I need help setting up Mach 3. I live in Margate Florida. will be happy to pay

what part of the set up do you need help with

Thanks, I'll innumerate.

1) I can run my spindle, but have no idea how fast is moving. It will only run at at speeds no grater than 200; of course  i don't know how fast 200 is . But I can slow it down or speed it up with in the range ( 0- 200)
so when I try to run gcode that has s600 it sends the spindle into limit mode.

2) I have trouble understanding the homing settings; and how they relate to table size. Also the "go to zero" function. How does "0" relate to "home".
I've played with all the homing settings and have a good idea as to how they should work, but can't make all the connections fast enough.
The machine coordinates v/s the home coordinates; and how these relate to the soft limits.

I've watch a few videos on the subject, but its the small details that i am missing.

3) Calibrating the steps to inches moved.
I did the auto function for this. but I know it is not accurate.

4) lazy cam

I need to be walked through the process of importing a file into lazy cam, confirming the specs of my file ( size and shape or correct ) then exporting out the correct gcode for the file.

1) I can run my spindle, but have no idea how fast is moving. It will only run at at speeds no grater than 200; of course  i don't know how fast 200 is . But I can slow it down or speed it up with in the range ( 0- 200)
so when I try to run gcode that has s600 it sends the spindle into limit mode.

What and how are you sending feedback to Mach for the spindle?
Would help if you had a tach or something to read the rpm.

2) I have trouble understanding the homing settings; and how they relate to table size. Also the "go to zero" function. How does "0" relate to "home".
I've played with all the homing settings and have a good idea as to how they should work, but can't make all the connections fast enough.
The machine coordinates v/s the home coordinates; and how these relate to the soft limits.

There are few tutorials in Members Docs that should provide understanding.

3) Calibrating the steps to inches moved.

I did the auto function for this. but I know it is not accurate.

There have been post's on how to use Mach's calibration feature. Did you try a search?

4) lazy cam

I need to be walked through the process of importing a file into lazy cam, confirming the specs of my file ( size and shape or correct ) then exporting out the correct gcode for the file. [qoute]

There is a manual for LC in Members Docs.

Creating a dxf file.....
The program you are using must have the capability to save the file in a DXF format. For LC it should be saved as a Version 12 DXF.
High level info on dxf files  can be found in the LazyTurn Manual Appendix "C". After your done drawing whatever ......say a profile...... you save as or export the file as a dxf with a name of you liking. All softwre is different, so see what choices your software provides on saving file.

Once LC is opened you can click the button for importing dxf file, but there are other steps that need to be done depending on how you want to machine the piece. So read the manual. If you have started LC out of Mach then all one needs to do is click post code and it will be read by Mach.

I am not sure what you mean by confirming the specs of your file. The size and shape of what you drew are what is used by LC  and depending on what system Mach defaults to it can be metric or imperial. Will also assume that the axis scale is set to 1 in Mach.

RICH

Thank you very much for your help. I will go try these out.


I don't believe that Mach 3 is getting any feedback. I did see a setting for special settings (use spindle feedbach  and or close loop spindle control) but have not used.

 

What controls your spindle? There has to be some sort of speed controller.
Do you have an index pulse going into Mach from the spindle?
Pulley settings may need to be set to your spindle speed to get things working correctly.
Hood

Some photos of your machines spindle head might help us to determine what you do and do not have.

Graham

sounds like the spindle vfd is showing hz. multiply by 60 to get rpm
eg 200hz = S12000

Got the machine running! thanks everyone.

Fine tune.

the spindle is still a bit of a problem. I've calibrated with a new pulley to 33,000 this caused the spindle speed settings to work on a wider range ( 0-650) . the previous calibration was at 24,000 and gave me a range ( 0-250) spindle speed.

How do I fine tune my spindle?
thanks again.