Hi Tony,
I am using several different CAD programs. The main one I use now is Rhino for the designs. For the CAM side there is artcam and deskproto.
You are correct, Mach3 just drives the machine, but I must say it does it superbly.
Cudos to Art and all who helped make it what it is today.
Regards,
Ken

Hi,

Myself and brother Dave, bought a Bridgeport J1 head about 2 yrs ago, fitted it out with steppers on 3 axis 70v 7A drives, (Z knee) and all work a treat.
We changed the original 1HP motor for a 2 hp motor driven by an inverter, driven by Mach3 PWM.
Ball screws on X & Y (metric on x and imp" on y).
X Y 1:1 ratio.
3:1 Z ratio.

Well, success today, our first "real" job.
OK, its only a cutout for a mains IEC connector, but it was a perfect fit! 

We hit the start, Mach started the spindle and after a delay, proceeded to mill out the profile.
When finished, moved to a safe home position and stopped the spindle.
Now we can't wait to see what it can really do.

We are both very pleased and supprised how well the knee axis works, we did wonder if it would move at all! A 7NM stepper, 70v and a 7A drive is more than enough, without counter balance too.

The to do list includes, ....final connection of the coolant solenoids for mist and flood, connect the second inverter to the coolant pump and fit limit and home switches. I'm sure we will go overboard on the design for the brackets for the limits, just because we can. . .now!

Mach is absolutely superb, the forum is great and can't wait to make a mountain of chips.

Best regards,

Derek and Dave.

Hello all, 

I hope to find out a few answers as I learn about mach.  I'm a total newbie here just started to demo it with my frist machine. I want to ask is it ok to post in here if your just demo/trying the software?  If the answer is yes, when I have a question where do I post it?  I have tried just this yesterday and my account was removed with no warning.  I find this odd since I have been totaly respectful in this forum, other then just not knowing the basic rules well.  So I have no idea what has happened, but it did let me recreate my account again even with the same user id.  Hmmm....?

Thanks and where do I post a picture of my machine at?

journeyonline:
You weren't deleted on purpose. In the last couple of days art and Benny have moved this forum to a different isp. We basically lost 2 days worth of users and posts, but we now have higher bandwidth and more room to grow. 

 "I want to ask is it ok to post in here if your just demo/trying the software? "

You bet! just look around and try to ask questions in a specific area or just in the general area. There is tons of info around here and lots of great people.!!

Chad

 
Hi I am Andre Roest from lekkerkerk holland and since a year of five the happy owner of a lathe and a mill which I'm trying to convert into a CNC machine.
I make use of the beautifull mach3 software and the newfangled addons.

Hello everybody,
From the forum name you might have guessed I'm from the middle of England (more or less). I have just about completed my tabletop router and am about to attempt to get to grips with Mach2. I am now retired after untold years designing rivet placing tools but have been building mostly steam models for far longer. I have no doubt that I will be asking what to most people are the most basic of questions, the sort of things that many will have fogotten about and do not consider to be problems but we all have to start somewhere.
Thanks in advance for your patience that will be needed helping an aged newbie get started.
John.

Hi,

I suspect that you won't get 'newer' than me!  I've just downloaded Mach 2 to see what it can do.

I served my time as a toolmaker back in 1957-62 but immediately moved on to other occupations such as photography, Hi-Fi sales, Engineering supplies office manager, DIY shop owner, computer consultant . . . .  I now build PCs and create artwork for posters/programmes to earn a crust but 18 months ago bought a Myford lathe to re-kindle my interest in clocks/clock-making (started in child-hood).

Further bits of machinery have been added including a Proxxon mini-mill and last week I saw an e-bay item which is this same mill with CNC control!  -  at last we get to the relevant point !!

My first attempts at testing Mach-2 have all been abortive. I am well versed in design and can export .DFX files from CorelDRAW but when I import these into Mach-2 - although the outline appears in the 'window' - the 'generate G-Code' button always creates the same code - no matter what the .DFX file is (I've tried 4) -   . . .

G90G80G49
GO Z1.0000
M5
GO Z1.0000
GO X0 Y0
M5M30

Advice as to where to post such a basic question would be appreciated.

Hey JG,
     In the general Mach discussion board would be good. Why didn't you download Mach 3? You should give it a try. It also comes with Lazycam, a g-code generating program.

Brett

Hey JG,
     In the general Mach discussion board would be good. Why didn't you download Mach 3? You should give it a try. It also comes with Lazycam, a g-code generating program.

Brett

Thanks for the quick response Brett. I was 'bamboozled' by the 'VISTA' ((  flash  into thinking that Mach 3 was not available for free download.

It was always my intention to purchase Mach 3 once I had worked out if I could use it.

I now have Mach 3 and the .PDF tutorial for setting up the three axis mill so I'll read through that tomorrow (I am committed for the rest of today to other matters) and post to the general forum if (when?) I have further questions.

JG

Hello I'm Mike I have now been using mach2 for a week now (My wife bought me a new Tormach for my birthday). I will say that I found mach 2 to be very ez to learn and was very impressed with it. Tormach wil be upgrading to mach 3 later this month . I have reveiwed you videos here and am looking forward to the upgrade. I have been a machinist for over 25 years and will say that Mach is very good software. It is more than what you think if you just give it a quick look. Anyways just wanted to say Hi if any one is going to the convension in Denver on the 10 of april I'll see you there. Regards Mike