Messages

241

General Mach Discussion / Re: toolpath display: odd problem

« on: January 20, 2009, 09:47:57 AM »

useful tip: thanks

242

General Mach Discussion / Re: toolpath display: odd problem

« on: January 19, 2009, 09:40:12 AM »

I haven't tried switching to Toolpath in a cycle, but I can see the green line progressing on the little toolpath screen at the top right of the "program run" screen. As you say, I can see it going around and around on the left hand fixture when it's actually cutting on the right. I'll try looking at the toolpath screen next time I run it.

It's better than the other way round so I won't gripe if a fix is on the way anyway

243

General Mach Discussion / Re: toolpath display: odd problem

« on: January 19, 2009, 09:23:47 AM »

ah, ok. I'll be patient

244

General Mach Discussion / toolpath display: odd problem

« on: January 19, 2009, 09:09:46 AM »

Hi. Strange one, this. My toolpath display 3D model looks fine, the line-by-line simulation goes nicely from one fixture to the other and the program works perfectly. On the other hand , when I actually run it, the green "done" line appears only over the first fixture (on the left). Pics of the fixtures are here: http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,9956.0.html - the left hand fixture is G56, and the right hand is G55. It starts on the left, chops out a hole, then goes right and does the bolt holes, face relief and edge trim, then returns to the start position on G56 and rewinds. Any ideas? it's not stopping me working but I'd like it to display properly. Ta

245

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Excel Pinnacle vertical mill

« on: January 13, 2009, 12:17:25 PM »

that's a VERY sexy conversion and I'm in considerable envy of the travel speed. I must see if I can snag a faster computer for my rig, mine seems rather limited in terms of the speed of the pulse train it can generate. Well done, great job there

246

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Excel Pinnacle vertical mill

« on: January 13, 2009, 06:17:55 AM »

Hi. Could be that the Yamazen mill is based on the same castings, and the electrical & control systems fitted by different companies. It's fairly common with machine tools, I believe. Does the Yamezen have plastic slide surfaces?

247

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Excel Pinnacle vertical mill

« on: January 12, 2009, 07:36:24 PM »

Hi. X around 750mm, Y around 400mm, Z around 180mm (set a bit low so i don't knock the coolant pipe off).

More pictures:


Front - with TFT display and hardware control panel. The guards are less than wonderful, really they just prevent coolant going absolutely everywhere ( they constrain it to "nearly everywhere   ")


Backside - the white boxes are for contactors, LPT interface boards and other trickery. The RoutOut stepper driver and PC are on the steel framed shelf to the right.


Front hardware control panel for locking out the brake and running the pneumatic drawbar. The spindle can also be disabled and safely reenabled from here, all done with relay logic. The whole thing is completely fail-safe.


Current 2-jig setup making WG5Q flanges for coupling waveguide sections. The twin fixtures enable angles flanges to be made by tilting the first fixture, then finishing off on the second jig.


My lovely twin-jet coolant feed doing its thing. it's such an improvement over the old "gooseneck" feed!


Product! A complete WG5Q flange from 15mm thick 6082 alloy. Complete cycle time is 20 minutes dead, no tool changes.

248

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Excel Pinnacle vertical mill

« on: December 26, 2008, 08:03:44 PM »

Height - 7 feet, spindle - 4hp, 415v 3ph, 4200 RPM max expanding sheave drive and automatic airbrake, 3x 10 amp stepper drives, routout stepper driver, microstepping to 32,000 steps per inch. Maximum X,Y speed - 1200 mm/minute and of course Mach3 running on an old 950MHz PC with two parallel cards.

Note to self - more pictures required! it's quite a big beast. The first two pictures are of the twin-jet travelling coolant system I made up. I'm cutting large parts on two fixtures with a significant variation in Z offsets, and the static feed was either missing the tool or getting spun off the chuck and vapourising all over the floor.





It works a treat, I'd like a lot more pressure but that'll mean making a new coolant pump as the old one gets tired, bless it. 10-15PSI at the nozzle would be good! The clamp is a giant 85mm hose clamp, and the jets are now angled at 45 and 225 degrees to X so that on normal X or Y oriented cuts the coolant flow is approximately the same.

More photos when I remember!

249

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 skips to subroutine, crashes Z, ruins part :(

« on: December 13, 2008, 08:47:38 PM »

Good point - thanks.

It's been ok since then despite wobbly power.

 

250

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motor problem

« on: December 12, 2008, 12:31:58 PM »

acceleration values matter too, if the motor can't spool up quick enough it may trip over itself. the motor tuning dialog is useful for determining what's what.