Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Y-Axis not changing directions: Weird behavior

« on: January 07, 2016, 01:01:45 AM »

Hi All,

Yesterday and today I experienced some weird behavior on my HF mildrill cnc conversion.  I have been up and running for at least 6 months and all seemed well.  Today I was machining aluminum using the TAB key on screen pendant to move the x-y-x axis manually.  I was able to move all the axis in each direction but then my Y-Axis began to act funny.  When I told it to move in the +y direction it actually started to move in the -y direction.  If I told it to move in the -y it would move in the -y direction.  
I shut down Mach3 and it seemed to work OK then it happend again.  I rebooted my computer and shut down my machine controller and it worked again.  I am not sure what fixed it but it was working correctly.  I kept my eye on it and I had it moving in the +y direction and then I actually say it decide to change direction on its own. Just like that the motor changed directions.

I tried rehoming my axis and shutting down Mach3 and rebooting, ect but it did not correct the problem. I did not change any configurations and I have only tried it manually.  I have not run a program but I use it alot just manually. I am using Gekko drivers and Keling stepper motors. Has anyone experienced something similar?  What can I change or do to trouble shoot this issue. Like I said before, my machine was working fine for a long time with out issues I am confused why know?
thanks,
skipper

2

General Mach Discussion / running mill and lathe?

« on: October 01, 2015, 12:57:30 PM »

Hi all,
I am in the process of converting my 9x20 lathe to CNC. Is it possible to use one computer and to run both machines?  Is the a way to  have a dual configuration of Mach3 to run them both? On the lathe I am planning on using different
Ball screw ratios than the mill so all that would have to be reconfigured
Every time I  switch machine. 
You guys that run two machines how do you do it?  Can I share one motor driver control
For both?
Lots of questions but I  am sure some of you run multiple machines.
Thanks
Skipper

3

FAQs / different pitches of axis

« on: March 11, 2014, 01:16:36 AM »

Hi All,

I have a general question.  Can you configure Mach3 to have three different ball screw sizes?  Can one be metric and one axis be standard units?

Thanks,
skipper

4

LazyCam (Beta) / Post Code

« on: October 15, 2009, 12:41:00 AM »

Hi All,

I am working my way throught the LC manual, the first example.  I've set up to machine the boss and tried to post the code.  Where does it end up? I thought it was linked to the Mach3 folder in my C: drive but I cannot find it there.  The posting option is set to go there. 

thanks,
skipper

5

LazyCam (Beta) / lazycam lead in

« on: October 03, 2009, 04:09:37 PM »

Hi All,
I took a dxf file from cnczone and in autocad reduced the size to half.  I exported as a new dxf into lazycam.  I created the code but has a long lead in (see pic, I think that is the proper term).  If I zero my rockcliffe router to the center of the y table, when I hit start, the axis move to the beginning of the lead in which greater than my table.  How to I reduce it or get the tool to start in the center or very edge of the part?  It always seems to have to start from far from the part and then have to make its way to the part.  Is there code I can use to always have the tool start in the same place on the table??

skipper

6

General Mach Discussion / Unit convertion issues and g-code questions

« on: August 05, 2009, 02:46:52 AM »

Hi Guys,
I wrote along message and then it did not load and now I have to do it again!!!!

I finally got all my axis to move and home in the correct direction.
Questions:
1. I have a rockcliff router, according to their literature; the "Step Per" setting should be 4000.  Is this correct, I was using 32000 before. See attachment.

2. My units are all incorrect.  I have my Mach3 configure for inches.  I have my home limits to be 18x24x5 inches, the working envelope of my router.  When I try to run some programs, the units on the DRO are sometimes in the thousands, like the unit conversion factor is very wrong.  The machine runs out of room and cannot do the job on the table size.

3. I am using Solidworks for my CAD, which I know fairly well and SolidCAM for my CAM, which I am learning on my own (unfortunately I cannot find a SolidCAM book). I created a small part profile 4" long and .051" deep, I did this intentionally so that I know that it will fit on my router table size.  This is how I set up my machine.
 a. I reference all axis and the machine finds all the home switches.
 b. I then jog all the table axis away from the home switches to about the center of each axis.
 c.  I then zero the axis DRO to set this position as my working home. Follow me so far.
 d. Then I load my program and hit go.

So this is what happens.  From the screen shot attached, the z-axis will move down to the home switch zero position and stop. Why does it do this, if I have my router in place, the bit would have crashed into the work piece? When I hit start again, the z-axis will move up and away from the zero home switch position and stop. When I his start again, all the axis move but I have to hit the emergency stop because if I did not, the x-axis would crash into the home switch.  Some how, the work piece units are very off from the machine units.  Like I mentioned before the part is only 4" long so it should fit on my table.  What is not configured correctly.  Am I setting up the part right in steps a-d above??

Is this pretty clear?  I am so close to putting everything together but some things are not jiving.

Thanks,
skipper

7

General Mach Discussion / soft limit warning

« on: July 26, 2009, 02:38:31 PM »

Hey All,

Well after a couple months of my router being down because of a crashed computer (had to reload all my software and new HD) and broken z-axis I am almost back and running. Unfortunately I did not save a copy of all my Mach3 settings so I am starting all over again

This time around I added another switch in series with all the axis for home and limit. Now I cannot get my system to run because I get a "limit switch triggered " error but on the diagnostic screen, none of the switches our triggered?

I have the soft limits set to X-100, Y-100, and Z-200.  I have the unit configured in inches so maybe those have to be smaller values?
I have a couple of screen shots, any ideas what I did not configure correctly?  I watched the Mach3 video tutorial and thought I had everthing correct.
skipper

8

General Mach Discussion / Can someone review my code adn explain M01

« on: March 01, 2008, 12:59:47 AM »

Hi Guys,

Well I am still learning this Mach3.  I am still only practicing doing dry simulation with a pen loaded to my router and no router yet.  I made this simple circle pocket and everything seems to work out except in the beginning of the program.  The pocket I am cutting is only .01 deep , the matrial is .1" thk, but in the begining of the program during the M01 step, the z will go to -.4593, why?  Had this really had a cutting bit, it would have cut into my table.  When I set up the zero position in mach3, I set it up so that the tool is at the top of the work piece.
Can someone look at my code and see if there is something wrong.  The code was generated with solidcam using FANUC as the controller.

May be someone can run the code?
Thanks,
rene

9

General Mach Discussion / controller type for SolidCAM

« on: February 19, 2008, 12:52:26 PM »

Hi Folks,
I am using SolidCAM as my CAM program.  When setting up my part, it ask for a controller type.  They list a bunch but the default is FANUC.  Is this the one that I sould be selecting to use with Mach3?
I am assuming FANUC is a contorller like Mach3 correct?  I asked this question in the SolidCAM forum of CNCzone but got no response.

Thanks,
Skipper

10

General Mach Discussion / Metric/English unit help

« on: February 11, 2008, 01:53:58 AM »

Hi All,

I recently got my first real g-code from a part I made loaded on to Mach3.  I created the part in Engish units but the CAM program converted it to metric . So, I can see that the gcode has rather large units, so they are metric.  How do I tell Mach3 they are metric and not English units.  I think my Mach3 is reading the gcode file in inches and it does not have room to run the program with out exceeding the physical dimension of the machine (Rockcliff Router)  The code calls out fog Gx25 but it want to travel 25 inches instead of the proper 25mm.  Is this clear?

Thanks,
skipper