Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: I want a proper Mach3 licence instead of the Chinese issued version.

« on: February 10, 2022, 03:58:32 AM »

true, VFDs are awful for noise. Was the cable from the VFD screened?

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: I want a proper Mach3 licence instead of the Chinese issued version.

« on: February 09, 2022, 10:36:31 AM »

Just a thought on noise, interference and general mischief. Make sure there is enough current running through your contacts for limiit switches, E-stops and similar. The inputs of PLCs, motion controllers and similar often have a very high impedance and will source or sink very little current. I have had some issues with non-CNC machinery that had a stack of aux contacts on some motor overloads driving a PLC input. The contacts were rated for 5 mA minimum and weren't carrying nearly that. The upshot of all this was a series of stoppages, and the troublesome contact would only show about 200mV across it. It's down to the surface electrochemistry of the oxide layers on the contacts. Not enough current, and they will stop conducting well. A good sized pulldown resistor on the device input (if sinking) will sort this out and give you a clear go or no go on the contacts. Get about 10-50mA going through the contacts and you should be golden. It has the added advantage of making the input highly resistant to noise.

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: How can I get away from parallel cable

« on: December 01, 2020, 03:46:35 PM »

There are a number of Ethernet based sub controllers around, Smoothstepper is one and the UC300ETH is another. Both are good and offer a lot of scope for I/O expansion as well as breaking from from the ancient parallel port and its increasingly rare cable.

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: New to site - Mach3 homing support needed

« on: January 11, 2019, 06:52:15 AM »

^ that's it exactly

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General Mach Discussion / Re: New to site - Mach3 homing support needed

« on: January 11, 2019, 06:41:27 AM »

I think this means that the acceleration/decelleration values are so low that it hits the limit switch and overruns due to the motor's programmed wind-down rate.
With this said Mach3 treats limit switches and home switches differently, hitting a limit should trigger a hard emergency stop but a home switch just acts as part of the homing process and won't interrupt anything.
Is it possible on your machine for the actuator to climb over the switch and release it before the motor has finished slowing down? I've never had this condition but it might cause wierd homing. Have a look at it and see if you can keep the home switch held as long as possible, raise the motor acceleration slightly or slow it down a little if this is a possibility.

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: New to site - Mach3 homing support needed

« on: January 11, 2019, 05:57:38 AM »

just a thought, if you are using the same switches for homing and limits, make sure the ports and pins page is set up to reflect this.
Do you have individual pins assigned to each or are they all going to one pin?

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: MPG convert rotary pulse generator to lever actuation

« on: January 11, 2019, 05:50:47 AM »

Sounds to me like you just need to set the spindle lever up as your Z axis. pop a stepper and a belt drive on it and configure Mach3 to run with the MPG you have, and you should be good. With this said I think you'd be better off programming a drilling cycle for what you need doing, it will be more consistent, quicker and safer.

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Newbie here asking about why need REV on my mill

« on: January 11, 2019, 05:44:36 AM »

same here, I did it all with relay logic and being 3-phase it was fairly simple. it's got a spindle brake and a timer so that I can program m3, m4, m3, m4 all day and it doesn't crash but I have never, ever used it in 15 years.
Edit: my 300th post, I should make a cake to celebrate

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: limit switches

« on: January 10, 2019, 08:34:51 AM »

This rather depends on what sort of limit switches you want but if you want professional grade equipment rather than no-name Chinesium then I'd go to RS. Although they are first and foremost a trade supplier they handle personal accounts too, and cash sales can be done via the website. Support is very good and as far as switches go, they have enough to sink the titanic. They do their own lines of cables, switches under the RS Pro line, and they are effective and well priced.

Farnell are also very good and sometimes cheaper - Best to check both.

Amazon sometimes do well but don't expect any kind of support, they're ok if you want basic stuff down to a price but I'd rather go somewhere that i can find the same thing a year later if I need to replace anything.

10

General Mach Discussion / Re: Diameter changes .001 every part.

« on: December 17, 2018, 06:58:39 AM »

Great news  Happy turning and merry christmas.