Bob,
#6
More general preparation before the fun realy starts!
It is important to understand the difference between 2D and 3D work.
The following link to Shopbot site provides insight on the topic.
http://www.shopbottools.com/mProducts/3-d_work_v2.htm--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All the lessons posted are rather focused on general awareness about the 4th axis.
So felt I should make an important comment about my lesson postings in this thread.
I am very focused on the basics relative to Mach3 and simple gcode commands which
directly relate to using a 4th axis. CAD / Cam, other gcodes, setup, etc will be ignored
as much as possible. Just not possible to cover all in a thread, or said differently, not going to
write a book. So just understand the thread is not in any way "all inclusive".
That said,
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Mod's were done to your profile to avoid having to deal with setup issues.
A... PITA.... with the generic mill screen in that it's hard / not possible to reset Machine,
Work, and Work offset values to zero. ( not the case with the lathe screen though)
So attached the attached Macro will do it.
The macro will zero out both machine and work coordinates for the X,Y,Z,A axes and get rid
any G54 Work offsets for the same axes.
Just download the macro, rename it to M1000, and then copy it to the Mach3 directory.
To use you just type M1000 into the MDI line.
To be continued,
RICH