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Author Topic: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!  (Read 4511641 times)

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Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!
« Reply #710 on: January 02, 2010, 05:39:45 PM »
Howdy, Sarge here. I "backed" into this: my brother is buying the parts to build 2 X/Y tables ~30" x 60"; one for him as a plasma cutter, one for me (uncommitted as yet). Bro doesn't have the electronics / programming skillset nor the time to build. I come from 30+ yrs electronics design, 15+ on my own, 10+ in microcontrollers.  A collegue recommended Mach3: a choice move!

 I built the stepper drives & torch control relays, figured out the axes w/pinouts & tuning, but turned to the forum for help on torch control. Special thanks to the posters in "Plasma On/Off", I should have it good soon.

 A fast "cookie" of thanks: the charge pump is a great drive enable, but may have a lag as presented due to capacitive time constant. I used a 74123 retriggerable one-shot with:
 > charge pump signal through 680 ohm to pin 9 (a* inp), with .1 uF to gnd. (noise supression & signal loading)
 > 47k (pins 16 & 7) & .01uF (7 & 6) to set the one-shot time constant
 > pins 10 & 11 to + (pin 16) and pin 8 to gnd
 While pump is active; pin 5 is high & 12 is low. It tolerates the occasional missing pulse, but miss 2+ and it changes state.
I use it to disable the FET drivers (ST type L293B at inhibit)     Thanks for the help, I'll be visiting again soon... <<<)))
Not an engineer, but plays one on TV
Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!
« Reply #711 on: January 03, 2010, 01:08:58 PM »
Alan Bredbury here Tool and Die Maker by trade went back to school and got my Masters in Business Management. Worked as a project Engineer in the automotive aftermarket for 18 years then the company got bought and moved out of Connecticut. I had some CNC exposure but then became a division manager for a company that had 4 different CNC machines and spent a lot of time drawing and tool pathing in Mastercam X. I had a lot of Autocad experience in the late 90s and early 2000s. I had been buying parts for a while to put a machine together and as of February 2009 I became unemployed once again. I have built my machine X axis 50" Y axis 40" Z axis 18" Gecko 203V 640in/oz motors MACH3. It works great just got it calibrated and running. But (I will post this in the correct area as well) I am a bit confused about one thing. when I go into the motor set up area and jog the axis, any one, I can enter 80 IPM for the speed and jog the motors without missing steps no problem, set my acceleration so high it actually shakes the machine no missed steps. When running a program if I go over 30 IPM even with gentle acceleration I get missed steps I mean blatant you can hear the motor ratcheting. Is there a setting I am missing in the run mode? Anyway Greetings all.
Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!
« Reply #712 on: January 04, 2010, 07:18:50 PM »
Bought Mach3 (well..  came with a mill I bought..  trying to familiarize myself with the software...)

IS there (I thought I saw somewhere... I thought I saw... I thought I saw )   a dictionary or term look up web page posted here somewhere...  about terms used in Mach3 and CNC in general...  was I seeing things...

folks  talking about "zed position'   and "z axis position" are about to drive me nuts...   (am I already...??)   8-)   thanks for any help

Pleeeze.. ???

Thanks in advance
Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!
« Reply #713 on: January 06, 2010, 09:49:34 AM »
I will shortly have a 3 axis router running from mach3 - just purchased from Exel CNC.

I have many years experience with CNC, use Solidworks and EdgeCAM. Will look at producing patterns and models again! Ran a product development business before, now teaching at the local college - and yes do teach CAE / CNC / CAD / CAM - i don't need to be tested too hard, don't want to be found out!

Looks like a well supported forum - looking forward to joining in - well asking for help?

Any one got a reliable post processor for Mach 3 / EdgeCAM?

Julian
Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!
« Reply #714 on: January 07, 2010, 11:06:50 PM »
Hey; I'm a newbie to both CNC and this forum. I'm CNCing a Proxxon mill, a Taig lathe, and a larger home made mill based on the Taig spindle. A long, long time ago in a Galaxy far far away I was a computer programmer using C, Pascal, Fortran and MS VB. Now I just sell and repair computers. Even with my experience with computers, the set up of Mach3, using the somewhat incomplete and cryptic install pdf, has been a bit frustrating.
Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!
« Reply #715 on: January 08, 2010, 01:29:23 PM »
Hello,
My name is Aaron and I live in WA State in the pacific northwest of the USA. My education is a BSEE (Electrical Engineering, control theory emphasis) but I work primarily in machine automation. I specify hardware, electronic and mechanical, and then develop the software integrating both motion controllers and interfaces to PLC and HMI's.

I started my project using Mach3 as a tool to support a hobby business of mine that requires repetitive routing/cutting of plastic and foam. I have picked up a XYZ table with stepper motors, and am in the process of initial testing. The motors and drives have very little information, as I picked these up used, and they are from a supplier in China.

I have already found the site here to be very interesting. I'm currently working with the Demo version of Mach3 to see how well the whole concept is going to perform, before picking up the license; however, for my task the licensed version is where I'll end up. I really look forward to working with everyone and being a part of this community. I wish every high school offered a program to allow students to join this community and develop educational projects.
Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!
« Reply #716 on: January 08, 2010, 05:55:15 PM »
Hi, Thanks for the welcome. I've been in NC since 1972 in Ferranti and was taught by the guys who invented it back in 1952. lived thro' the development of editing boxes and then full cnc. Been thro punched card, fanfold, mag tape, paper tape, mylar etc. 23 or so different control systems, ran CNC lathe manufacturing plant, 20 years spent as workholding specialist and now am old fart playing in my garage with a little boxford I came across which has no software. Mach3 looks like a good solution so now looking at how to wire it up.
Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!
« Reply #717 on: January 09, 2010, 07:57:19 PM »
Hi All; This is a great forum and has been the source of many answers for me already.  My name is Jim and I have little experience in engineering/machining or computer programming but love to tinker. I have been a pilot for 36 years and am currently (summer anyway) a waterbomber pilot in western Canada.  I am awed by the experience and generosity of the members of this forum.  I built a basic 3 axis machine 3 years ago and have been lurking for quite awhile. My interest is in building model aircraft of my own design. It is a thrill to design something in AutoCAD and take it all the way through to a production part. Just tried to upgrade to 3.042.035 but everything stopped working so went back to V2.  I will have to probe a little further for some answers. Cheers!
Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!
« Reply #718 on: January 10, 2010, 01:44:08 PM »
Hi  All

Just a few lines to introduce myself. I'm an Architect from and based in Ireland. In 2004 I set up a company producing 3D models / images for the construction industry. Currently for obvious reasons the need for architects / 3d visualisers for the construction sector is almost non existent. I have always been excited about CNC - the ability to go directly from drawing to object. Producing 3d images for other guys designs is a little removed and after 5 years was becoming a chore. I have some money put aside and will be looking to purchase either an ez-router or shop bot. I'm currently comparing the 2 machines -shopbot - prob. better machine with large user/support forum and the ez-router alot cheaper and could do the job plus you can use mach 3. Anybody got a recent model ez-router - any advice?

Offline AlesV

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Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!
« Reply #719 on: January 11, 2010, 08:08:02 AM »
HI
I'm new to the forum. I like a technical chalenge so I decided to build a cnc mill. It can do approx 1250x700x340mm piece (4.11x2.3x1.1ft), mainly wood and foam (or soft metal like alu or bras, but I do not use it much, just some letters and such)
Lately the original controller (bought off the shelf) box failed and I started to look for options. That's how I found Mach3 on the web.
Already got great help from the members.
As per their suggestions and hopefully further guidance, I'll try to convert the controller box to try Mach3. If all goes well (read:if I do not do something stupid with the electronics) hope to start milling again soon.

Otherwise I am in naval architecture and yacht design. I do mostly aluminium and steel boat plans.

So thanks a lot for this usefull forum.
Ales