Topics

31

General Mach Discussion / Another (bug) issue for the list

« on: October 29, 2008, 09:12:19 PM »

Someone has probably already noted this. The elapsed time counter stops sometimes far before the machine is actually done machining.
I noticed it when I had the speed and feed turned WAY down to 1 for XY milling feed  and .1 for Z downfeed. The G-code had a lot of very simple move instructions. I guess the look-ahead feature got them all read ahead of time. I had an M1 in the code and the machine took about 10 minutes to actually finish and stop after the clock stopped.

BTW. Would it be too much to ask to start a new topic to list all of the know issues. For two reasons:

1. So people can look at them and know not to ask again what their problem is.
2. Moderators or programmers could suggest a work around and post it with the bug.
3. Moderators could refer people to them for info.

And Most important
4. There would be a definitive list of things that need to be worked on.

It may be that this list is somewhere on someones desk but I'd be willing to bet there are a lot of bugs mentioned and alluded to in this forum that the people that should know about them do not.

Just trying to make the future of the product as bright as possible.


Sage.

32

General Mach Discussion / Abnormal Condition warning

« on: October 17, 2008, 09:13:24 AM »

I generated some G-code which causes the "Abnormal Condition" warning light to flash on the Mach control panel. If I clck on the warning light it lists the problem as "Exact Stop vs CV mode".
The code runs ok.
I  created an offset in lazy cam on something that had square corners. It insisted on rounding the corners so instead of fighting with it I accepted it's code any way and then fixed it up myelf by hand to remove the arcs it generated and replaced then with straight moves. Not sure if that led up to this problem.

Is this warning something I need to be concerned with.

Sage

33

LazyCam (Beta) / Another small bug to look at

« on: October 12, 2008, 11:51:51 AM »

If anyone ever does get around to fixing up Lazy Cam. In the Text generating tab. The pull down font selector works strangely. Using the down arrow works normally (list moves up and alphebetically increasing at the bottom) but clicking in the lower part of the scroll window the list moves down while alphebetically the list gets higher at the top. Very strange. I guess the list is a virtual thing because in effect the same font name is at the top and the bottom of the list. You have to try it to see what I'm getting at.

Sage

34

LazyCam (Beta) / Help with reversed order entities

« on: October 09, 2008, 08:57:54 AM »

LazyCam reverses the machining order of entities and I can't figure a way to put them back in the order I want them.

Attached is a simple dxf file of a cam lobe.
I Load the file into LazyCam - Mill.
Clean it, and optimize it works fine. You get a simple cam with minimum of 4 entities and the order of their machining in the chain is clockwise just how I want it.
 I need to apply an offset so it can be machined with a 1/4" in mill so I select the chain and apply an outside offset with clockwise order. LazyCam creates this properly and the entities in the new offset chain are in the correct clockwise order.
For some reason it adds some extra very short entities but I can ignore that for now.
I no longer need the original chain so I delete it. No problem.
The problem starts here.
 I don't like the way the start of the machining is right at the tip of the cam lobe. (this appears to move around depending on if you clean and optimize or even do the whole thing over but this is mostly where it starts machining for me).
So without any information I assumed I can drag the start point to somewhere else, maybe along the left side and I also drag the origin to the left a bit so the tool approaches from the left on more of a tangent to the flat rising side of the cam lobe. When I do that, the order of the entities making up the chain become reversed and I can't see a way to get them back in the correct clockwise machining order.
Does anyone know how to re-order entities.

Sage

35

Newfangled Solutions Mach3 Wizards / Getting wizard to append to existing code

« on: September 27, 2008, 03:14:47 PM »

It was my understanding that when running the NFS wizards several times it was supposed to add the new code to the end of existing code in MACH. Each time I run a wizard it wipes out the previous code already in MACH. What am I doing wrong?

Sage

36

Newfangled Solutions Mach3 Wizards / Cut circle wizard acting strange - need help

« on: September 25, 2008, 06:11:21 PM »

I think I've found a bug in the NFS wizard "Cut Circle"
I'm trying to use it to clean up the ouside diameter of a 1" thick round plate.

I set the following into the cut circle NFS wizard.
Material Aluminum = +1
Max spindle speed 1450
max feed rate 20
inches
select the cut circle wizard
surface speed for special tool 0.0
tool #1
tool diamter .250
HSS tool
number of cutting tips 4
chip load per tooth .0017
inches
spindle direction CW
Flood
overides - spindle 100% Feed 100%
Percent plunge 20
speed and feed calculates to 1450 and 9.6
X center 0 - Y Center 0
Circle diameter 5.483Groove
Outside
CCW (conventional mill)
Pitch 0.5
Depth 1.02
Rapid Height 0.1
Step Depth 0.01

If I look at the preview IN THE WIZARD I see what I would expect, which is the tool approaching the material from the outside and spiriling down to the full depth of 1.2 inches while milling on the outside diameter of the plate - Good!

If you post the code and look at the toolpath display in MACH,  the tool is following some stange path. It starts above the plate, spiraling down and out to the proper diameter. The path downward apparently meets the plate at a point of the proper diameter just as the tool touches the plate. It continues around the plate at the proper diameter so theoretically it should work but if the tool height does not start exactly right the tool will meet the plate too soon.

Good thing I checked the code with foam.

Can someone figure out what I'm (or the program) is doing wrong. I have a job I need to get out the door by the end of the weekend and sorry to say I'm not experienced in G-code enough to write the program properly by hand.

PS> I used the wizard to create a similar program using a 1/2" hogging mill to rough out the initial diameter. That tool path looks ok when posted so I'm not sure why the particular parameters I listed above do not work.

Thanks

Sage

37

General Mach Discussion / Trying to understand offsets

« on: September 05, 2008, 02:30:17 PM »

I'm new to using offsets so I thought I write a short program to see if my understanding is correct. I won't attach it as someone may be able to explain what's going on just by looking at the code below. I haven't run it on my machine yet but, by following the machine co-ordinates DRO it looks like it is working properly but the toolpath screen seems confused.
 It should machine three 1" squares the first with it's bottom left corner at 0,0 the second starting at the upper right corner of the first at 1,1 and the third starting at the upper right corner of the second at 2,2.
Maybe someone can explain why the machine co-ordinates DRO looks corect but the toopath seems to write over the same squares more than once it might help me. (I tried bot normal and table modes of toolpath and neither looked correct)
Thanks
Sage

(Setup as follows)
(manually set the following X,Y fixture offsets in config)
(G54 is co-ordinates 0,0)
(G55 is co-ordinates 1,1)
(G56 is co-ordinates 2,2)
(Z is zeroed at work surface)
(Set M1 optional stop on to observe movement)
(ref all home)
(run program)
(tool path screen shows ok with 3 boxes linked top left to bottom right)
(if program is run production movements are correct on machine co-ordinates DRO)
(on tool path screen production movements are confused)

(program starts here)
M1 (stop to view screen)
Z.1 (tool up to stay clear)
G54 (reset offsets)
G0X0Y0 (go fast to 0,0)
m1 (stop to view screen)
Z-.010F1 (tool slowly into work 10thou)
X1F5 (mill a 1" square)
Y1
X0
Y0
G0Z.1 (tool up quickly)
g55 (Load second set of offsets)
G0X0Y0 (go quickly to new 0,0 location which is actually 1,1)
m1 (stop to view screen)
Z-.010F1
X1F5 (mill a 1" square)
Y1
X0
Y0
G0Z.1
g56
G0X0Y0 (go quickly to new 0,0 location which is actually 2,2)
m1
Z-.010F1
X1F5
Y1
X0
Y0
G0Z.1
G54 (cancel offsets)
M30 (end and rewind)

38

General Mach Discussion / MPG Signal requirements

« on: August 29, 2008, 09:51:48 AM »

Can someone confirm the signal requirements for Mach3 MPG inputs to a parallel port? I haven't been able to find it anywhere.
It looks like there are two signals required as the setup shows A and B signals.
Is a quadrature signal required or something else?
I'm asking becasue I came across a nice handwheel on a panel with a bunch of switches. The handwheel may already produce a quadrature signal. If not I'll make my own circuit to generate whatever is required.

Sage

39

General Mach Discussion / Rotary A Axis limits disable

« on: August 21, 2008, 10:24:38 AM »

I have a rotary table on the A-axis. What settings do I need to put and where to disable the limits. I searched on the subject and someone mentioned a check box to enable / disable the A-Axis limits. They didn't say where it was. I don't see it.


Sage

40

Newfangled Solutions Mach3 Wizards / Wizard output - saving

« on: August 11, 2008, 11:08:32 AM »

I ran the gear cutting wizard and it appears to generate G-code with a main loop and a subroutine. When initially loaded into Mach I can see the main loop and I can edit code and save it out to a file. The subroutine appears to be in a separate file called index.tap which I guess must be a temporary file. Once the program runs into the subroutine I can stop it and save the subroutine out as a file as well. I wanted to save the files out so I can edit them a bit and use them later without having to run the wizard again possibly making mistakes entering the data, Also, don't have a an A axis so I would put pauses in to ask me to manually turn the rotary table for the next tooth.
 My question is - how do I use the two files again short of editing them together into one G-code file containing both the main loop and the subroutine. Is there a way to put them back into mach as two separate files to be run again?

Sage