Topics

11

General Mach Discussion / Changing Z feedrate during probe cycle

« on: May 29, 2008, 11:58:34 PM »

Hi,

I am in the process of writing a macro to do tool height probing and was wondering : when the G31 command has the Z axis moving down at probing feed rate, is it possible to set up an on screen button or keyboard keystroke  etc. to rapid move the Z axis. 

Because I am going to start the probe move from near max Z height, I will be waiting for ever and a day for the tool to reach the anticipated probe trip at the slow probing speed.

What I would like to do is to increase the speed of the Z axis manually with a momentary button etc.

Bruce

12

General Mach Discussion / Melboune CNC BBQ 24th may 08

« on: May 25, 2008, 08:26:09 PM »

To the organisers and exhibitors,

Thanks fellas for organising a Great Day.

Good chin wag, good food, good venue, I am sure that all who attended gained something and had a fantastic day.

Bruce

13

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 screen designer - where is it?

« on: April 17, 2008, 05:11:59 AM »

Has screen designer been included in the latest Mach3 version. According to the video tut. a shortcut should be installed on the desktop.
Cant find it anywhere there or in my mach 3 program folder.

Bruce

14

General Mach Discussion / Manual Tool Change

« on: April 16, 2008, 07:21:50 AM »

I hope I am not going over old ground.

I would like to experiment with manual tool changes on my router.

ie. the program calls a macro to allow the spindle to be moved to a set position so that I can change the cutter.   Then the tool height needs to be sensed by touching a known point that tells mach3 to calculate the z offset to match the correct tool height . The spindle should then move to the return point in the program to continue the cut file.

Is this an inbuilt feature of mach3 ( "settings"' panel?)
How can it be configured?

Bruce

15

General Mach Discussion / 240v Router/Spindle

« on: April 04, 2008, 12:24:16 AM »

I am investigating a suitable router or spindle for my new machine. Ideally it would be nice to have a "Proper Router Spindle" but finances dictate that I will maybe have to settle

for a quality router.

I would like something like a Portacable 7518 3 1/4HP but I am still trying to find out if or where I can find one of these brutes. (They may not import into Australia)

I know Festool, Makita, and Metabo all make plunge routers that are nearly as powerful but they are not so easy to mount

Can anyone point me to other alternatives?

I have built a very robust machine and it deserves a powerful spindle that won't brake the bank!

Bruce

16

General Mach Discussion / Visualmill post proc. for Mach 3

« on: April 02, 2008, 07:45:18 AM »

Has anyone had any problems posting from Visual Mill into Mach3.  Is the post proc listed on the Vismill site ok. it seems to corrupt my xyz dro's

Bruce

17

General Mach Discussion / Mach 3 Pulse Rates per axis

« on: April 01, 2008, 07:49:24 AM »

I am currently tuning X/A,Y and Z axis on my router. When I try to drive the steppers of each axis above 8000 pulses per second the motors sound awful. Around 7000 they are smooth.  Is this because Mach3 divides the 25000 pulse rate up between all axes?  So by increasing the pulse rate is it possible to drive each stepper faster than say 7000pps.

Just a thought,

Bruce

18

General Mach Discussion / Lubrication of belts and racks

« on: March 31, 2008, 11:20:00 PM »

Hi all,
Can anyone give some advice on lubricating: 1.  timing belts and 2. Rack and Pinions. Do they require lubrication?
My thoughts are that the lubricant would attract dust build up.
 Maybe some type of silicone spray may work?
(I have just spotted the other forum sub sets! I will use "Tangent in future" Thanks Bret)


Bruce

19

General Mach Discussion / Forum for general CNC topics

« on: March 31, 2008, 08:53:49 PM »

Hi,

I really enjoy the discussion on this forum about Mach 3 etc. ,but is it OK to discuss other more general topics about building and hardware etc. on this forum?

I seems a shame to have to use another forum when we have a great group here at the artsoft forum.

I am just putting up a possible idea , maybe another branch on this forum site that deals with machine topics?

I hope I am not out of order here

Bruce

20

General Mach Discussion / Choosing a second hand PC to run Mach3 ?

« on: March 19, 2008, 05:20:33 AM »

Smoke test day is  getting closer for my machine.

Can I ask some advice on what PC to buy.

Is a second hand Pentium 4 1.8 GHz suitable to run Mach 3 ?

I will be running 2 parallel ports driving a 3 axis router.


Bruce