Messages

1401

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Finished my 4th axis

« on: April 01, 2009, 10:49:33 AM »

That is just incredible, if you ever do any video, that would be fantastic to see -

Thanks,
Dave

1402

General Mach Discussion / Re: Wrapper and toolpath view

« on: March 31, 2009, 07:34:16 PM »

Hi Sage,

I actually used a 30 degree .005" tip engraving cutter from ONSRUD and went about 7 IPMs, but obviously that varied when the X axis cut across the straight parts. I only went .005" deep and I'm using VCarve Pro to draw out the text. I've given up on LazyCam as I just couldn't deal with the finicky-ness of it all. VCarve is quite possibly the best CAM software I've tried and can't praise it enough, and the support over there is amazing as well.

Dave

1403

General Mach Discussion / Re: Wrapper and toolpath view

« on: March 31, 2009, 12:41:37 PM »

Ok, just an update, I did NOT have "Use Diameter for Feedrate" checked and while it definitely smooths things out much more, there's still a difference in feedrate ratio from the A to the X but , as mentioned above, I do believe that it is due to my table ratio being 72:1, but it works great and I'm very happy with the whole setup.

Thanks again, Greg and thanks to Sage for starting this thread to begin with- 
Dave

1404

General Mach Discussion / Re: Wrapper and toolpath view

« on: March 31, 2009, 11:36:03 AM »

G'day Dave

Did you pick up on the "Use Diameter for Feedrate" setting on the toolpaths dialogue box?

This will try to adjust the rotary axis feedrate to account for the diameter of the job.

The other issue is that often the gearing of the rotary axis simply will not allow for the axis to rotate fast enough to give 60 ipm cut speed on a 2" diameter job.

As the rotary axis speed bumps up against the max steps per min for that axis, Mach will slow down the other axis to achieve a coordinated move.

My rotary axis will only achieve about 4 rpm which translates into about 25 ipm at 2" diameter.

So no matter what feedrate I command in gcode, feedrate will sometimes be limited by that factor. Depending on the move segment.

Greg

Hi Greg,

Thanks as always for chiming in.

I believe I have that checked but I will look to be sure when I get out to the shop.

I'll report back soon - 

Dave

1405

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: ATV part

« on: March 31, 2009, 11:20:30 AM »

Nice job, Sam, may I ask what your buffing process is? I'm sure I can learn a bit - 

Thanks,
Dave

1406

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Pattern for Castings - parts is parts...

« on: March 31, 2009, 11:18:51 AM »

Nice little piece of maching right there, beautiful job- 

Dave

1407

General Mach Discussion / Re: Wrapper and toolpath view

« on: March 30, 2009, 08:58:05 PM »

Sage,

Just wanted to know if you ever got this figured out?

I'm starting to actually cut with my setup (72:1 sherline rotary table) and I get the same results as you were getting, super slow rotations and super fast x movement on straight segments.

Thanks,
Dave

1408

General Mach Discussion / Re: connecting vacuum cleaner to mach 3

« on: March 30, 2009, 04:33:03 PM »

I believe when I used to use LCam, I had to modify the actual post processor found in the Mach 3 folder. Possibly someone else will be able to give you an easier fix but that's how I did it.

Dave

1409

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Finished my 4th axis

« on: March 30, 2009, 03:53:14 PM »

That is a beast, great job, now you can engrave truck axles too - 

Dave

1410

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: My new CNC mill. JEH Guitars

« on: March 30, 2009, 11:04:00 AM »

Hi Jens,

The machine looks beautiful, thanks for sharing the build pics.

Browsed your website as well, looks like some nice stuff you're producing, just wish I could read the language, lol!

Thanks,
Dave