Hi

Brett suggested I cross post a problem I'm having with a Lazycam processed DXF file. Very simple rectangular part (metric) with 4 small holes and 8 larger ones. The first small hole cuts perfectly, but the next (larger) one causes the steppers to go berserk about half way around the circle almost oscillating to-and-fro rather than describing the arc.  Pretty certain machine setup is correct as I can jog and rapid move with no problems.

I get the same problem even if I'm 'cutting air' rather than material.

I've used Mach2RC6 as my previous version but always via a commercial modelling and toolpath generation program but wanted to try lazycam (even bought a license    ) for simple 2 1/2D work. Loading the .tap file into Mach2 gives an error message "Radius to end of arc differs from radius to start" on line N125 which causes the problem.

the .dxf and the .tap file (metric) are attached. .Lcam files don't seem to be uploadable.

Anyone seen anything similar?

You can not have a G90 and a G91.1 on the same line.

Change your program to this and try again


N5 (File Phono Input Panel 2 )
N10 (Default Mill Post)
N15 (File Posted in Mill Mode)
N20 (Tuesday, April 24, 2007)
N25 G90 G80 G40
G91.1
N30 G0  Z0.0000
N35  X2.7008  Y9.5994
N40  Z1.1000

Graham.

Graham, Thanks for the reply.  I don't know if that's a problem, but I think I may have found that my problem is actually caused by running on too slow a machine.  I'm trying to run on an old 300MHz laptop that used to run Mach2RC6 perfectly, but I suspect is having problems with Mach3.  It works better if I run from the 'Diagnostics' screen (lees overheads?), but still graunchs occasionally.

Guess I'll have to use a faster machine, but my Dell 9300 doesn't have a parallel port

I'm in the 'lazy' camp, having used solidworks and real cam in the past but now just wanting a simple 2 1/2D from DXF route.  I just used the output that Lazycam gave me.  Out of interest, Lazycam seems to do the first pass of a circle at height of 0 (top of material) before plunging for subsequent cuts.

Anyone know of a USB or Cardbus parallel port adapter that will work with Mach3 for my notebook?

Thx

The info I gave will get rid of the "Radius to end of arc differs from radius to start"  error you are getting, a 300Mz laptop is way too slow for Mach3, 1300Mz minimum.

If you search the forum you will find a few posts on CardBus LPT cards that have been used with success.

Graham.