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Author Topic: "Manual" Milling With mach 3  (Read 2218 times)

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Offline jevs

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"Manual" Milling With mach 3
« on: April 21, 2015, 01:10:35 PM »
I am wondering what methods you guys use to operate your mill for simple cutting operations.

So far I have just been twisting my feed rate dial to a percentage that gives me a speed that seems close, and then setting the proper spindle RPM from the GUI. I then just use my jog buttons. This works "ok". My percentage knob only has so many settings though...5% 10% 20% etc.

I do also have a pendant with MPG, but that is not as smooth as holding a button and letting the machine handle the rest.

The only issue I have is that I am not sure how to set a proper feed rate rather than picking from the few choices my knob has for percentages.

Can I use an MDI command to set the exact feed rate I want and then use the jog buttons to machine?

I assume this is possible, can anyone tell me the code? I briefly looked and it seems you can issue an Fx within a G code to set it, but I am not sure how you would utilize this for "manual" operation. I have only let my CAM generate G-code so far. I can decipher it for the most part, but still learning. 

I know completely using the MDI to make the move may also be better than the jog buttons, but...baby steps.

« Last Edit: April 21, 2015, 01:14:21 PM by jevs »

Offline jevs

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Re: "Manual" Milling With mach 3
« Reply #1 on: April 21, 2015, 01:30:08 PM »
I cannot get to my machine in real life right now, but in looking at the manual, it appears I can enter a feed rate from the GUI much the same as spindle speed.

Will it use this feed rate to jog if I have my knob set to 100% FRO, or will it use the max rapid speed using the jog buttons?  In other words, how do you make the jog buttons utilize the feed rate number to move?

Offline Hood

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Re: "Manual" Milling With mach 3
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2015, 03:49:23 AM »
The CSMIO controllers allow you to use the Feed Override pot to control keybopard Jog speed but the only way to set the jog speed with the parallel port and probably most other external controllers is to set a slow jog % in the Tab screen.
Hood