Messages

1791

General Mach Discussion / 4th axis issues, please have a look?

« on: November 07, 2008, 12:11:25 PM »

Ok, a little parts background info for you. This is a Probotoix system setup on a second parallel port with a breakout board, drive, and motor. Specs can be seen here:

http://www.probotix.com/breakout_boards/pbx-rf_isolated_breakout_board/

http://www.probotix.com/stepper_motor_drivers/SideStep/

http://www.probotix.com/stepper_motors/ht23-200-6/

I honestly don't think the issue is with the connections but I think I have have Mach 3 setup incorrectly. I'm including some screenshots to help see what I have setup and also a shot of the Probotix info as well. I'm mostly confused about what to "enable" on the motor outputs page.

Thanks so much for looking-
Dave


EDIT: added info about second parallel port.

1792

Tangent Corner / Re: What the.........?

« on: November 05, 2008, 11:22:13 AM »

Where did I go wrong?

Possibly you've been getting your technical advice from Tweakie?






 
Dave

1793

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: I and Js Zero Radius Arc Error.

« on: November 03, 2008, 05:05:43 PM »

Hey, now, that's pretty slick, Bill, thank you for that. So this is one of those limitations of LCam and it's not anything I'm doing wrong?

Are you still using LCam, or are you using something else now? I tried Cut 2D from Vectric and I do like it but I just haven't kicked out the cash for it yet.

Thanks again, I'll give this a try that way- 

Dave

1794

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / I and Js Zero Radius Arc Error.

« on: November 03, 2008, 04:11:18 PM »

Hi, I have a small engraving project that I'm doing and I'm pocketing "Arial font Italic" which are about an 1/8 th in height. I'm using Lcam to generate the G-Code but when it goes into Mach, I get the Error "Zero Radius Arc" and then it shows the block that the error is in. Unfortunately there's a LOT of them but why exactly is this happening?

Normally I can get away with throwing a 1 at the end of the 4 place decimal point, but sometimes I get the dreaded cropcircles and I end up scrapping the job.

Should I not have my Post set up to put out 4 place decimals or is there another setting I can adjust to fix this? I never have these sorts of problems when doing larger items, it's just when I'm trying to engrave very small fonts.

I'm using a .010 dia.endmill and I'm uploading a sample of the code that shows just a small portion of all the I and J "zero's"

Just a note, I'm very much a noob when it comes to G-Code - 

Thanks,
Dave

1795

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Ex-Cell-O Spindle Wizard to retrofit

« on: November 03, 2008, 10:44:59 AM »

Excellent info here and great pics as always.

I feel like I'm learning al little bit more each time you post - 

Thanks for sharing all of this-
Dave

1796

*****VIDEOS***** / Re: SAVING a video

« on: November 02, 2008, 05:47:53 PM »

Here ya go:

http://www.youtubecatcher.com/

Dave

1797

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bugs in Mach 3.42.015

« on: November 02, 2008, 02:19:52 PM »

Brian,

If I were you, I would post these over at the Yahoo Mach groups as that's where Brian and Art seem to hang more than here.

You'll probably get more input over there on these specific items since they're constantly going over the new revisions.

Dave

1798

General Mach Discussion / Re: homing or toolchange macro help needed

« on: November 02, 2008, 08:46:02 AM »

but again I dont really know what I am doing so test with caution.

Welcome to my world - 

Dave

1799

General Mach Discussion / Re: Backlash Compensation question...

« on: November 02, 2008, 08:44:23 AM »

Dave,

if you have more than .001" backlash then you need to fix the machine mechanics, if its so bad then cutter pull will spoil any job you try to do. You will get tools snatching the work and this is never good.

Just my view.

Graham

Agreed, my friend but at that moment, I was in the middle of a good size job and I didn't want to break it down and tighten up the gibs just then.

That's why I thought I'd try out the backlash feature, which worked very well.......... after I got it dialed in. 

I normally never use Backplash comp and I will now have to take a moment and pull the tables and tighten it up a bit.

Thanks as always Graham-
Dave

1800

LazyCam (Beta) / Grid for LazyCam

« on: November 02, 2008, 08:40:15 AM »

I decided to make a grid to aid in text location in Lcam so I thought I'd throw it up here as I'm sure others would like something like this as well.

It's a 10" X 10" with .100" spacing and it is a dxf file so you could use it in your CAD software as well.

Remember you can use the scale function in your CAD system or LCam to size it any way that you'd like, which is a handy feature 

Hope this is usefull to some of you,

NOTE**: You can download it in the "Members Docs" area found here:

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,9402.0.html

Dave