It's been quite some time since I updated on my machine. It is in full operation now.
Some things I would like to share about shortcomings of Mach3 for oxy/fuel cutters. For a big machine like this we can't align the work pieces to the axes. So Mach axes had to be rotated for alignment. I used G68 for it. But another thing I learned that for big machines like these you need reverse run too. Sometimes the flame stops cutting in the middle of cut and then you have to pause and then reverse run the gcode to reheat the work piece and start cut again. And then what. I discover that reverse run doesn't work with rotated axes
![Cry :'(](https://www.machsupport.com/forum/Smileys/default/cry.gif)
. Reverse run doesn't work with tool compensation (G42, G43) too. That can be catered for in the cam software (a little inconvenient for the operator, but doable). But reverse run and rotated axes not working together was a pain.
Luckily I found a free utility on net for g-code manipulation called grecode.exe. This neat little software runs from command line and you can move, rotate, make arrays etc. of your g-code with it. Put it in a few macros and wizards and we are all set for job setup on machine that is easy for operators.
There were some more minor things which came up during this project. My designed screens with dark grey background looked very nice in the workshop environment but when I installed them in a space where it was bright daylight then suddenly it appeared that the screen contrast makes it unreadable. Changed graphics to a light grey scheme and that fixed it.
Anyways, I learned a lot about Mach and the flame cutting process with this project. Next project is a plasma cutter with THC.
Zafar