drives with the step and dir inputs and not the analog 0-10 in.

Chad

60

Newfangled Solutions Mach3 Wizards / Ron, idea for a new wizzard.

« on: March 25, 2007, 09:56:47 PM »

HI, I have been asking art for these for a while but I know he has other pressing things to do, not that you don't but....

All of these involving probing. And all could be part of the same set.

1- datum points. A work 0,0,0 routine. In other words the ability to choose one of the four corners to set 0,0,0 or calculate the centers of x or y or both. it would be nice if you could just jog and bump into edges. A routine to find the center of a hole or round boss. 

2- Reverse engineering. The ability to probe features (2.5d) It would be nice if you could have this also to store concordances to a text file for basic cmm operations.

3- work rotation offset. It would be really nice if you could just touch off on two edges of say a vice and have mach set the angular offset.

You would have to add the probe diameter

Any way, just something for yo to bang out if you get an hour or two

Chad