Messages

221

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 on iPhone

« on: February 07, 2009, 06:07:43 PM »

  Yeah, baby. Who said engineering wasn't a good-looking sport?

not that any amount of iphones will make my hair grow back. meh.

222

General Mach Discussion / Re: Plasma Application, Mach3 torch height control.

« on: January 29, 2009, 10:22:10 PM »

Hmm. Perhaps your Z axis would be better off controlled by the torch voltage system and X and Y controlled by Mach. Does mach accept jog inputs while running Gcode? I'm thinking you could emulate the pulses of a MPG easily in response to the torch signalling too high or too low.

Or just run the Z independently of the computer and just let it follow the work, using a "coolant" M-code to bring it to the workpiece and back, overriding the height control. Knowing more about your height control system would be a plus.

223

General Mach Discussion / Re: Ubuntu and CNC programs.

« on: January 29, 2009, 06:11:59 PM »

You can run Windows programs under the Windows emulator called "Wine", but since mach3 relies on some clever driver-level operations i won't pretend to understand, and is highly time-critical, I think you could well be on a hiding to nothing. I'd go for a clean install of XP Pro with any non-essential functions stripped out.

224

General Mach Discussion / Re: "Threading" Gaining Confidence

« on: January 28, 2009, 03:37:04 PM »

Good lad! Keep going. I'm doing my final 30 Waveguide 5Q flanges this week before I ship my machine out to the new place. 8500 square feet, wooooooooooo Trouble is, according to the floorplan there's nothing left.

225

General Mach Discussion / Re: Offsets for spherical tools

« on: January 28, 2009, 06:22:56 AM »

Cheers. I had a re-think about this and I'm working on a different approach to cutting parabolas. The algebra is rather involved though, and I haven't had a lot of time to sit and think seriously about it. I'm taking over a factory and setting up some seriously hefty gear in there next week ... I'll get back to this when I can.

@   <--- mothball to keep it fresh

226

General Mach Discussion / Re: Offsets for spherical tools

« on: January 25, 2009, 06:55:48 AM »

Thanks guys, very much appreciated. I'm going to have to learn about VB, it's just that the learning curve at this point is quite steep and a bit greasy.

I'll try some of the suggestions tonight - there seems to be a number of ways to do the same thing. The DRO I'm trying to read is the one on the "program run" screen, the regular X,Y and Z DROs that Mach will be using for the program as it runs, I think the OEM codes are 800, 801 and 802.

Jim - sound advice. I'm only doing proof-of-concept stuff for now, on a laptop with no mill attached. I'm keeping this muck well away from my real rig until I can say with confidence that I know what will happen

Thanks again, I'll try to get this set up this evening and see how we go.

227

General Mach Discussion / Re: Offsets for spherical tools

« on: January 24, 2009, 08:58:00 PM »

I'm having no joy here. I can't get the macro to operate.

The macro is named M9991 and is stored in \macros.

the code I was using as a test should show red G0 moves +500 X, then +500Y, then +500 Z. The Z move defined by a parameter that the macro should create by calling it from the Y DRO.

Gcode here:

#10=0
#11=0
#12=0
G0 X500
G0 Y500
M9991
G0 Z#11
m30
%

Macro here:

CODE"#10="&GetOEMDRO(800)
CODE"#11="&GetOEMDRO(801)
CODE"#12="&GetOEMDRO(802)

I'll be honest, I have no idea what I'm doing. If i could see something work, I'd be a great deal happier. As it is it's like repairing a radio with a knife and fork. What i want to do is this:

 - get an axis DRO value
 - assign it to a conventional # parameter and use it in a regular parametric subroutine.

Sorry to bugger round in little circles over what should be a very simple affair but I've never written a macro before and I'm definitely missing a point somewhere... I've tried the suggested methods, with permutations and alterations galore, and I get errors, or it just doesn't work.

Is it not working on the simulations because the DRO doesn't actually move?

Is Mach looking for the macros somewhere else? A subfolder?

My head hurts and i'm going to bed.

 

228

General Mach Discussion / Re: Offsets for spherical tools

« on: January 23, 2009, 08:03:57 PM »

Hmm. Last time I used VB it was pretty gruelling. I'll try these and see what i can do. Cheers...

I thought of another way I could cut a parabola, sending the cutter round in an extremely long helix. I'll have a play with that too.

229

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: My Balding Beaver

« on: January 23, 2009, 03:19:20 PM »

like chicken in a basket, but harder on the teeth. Good looking mill! big and heavy, should turn out some good work.

230

General Mach Discussion / Re: Offsets for spherical tools

« on: January 23, 2009, 02:25:56 PM »

Cheers. Happier now. One thing I can't seem to find in the manual is how to apply an axis value off the DRO to a parameter; ie make the value of #3 equal to whatever X is reading at the time. Some clues here?