Bob,
Have fun after lesson1 do #2 below.
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- It would be nice to have some type of index reference on the chuck so you have a visual of the A movement.
A number of easy ways to do that ie; marked tape or even mount a plastic circular protractor on the back of the chuck.
- We deliberately set the angular wrong before ( you know what the caculated value was ). So use the axis
calibration feature of Mach ( read / refer to in Mach3 CNC Controller Software and Installation Configuration
Section 5.5.2.30) to calibrate the A axis. The input value is in degrees and you need to tell Mach how far it actualy moved so it can calculate the step for you.
You may need to do it more than once but it is an easy way to calibrate both an angular and linear axis.
Note that 1 / steps per is the theoretical resolution of the rotary. Say it is 400, then 1/400=.15 degrees.
You now will have a calibrated A axis.
MODIFIED THIS REPLY: Don't do the striked text below.
- Go to the MDI screen, in the Input change current mode from G90 to G91 by just typing G91.
To rotate the A 360 degrees input G0 A360.
You should know how fast it will rotate at max and different feedrates.
If you don't have something to measure the rpm then time it over a number of rotations ( measured is better!).
I bought a digital tack on ebay for around $12 and it works great.
To rotate A for 5 revolutions at a feed rate , type in MDI Input, G1 A1800 F1. Just keep doubling the feedrate values, note the rpm, and graph the values.
- Looks like your rotary is just driven by timing belt so no gears etc and thus basklash should not be concern.
- Would suggest that you add an index so Mach can display the rpm of the rotary.
- Click the Mach Coord's button, notice how the DRO changes. Understand the difference between
using Machine and Work Coordinates.
- Now do some manual commands changing the rotational direction using the minus sign.
- In both G90 and G91 modes, command A axis moves with each of the Rotational choices
that can be selected General Logic Configuration Screen.
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Summary so far:
You learned how define, A as angular, tune the angular, calibrate the A axis, get / have feedrate info for later
use, basic gcode commands, how other settings and modes can affect the turning motion.
Now remember you simply asked can you give a gcode to..........
Don't understand the "other stuff" even a simple command like G0 A 360 is like pressing some magic buttom and not know what will happen!
To be continued,
RICH