Messages

261

General Mach Discussion / Re: cardboard cutter

« on: July 22, 2006, 12:23:36 AM »

Use the tangential knife feature, not sure where it is in Mach3 mill righ now, but it's there. it will drive a fourth axis for just that purpose.

262

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: My new (old) lathe almost complete

« on: July 21, 2006, 06:48:51 PM »

Should work out good, you will be able to use that large stepper direct drive for the saddle, Z axis. Note that I only needed a 400oz/in for the X axis, so don't overdo that one, but that motor will be the one that limits the voltage you can max out on. Make sure you get a .200" per turn ballscrew for the Z axis and you will be able to get .0001" resolution with a 10X microstepping drive, I used Gecko 201's, very nice drive. I increased my voltage a couple of days ago to 42 volts DC, it was 28 volt and I could only get 38"/ min rapid, with the higher voltage I now get 60"/ min. rapids and am about 20"/ min away from stalling speed. X axis is very fast at 80"/ min. for a small 7" travel with this voltage. Note that the steppers don't even get warm at this. You will need to remove the apron from under the saddle, these usually bolt on. Then need to make a stepper mount and should 2:1 reduce the X axis ballscrew so you can get .0001" per diameter. This lets you place the stepper under the saddle using a belt reduction drive and makes a tidy package. I sealed the entire belt drive enclosure from coolant leakage, which is a must, at you need at least chip protection if you won't be using a flood coolant system. Make sure you add a cover above the Z axis ballscrew to stop the chips from dropping into it. Will be a fun project.

263

General Mach Discussion / Re: Curious stalling problem

« on: July 16, 2006, 11:35:43 AM »

Try 2 on the accelleration, I found that if you can't actually hear the steppers accelerate up then it's probably too high, I'd have to agree with rceebuilder there.

264

General Mach Discussion / Re: Curious stalling problem

« on: July 16, 2006, 02:27:18 AM »

Stepper motor stalling for sure. You either need; higher voltage, less 'stiction' or friction in your slides or ways, or turn the rapid speeds down some more. Doesen't sound like it's the laptop being the problem.

265

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: My new (old) lathe almost complete

« on: July 15, 2006, 01:20:19 AM »

Got the spindle sensor working right. Steve Stallings of PDMX suggested using a 0.1uF capacitor between the 5V and the ground right at the sensor, this fixed it totally. I ran the crap out of it tonight, never got a problem, ran a threadcutting program, was great. Then went and tied all the cables up together, thought this might send it crazy again, no, was still fine, so i'm very pleased with it now. Time to work on the toolchanger now I guess.

266

Works in progress / Re: Mach3Turn - 1st 'Beta' release of the SilverBlue Screenset for lathes

« on: June 29, 2006, 06:18:18 PM »

I've tested this screen a bit, I'm not really ready to do production runs, but the only thing I can find is that, on the Jog flyout screen, the direction arrows seem to be for a mill setup. lathes are typically in X and Z axis, and the jog arrows don't follow along with that here. Z negative should be travelling left, towards the chuck, and X positive should be towards you, away from the centerline. Other than that, all thumbs up!

267

General Mach Discussion / Re: MPG mode - how to set???

« on: May 19, 2006, 12:37:24 AM »

The Tab key takes the lathe system into the jog flyout screen, I think it's the same for the mill...?
    Dave.

268

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: My new (old) lathe almost complete

« on: May 19, 2006, 12:34:25 AM »

The guy from PDMX is at the show right now, he's testing one with a Campbell breakout board to see if there's any problems there, I'll let you know what I find out.

269

Works in progress / Re: Mach3Turn - 1st 'Beta' release of the MachBlue Screenset for lathes

« on: May 17, 2006, 12:39:40 AM »

I switched back to the original lathe screenset and tried the jog buttons on the flyout screen. No, the X axis buttons there don't work either. On the X and Z axis button switch, I believe it's this way because this was the same screen used from the mill screen, which is how it would be laid out on a mill. Please don't do a one off for me, if others here think it might be better switched then great, but I just want to help here, not make more work than the immense amount you guys have already done!
                  Dave.

270

Works in progress / Re: Mach3Turn - 1st 'Beta' release of the MachBlue Screenset for lathes

« on: May 15, 2006, 10:21:17 PM »

Me again.... (Hiding under my desk at this point...) Flyout screen looks great! The button jog buttons, at the bottom, the X axis ones don't seem to work, the Z axis does however. While on these buttons, would it be possible to reverse their positions so the X axis ones show as vertical on the screen, and the Z axis ones show as horizontal? This is how the arrow keys on the keyboard work and possibly is how a lathe is viewed. Note that I have posted this in the MachBlue post, I am actually using the MachSilver set.
        Dave.