Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 to replace Fanuc

« on: July 10, 2009, 05:20:35 AM »

I use the 18iT everyday at work. This Fanuc controller is absolutely rock solid, never misses a beat
and has never gone wrong. If I put this against our other machine which has a Seimens 840d control
and in comparisson is a plie of junk.
One thing though, the 18iT has an onboard CAP programming system which is pretty useless, I do all my
code on the pc and import it into the fanuc. I believe the 21i has the programming system called Manual Guide which did look really nice when I saw a demo of it. 3D graphics and all.
I`d be tempted to try use the controller as is.
And dont forget Mach3 is based on Fanuc.

12

General Mach Discussion / Re: New Idea For CNC Chuck

« on: April 14, 2009, 03:37:39 AM »

and consider to make keys in difrent dimenzion so then you can turn lot of difrent dimenzion

The keys operate below the surface of the jaw serrations which means the jaws can be mounted in any position and bored
to any dia as per normal.

13

General Mach Discussion / New Idea For CNC Chuck

« on: April 12, 2009, 06:07:05 PM »

I have not had a chance to test this out yet. I have requested an old chuck
from our Machine Tool Supplier so hopefully I can make the mods and prove it out
before commiting to my main chuck.

Are you sick of constantly making bungs/rings/spiders or whatever else you use
to clamp onto whilst machining your jaws in situ.
This method slides and clamps against the keys which are machined into a position
around 1mm away before the actual physical closed position.
Thereby forcing the jaws outward as if clamping against a ring ready for machining in situ.
Simply move the keys out after machining the jaws.

Hopefully the following pics will describe what I mean.
Let us know what you think. I have a few ideas to overcome any discrepencies.

Edit :
I cant get the swf file to play so please click on it and open it on your pc

14

Tangent Corner / Re: "Sealing" a 5C Collet

« on: February 05, 2009, 08:28:57 AM »

doh!   sorry mate I had ER type collet in my head.

15

Tangent Corner / Re: "Sealing" a 5C Collet

« on: February 05, 2009, 07:52:56 AM »

Space and Part loading permitting -
How about making a new clamping nut for the collet.
Where a normal clamping nut has a thru bore, make one that is solid on the front end.
Load a short piece of the finish bar size into the collet and lock it up in the usual way.
Then bore out the front part of the new collet nut as close to finish bar size as possible,
you could also incorporate an internal O`ring undercut in the bore for better sealing.

You could also turn a blunt point onto the end stop you have, so the contact area is much reduced.

16

Feature Requests / Re: POLL: Mach3 Lathe and G70/G71/G72 roughing, facing, finishing

« on: September 19, 2008, 08:24:37 AM »

Would`nt agree with your (YES finally!! ) choice of words. Mach3 gives sooo much for the money.
But I agree it would be a great asset to have. Cant imagine having to work without those cycle functions on my machine at work.

17

General Mach Discussion / Re: saving work offsets

« on: May 15, 2008, 04:21:28 AM »

Uncheck the `Copy G54 from G59.253 on startup` Box.
This worked for me tho I`m not sure what the G59.253 is for.

18

General Mach Discussion / Re: Turn on off without stopping

« on: April 23, 2008, 08:11:12 AM »

I`m also keen to find a solution to this problem.
I have tried using M8/M9 to control my water spray solenoid valve,
also tried M3/M5 with PWM and got slightly better results playing with the spindle
pulley speeds and PWMBase Freq. I can still visually see the overshoot of flow after
turning the solenoid off.
Realistically there is obviously a certain amount of water exiting the valve
at the Off command until the solenoid is physically closed.
The Valve driver info states there is approximately 0.3 ms response time of the valve,
so I`m not sure if it`s just an accumulation of time from the
Off command - thru Mach3 - thru the port - thru the breakout - thru the driver - to the solenoid.
And yeah, bear in mind my table speeds are around 12-15 Meters/min (around 500 IPM)
(not asking a lot, expecting it to stop flowing over a distance the size of a pin prick

What I`d like to do is be able to verify the signal times running in unison with
my axis stepper motors.
Is it possible to get some software to measure the wave forms without an Oscilloscope ?
So far all my searching suggests you need to output the signals thru the parallel port
before you can read them back into the pc.
I am a bit loathe to cough up for an oscilloscope. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.


arturoc - just as a matter of interest, what sort of diameter is your laser beam and how high
is it set off the work plane ? Would it be possible to have a mirror mechanism to deflect the beam
and prohibit the cutting action at the execution of an M5.
Perhaps this would be faster than turning the laser off.  Please ignor my ignorance of laser machines.

you can read some of my machine exploits here
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,4926.msg34384.html#msg34384

19

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Gallil or ncpod

« on: January 25, 2008, 05:14:52 AM »

Hi scratch
I`m one of the less knowledgeable on this great site but I can give a simplistic approach.
I run MSD980 drivers direct from Mach3 via the PC Parallel port, all you need is a DB-25 breakout board to be able to route your motor signal pins.
I use a Shuttlepro2  pendant for which there is a downloadable pluggin for Mach3, really easy to configure, you can name the buttons what ever you like and select the function they do. The shuttle also has small wheels for manual jogging etc.
here`s an ebay link
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CONTOUR-DESIGN-ShuttlePRO-V-2-Jog-Shuttle-Pro-V2_W0QQitemZ220193960554QQihZ012QQcategoryZ170QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

When I bought mine it was cheaper to have it shipped from the US.

Sorry I cant comment on the Galil or NCPod but yes if you will need the extra functionality that is the way to go. Grab the free Galil for sure

20

General Mach Discussion / Re: Project IceMould. Manipulating M08/M09 command ?

« on: November 29, 2007, 04:06:31 AM »

thanks cjmerlin. Yes your first method sounds great. I have found a nice looking solenoid driver http://www.rwautomation.com/products_sc5.html  that should do it. I`m not sure if my current valve driver is up to the job and is not configurable like the SC5 is. So i`m looking at that.
I still have some reservations on to how to implement the S codes within a program, it obviously pretty easy to edit the gcode for a simple rectangular path, but when I start to do more complex profile work I`d need an automated way to implement S codes. I will send an email to VisCam support to ask whats possible with their software, this can`t be an isolated problem.

Brett I appreciate what you`re saying about speed and accel but I really feel my speeds are too slow, full rapid measures around 60 inches per min, this equates to around 25 mm per sec and although I remember saying if I got a build speed of around 30mm per sec I`d be happy, well at the moment I`m feeling I need a lot more lattitude to play with, I dont want to be caught short later on in the project.
This reasoning is also coupled with the fact I do have a few mechanical issues to sort out, trouble is every now and then I hear the motor stall at 25mm/sec. so it`s not reliable enough. And life in the freezer throws up a few issues for my Y axis linear system, so I need to deal with that also.

Trust me my brain is on overload trying to get my project working.
tnx again for all the advice.