Messages

171

Newfangled Solutions Mach3 Wizards / Surface Material Wizard - bug - odd values

« on: February 19, 2011, 12:51:03 PM »

I ran the "Surface Material" NFS Wizard and got some very strange code. As shown in the screen shots I selected a removal of 20thou presumably in two passes by selecting a 10thou depth of cut. The code shows three passes in three odd amounts. In addition the final pass is Z- .0201 which  is only a tenth too much but no reason it shoudn't be right on.
 Also I selected rapid feed rate for the repositioning move before each pass and that does not seem to show up in the code. The repositioning is done at regular feed rate.

Resulting code here. The screen shots of the setup are attached.

(Code by Newfangled Wizard, 2/19/2011)
(Version 2.85)
(Program Posted for Aluminum )
G0 G49 G40.1 G17
G80 G50 G90 G98  
G20 (Inch)
(***** Material Surfacing *****)
(Xpos=0 Ypos=0 Lenght=3 Width=3)
(Mtl top = 0 Depth = -0.02 )
(Num of Z pass=3 of 0.0067)
(Num of Y pass=2 of 1.5)
(Ymax=2.25 Ymin=0.75 )
M6 T1
M03 S1082.3
M9

G00G43 H1 Z0.1
G00 Z 0.1
G00 X -1.75 Y 2.25
G01 Z -0.0067 F 10
G01 X 4.75 F 20
G01 Y 0.75
G01 X -1.75
G00 Z 0.1
G00 X -1.75 Y 2.25
G01 Z -0.0134 F 10
G01 X 4.75 F 20
G01 Y 0.75
G01 X -1.75
G00 Z 0.1
G00 X -1.75 Y 2.25
G01 Z -0.0201 F 10
G01 X 4.75 F 20
G01 Y 0.75
G01 X -1.75
M5 M9
M30


Am I doing someting wrong here??

Sage

172

General Mach Discussion / Re: Power Supply Overheating?

« on: February 08, 2011, 06:06:02 PM »

Presumably the 36v supply is the one running your steppers?
If so then the 36 volt supply would be dissipating much more power.
For an example, say the 36volt supply supplies 3 amps. Then 36v x 3a would be 108 watts. (plus some more for losses).
If the 12 volt supply were also supplying 3amps then even though it is supplyig the same amount of current it would only dissipate 12v x 3a is 36 watts.
I assume the 12v supply is only for logic and control signals so it probably runs along with a very small load probably less than an amp.

More power dissipated means more heat to get rid of. Hence the fan running.

That's about all I can surmise from your description.

If the supply is in fact in ambient temperature air then it is designed to run the fan to keep itself cool. If you are overloading it then it will have other defences that will kick in like current limiting, voltage foldback or even a fuse to cut out.
I wouldn't worry about it too much. It'll let you know if it has problem.
As for your comparison to other supplies; all supplies are different designs and there may be components due to the particular design that are under more stress. Perhaps the designer decided they'd like to keep those at lower temperatures earlier than the other design.

Sage

173

General Mach Discussion / Re: Power Supply Overheating?

« on: February 07, 2011, 08:28:53 PM »

What's the temperature in the box?
 I can't imagine a plywood box with any number of holes drilled in it would be allowing the supply to cool properly. Perhaps you need a fan installed on the box to ventilate it.
Heat is the enemy of electronics. Best keep it happy.

Sage

174

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motors Wiring

« on: February 05, 2011, 07:05:06 PM »

Yes, on second thought I guess your probably right.
(#14 being 2.5 ohms per 1000ft one way).
I had it in my mind that wire resistance was worse than that even in the "larger" gauges.
Even so a 20ft extension of #14 would add 0.1ohm which is a power loss of 5% with a 2ohm motor load (.1/2)
No big deal I guess.

Sorry about that  

Sage

175

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motors Wiring

« on: February 05, 2011, 05:44:53 PM »

All good answers but don't go overboard adding wire. Unless you are using really big wire you will loose power to the motors.
 
Assume 1ohm of cable (round trip out to and back from motor)
Assume a Gecko trying to drive 7A to the motor.
loss in cable = I squared x R
7 squared is 49,  x 1ohm is 49 watts lost in the cable !!!

Is moving the controller (drivers) closer to the router gantry a possibility?



Sage

176

General Mach Discussion / Re: False limit trip

« on: February 05, 2011, 05:18:59 PM »

 It is best to arrange your limit switches so that they supply HARD signals  to the Breakout board under running (or normal) conditions.
 In other words, the signal being supplied to the breakout board (BOB) should be either a solid ground or 24v (or whatever logic level is required) supplied by the switches when the switches are in their normal runnning state.
 It IS NOT good to have open wiring with a pullup resistor (or pull down) on a BOB input supplying the normal operating conditions. You can have pullup or pulldown resistors only if the normal signal condition is a hard ground or logic high supplied by your switch circuitry.
 If you have to have an open circuit arrangement then use that to control a relay which then can supply the hard signal to the BOB. The relay being a low resistance device cannot be triggered by noise or induced voltages on your wiring.
If you accomplish this then any type of wire can be used because a solid ground or solid supply voltage will not be able to be induced into by noise sources.
 For those with an electronics background this is called keeping everytihng as low impedance as possible.

In my case all of my limit switches are normally closed and connected in series to the 24v supply. This drives a relay which is then normally energized. The contacts of the relay are connected to the BOB and supply it with a ground for normal operation. If any switches get triggered (open) the relay drops out and only then does the BOB see a high level at it's input because it has a pullup. The pullup is not left to float around supplying the logic input.

 By this arrangement the pullup resistor IS NOT used to supply the normal operating conditions. (becasue it is suceptable to triggering by noise).

Regardless of what type of switches you are using there will always be a way to arange it into a low impedance circuit. It may take a relay to do so.

Sage



 

177

General Mach Discussion / Re: Pocket Wizard by Brian / Kiran

« on: January 22, 2011, 07:11:17 PM »

Oops. My mistake. I see there are two rectangular pocket wizards - one beside "pocket cutting" and another stand alone rectangular pocket wizard.
Sort of confusing actually.

Sage

178

General Mach Discussion / Re: Pocket Wizard by Brian / Kiran

« on: January 22, 2011, 06:41:49 PM »

I assume you are referring to the standard wizards?
My stnadard wizard for rectangluar pocket looks nothing like the one you posted a picture of.
I'm running Mach 3.042.040
I'm wondering how to update the standard wizards.

(I just finished updating my licensed NFS wizards. They seem to be at 2.85 now.)

Sage

179

General Mach Discussion / Re: Locating question

« on: January 21, 2011, 09:54:18 PM »

Ok.
Manual Z is fine but then you're going to need something like an M1 (optional stop) to stop the code while you adjust the Z axis manually before and after each rectangle.
 As it is the code is going to move around a particular rectangle and then immediately go to the next one without giving you a chance to get the tool out of the work. And then it will start the next one without giving you a chance to put it back down.
You have a bit more thinking to do.
Sage

180

General Mach Discussion / Re: Locating question

« on: January 21, 2011, 06:50:32 PM »

Not to state the obvious, but, since you appear to be a newbe to G-code I will point out that you have no Z-axis commands in your program. Therefore, what you have programmed (so far) will do no actual cutting or, it will drag the cutter all over the place possibly breaking it.
You'll probably be adding an equivalent amount of code to manage the Z-axs.

Sage