The thing that kills me the most about Mach3? The fact that you can hit "start" to start your program run...AND THE CNC ISN'T ACTUALLY TURNED ON! LOL....I haven't tried it, but I bet Mach3 will run, even if a CNC isn't connected to the computer!

If the fact that Mach3 will run without a machine is your biggest problem, then just quit now.

Myself and many others run Mach3 on PC's without machines connected to them for a variety of reasons (all good reasons).

The thing that kills me too about the "limit" switches? you shouldn't be able to jog PAST the limit switch once the limit is set. No ifs ands or buts about it. That is why the limit switch is there.

A very large portion of Mach3 users have multiple switches connected to a single input pin. Because of this, Mach3 often doesn't even know which switch has has been activated.

Mach3 is a highly configurable, general purpose Machine Control. It's used for a huge variety of machines, in a huge variety of configurations.

If it did everything exactly how you wanted it to work, it would be of little use to many other users, and it's cost would be many times higher.

You nailed it: the cnc world hasn't changed for the past 50 years....I rest my case. Every other industry has...(changed and become simpler and more user friendly).

Imagine how many printers would be sold if they used the same system that Mach 3 does?  I'd say about 1% as many as are....

Oh, btw, Makerbot uses modern technology and sells a unit that someone who has never touched a CNC let alone operated one had it up and running fine in a day....makes you think doesn't it?

Built my CNC out of old scrap parts, didn't know the first thing about CNC, let alone the stuff that drives it. Came across Mach3, bingo, my machine up and running with no issues including soft limits, limit switches and home switches. If you don't like Mach3 move on, stop disrespecting Art and the guys who have put a considerable amount of time, money and effort into this product WHICH WORKS........................................rant over, have a merry christmas

Built my CNC out of old scrap parts, didn't know the first thing about CNC, let alone the stuff that drives it. Came across Mach3, bingo, my machine up and running with no issues including soft limits, limit switches and home switches. If you don't like Mach3 move on, stop disrespecting Art and the guys who have put a considerable amount of time, money and effort into this product WHICH WORKS........................................rant over, have a merry christmas

good on you, seriously....I've been dealing with trying to get mine to work PROPERLY since the day I got it....maybe the problem is I relied on a supposedly professional company to produce a product without flaws (I'm referring to the machine maker here) since I didn't have a clue on how to build one.......

As for Art and the time effort and money to make something that works.....ahem....a Lada works too.....I mean, if it is so great, why are their how many thousands of pages here of people who are having issues? I mean, really....a REAL man can admit his mistakes and take steps to correct them.....I mean really, every computer app in the past 35 years has a apply, a cancel, and or ok button AND a little x in the upper corner of the window...does Mach? Nope...some do, some don't....and I mean, how about a "recently used file list"?

But we're getting WAY off topic here.....

There is your answer get a makerbot that will solve all your problems (;-)

You are seriously WRONG about everything changing like you say Most have stayed within a very narrow margin of change FOR A GOOD REASON.

 (;-) So what do you think changed about printers in the last 20 years.  You plug them in load the driver and loade teh print cartridge and configure your program to use it load the right size paper and away you go.

There are Plugin in play Commercial CNC machines . Set them in place ,  load your tools and material , insert Gcode program and push teh Big green button and have at it. ALL the pre engineering and setup already done for you.

All you have to do is open your wallet then learn Cad and CAM and tooling and material applications (;-). There really is no escaping reality, try as you might.

ftp://machsupport.com/Docs/Mach3%20Setup%20Tutorial.pdf Read this, this is all I read to get me up and running.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said you had no idea of what you are doing and it does not seem that you want to make the effort to learn. Many thousands HAVE made the effort and now enjoy a really cool hobby.

Did you REALLY believe the sales hipe of plug in plug and professional sales people?  Here is a hint NOT everything on the internet is the truth. There are just as many shysters on it as there were 100 years ago in any other sales market.

AND Mach3 DOES have a recent file list (;-).

Oh, btw, Makerbot uses modern technology and sells a unit that someone who has never touched a CNC let alone operated one had it up and running fine in a day....makes you think doesn't it?

Nope.
Makerbot, and the many others like it, are toys, designed for people with no CNC experience. They lack a large portion of the functionality that Mach3 provides, because it's too difficult for their target audience, and because their programmers don't appear to know all that much about CNC.  All these guys are doing is reinventing the wheel.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said you had no idea of what you are doing and it does not seem that you want to make the effort to learn. Many thousands HAVE made the effort and now enjoy a really cool hobby.

Did you REALLY believe the sales hipe of plug in plug and professional sales people?  Here is a hint NOT everything on the internet is the truth. There are just as many shysters on it as there were 100 years ago in any other sales market.

AND Mach3 DOES have a recent file list (;-).

No reason to personally attack me, am I personally attacking you? no....btw, I have plenty of experience as an operator of cncs for the past 15 years....I have also built from scratch computers long before plug and play. I've had to set master/slave pins on hard drives and configure IRQs....internal jumpers and all sorts of things....

Sorry, my mach 3 does NOT have a recent file list.....

See, you nailed it "hobby" I'm a professional. I earn a living on my CNC and do not have the time to spend dealing with all the issues and if you deny their are issues, then you should call yourself Cleopatra...because she was also the Queen of De Nile......

If Mach3 is so perfect, then how do you explain the thousands of posts regarding issues? and why are they even bothering to write Mach4? Maybe because, well, there ARE issues?

BTW: I did buy a complete ready to run system....and other than design flaws, the machine has worked fine...it is the SOFTWARE that is the issue.

I mean seriously, apply Mach3 to just about any other product you purchase and would YOU buy those products? For example: do you have a car? how would you like to show up at the Ford dealer to pick up your 2015 mustang GT, get handed the keys, go to start it and find nothing happens...ask the salesman: what's going on? Oh you have to program the computer to show whether you want maximum horsepower, maximum torque, top speed or acceleration....here's a 25 page manual on how to do it....after a week of messing around you go to start it again...nothing happens..."oh you have to program the computer to set up the transmission...do you want to set it up for acceleration? top speed? here's 20 pages on how to do it....go to start it again....nothing happens...what's wrong now? Oh you change the setting on the transmission now you have to go back to the main computer and change those to reflect the same choices you did on the transmission.....

yeah, you'd accept that wouldnt' you?

BTW: I also wrote operational and installation manuals in a previous job....and I got compliments all the time because they were easy to follow and weren't filled with "jargon".....

In addition, NONE of you would buy a printer that you had to do all this just to get it to work AND sorry, 10 years ago plug and play was created and has worked pretty much flawlessly since....you can buy pretty much any pc based scanner, printer, tablet, monitor, usb stick, smart phone, webcam and plug it in, turn it on, and you are away to the races...

Quote

Oh, btw, Makerbot uses modern technology and sells a unit that someone who has never touched a CNC let alone operated one had it up and running fine in a day....makes you think doesn't it?

Nope.
Makerbot, and the many others like it, are toys, designed for people with no CNC experience. They lack a large portion of the functionality that Mach3 provides, because it's too difficult for their target audience, and because their programmers don't appear to know all that much about CNC.  All these guys are doing is reinventing the wheel.

so, reinventing the wheel and what is wrong with that? are you driving around your car with wooden spoked wheels with iron bands? No...reinventing and IMPROVING the wheel is what they are doing.....

BTW: why are you all so defensive? do you have a vested interest in Mach3 or something? The way you're acting is like I personally insulted your wife or daughter....