Ken....spot on. LOL

Thank you gentlemen, that will help. The temperature where my machine is always 65°F(18°C) or lower and the humidity is always below 35%. I will most likely be able to play around with the resistors to find a sweet spot. I hope to have the money available to purchase next month.

Wanted to post this the other day. The picture does not capture the blue hue that was seen in the trees but there are only certain types of snowfalls that look wonderful in the trees. Maybe only one a year.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8524/8...52e8aa48_b.jpg
Snow in the trees, on Flickr

Beautiful, We got some of that the other day but its gone now. Thanks for sharing.

Nothing to do with Mechmate but the company I work for sponsored the local high school battle robot program. We were only allowed to help with certain aspects. We did the machining and welding of their bot for the preliminary round. Here is their channel. Was pretty cool helping and seeing this thing develop and finally run. The reduction on the drum is 2:1 and spinning according to them at a maximum of 20000. I had a hard time believing the speed but it was still cool to be able to take part in. We are to be helping modify for the final competition. It is in the 15 pound and under weight class.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5Cb...?feature=watch

I was thinking of the conversation over the last days and was debating about changing my option for the A axis from the PK296-F4.5A to the PK299-F4.5A based on the torque rating. I am a little concerned about having enough voltage to drive it properly in parallel. Unipolar and Parallel are the same impedance so it would not matter either way. If I calculated on voltage, then unipolar voltage maximum would be higher. I made up this xls sheet to help with my calculations. Would you please review and let me know what to change so I can upload a good resource for others who may have a need for this?

Tom,
I find that as everyone I know gets older, the more they hate snow. I still love it, hate shoveling it, but still love look at it and play in it. Nature is a wonderful thing to witness, just a shame people are in too much of a hurry to stop and enjoy the real world. Nature I mean.

I know what you mean, I built my shop next to the house so I could look out across the foot hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and on occasion I will actually stop to just take in the sunset at the golden hour. Such beauty.

These scenes are all around me. Don't want to see it covered in snow!

You gotta love it!

Gerald,
All places have their beauty as your link definitely shows. I am partial to fall and winter of the New England area. However my allergies are not.

Ah Gerald,
I think some of those scenes would look awesome with a fresh coat of snow! :):D. But maybe that is my Canadian blood coming out. :)

I spent a month in a snowed part of Germany once. At first it was beautiful but then I felt that it dulled my senses; No colour, no differences in touch (with gloves), no smells. They put people in white rooms to torture them!

Who, the Germans? or the White rooms? LOL:eek:

Hey Gentlemen,

I have never done drilling. What is the best way with a spindle? Feeds, Bit Type, Drill Style, etc... I need to put 0.250" diameter blind holes in 0.750" plywood. I read that not to use HHS drill or even a carbide drill bit to drill because of the speed. So I have no idea.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

So this is what I have found so far. http://www.fnal.gov/pub/takefive/pdf...peed_Chart.pdf

I am assuming I could use a spiral upcut. Need to look for more info.

http://www.hartlauer-bits.com/

Great bits and tips. I purchase from them regularly.

Thanks Sean, I will check it out.

Last sign done. Here is the before and after for you to see.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8241/8...c58b9d96_b.jpg
BeforeAndAfter, on Flickr

Nice ;)

Aspire 4 Installation discs finally came today. I was able to download the software weeks ago but had to wait for the discs to see what all they included with this version. They definitely have a lot more models available with it than they did with 3.5. However not everything that was available on the 3.5 disk came with 4. The program itself is much better. The sign above I used the extrusion function with a 3d model to create the border. That was a nice enhancement.

Here is some information that may prove useful to someone later on. This a transcript of a chat session with Oriental Motors I had earlier today.

Chat Content:
Chao L: Welcome to our real-time support chat. How can I help you today?
Pete Blackburn: What is the oz-in of the motor on the PK296A2A-SG7.2? I know the torque with the gearbox is 704. I am looking for the motor itself. Thanks.
Chao L: Hi Pete, the maximum holding torque is 440 oz-in
with bipolar connection
and unipolar connection, maximum holding torque is 310 oz-in
Pete Blackburn: Thanks, that is all I needed.
Chao L: You are welcome, Pete. Have a nice evening.
Thank you for using Live Chat, If you have any questions, please feel free to come back or contact us at Tech Support. 1-800-468-3982.
Pete Blackburn: You too.

Wow, its nice to get info that fast. Even though I hadn't thought much about the geared stepper I'm certainly surprised about the torque ratings. So I guess a belt reduction set up is really producing some torque.

Tom,
I had read before that they underrated the torque capacity. That is common for an added safety factor with any gearbox. I was just as surprised as you that the motor was not derated any. The motor has close to the same spec as the PK296-F4.5A.

The machine is finally being used for the purpose it was built. Finally started cutting out my base cabinets. Still waiting on AnTek to get restock on power supplies. Slowed down my tuning to 300 and 30 until I can set up with a 56VDC PS. First sheet cut out. Still have an issue with noise somewhere. Is odd this one. I had it with the router and with the spindle at the same relative position. Always at mid X and 2/3 Y max general area. Just stops with limit switch triggered. Once it is out of that area it is fine. Has to be something around that is causing that area to be problem.

Pete when you say limit switch are you saying proxy switch? I'm wondering if it is more mechanical, then I'd think binding of sorts triggering the switch (maybe the wire chain or something on rails). Have you inspected your wiring thoroughly, check resistances, abrasions etc? Maybe a wire that has frayed internally or bound and doesn't keep good current at a physical locale. I'm unfamiliar with Mach 3 (because I don't have it yet), but does it record triggered events? like the source of trigger. if it does, is it always the same? I'm just throwing out possible questions.

Tom,
It is the generic terminology that Mach3 uses for a tripped limit switch. I use proximity switches. It may be a position problem but I need more time to examine. I increased the debounce by 30 and it still happened while cutting in that area.

From cnccookbok.com

more suggestions

http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCCNCNoise.html

Danilo,
I have read that site probably a hundred times. In fact I just spent the last 30 minutes reading and re-reading it. I think I need to see if it will happen with VFD disabled. Not sold on it being the VFD since it did it with the PC7518 in the same place also. I don't know if the steppers can make noise. Just right when the cables transfer from the conduct to the cable track is the general area. All my low voltage circuits are 24VDC, my prox switches. Everything is shielded except for the prox cables. That my be the Achilles Heel. My debouce is low. 30. I would like to keep it there. I can run it at 10 as long as it is not in that area for hours. Might have a bad wire and only when it is flexed there it is causing it lose connection.

quote from mach yahoo group from Art maker of Mach3

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mach1m.../message/62239

Danilo,
I have to say you are a wealth of information. All the time I looked for noise solutions I never stumbled on that. I am usually good at finding info on the web. I will definitely start decreasing it by 100s now after I set it to 2000 to find the sweet spot.

The only benefit of having the limit switch triggered is being able to learn how to restart mach3 efficiently.

No problem :) I spend most of my free time reading. Finding solution to problems that other guys are having if they are in your branch of business is like doing yourself a favor. As there will be a time when the lesson learned from others will be a plus for you in solving problems.
It's like learning on other ones mistakes.
Keep us posted.

Okay, I think I might know what the problem is. I don't want to put my foot in my mouth before I try it. I can tell you it is not the power supply. Running 58VDC with same issues showing up. I will not get to it for a couple days or maybe a week but I will let you know.

Well as far as I can tell, I think the problem is solved but this brings up another issue to investigate. What I did was I had to format and reinstall windows xp again. I did not have the automatic updates disabled before. I have it up and running. Have not had an over run of the steppers yet. Temperature of X and B is 132°F Y is 103°F and Z is 101°F after 1 hour running sign with 3d model extruded border.

The other issue to work out is on the motor tuning dialog the X, Y Z axis will not run smoothly at any setting. They start and stop in a jerky manner when you use the up down arrow key to test and it is a constant pattern with it. This was the same as before I reinstalled windows. That was why I did the reinstall. I have no idea on this one but as long as it is working I am not going to complain. Running the driver test, I am good up through 60K, I did not test higher as it I only use 45k. No spikes only smooth ripple. Now I am using the same profile as before so it may be a setting but I do not know.

X and B crossed the 150°F at 2 hours. Decreased the resistors to 27K from 33K on X Y B for the 296A2A motors. Z is the 296-F4.5A with a 390K but it never got above 135°F.

Oh no the saga continues Pete !!

One positive is that power supply upgrade won't hurt anyway.
The worst thing when chasing down problems is when absolutely dead money or time goes into it for no result or worse still a degrading in performance.

If you are even slightly suspect of the PC or its operating system, add on PP card, onboard port etc etc etc, swap it out with another PC.
It is a quick reality check and might save you spending more huge chunks of time chasing the gremlins.

Given the amount of time you have put in now, you deserve a machine that works well.
Sometimes that last mile can be just a bit longer than what might be "reasonably" expected.:)

Ross

Hey Ross,

The tale will always be told, unless I am all told....

I cannot complain. There is no PERFECT machine. There is always a little problem somewhere.

I can say that I ran it for 6 hours last night and not one hiccup. This could even be something with the keyboard or PS2 connector. I ran all the programs that would cause problems. I will double check today.

I was only happy to find the motor tuning issue and that led to a google search that brought up a machsupport forum question about jerky motor tuning and the result was reinstalling the operating system. That is something easy to do that requires only 1 hour of time and work.

The power supply was not a loss of anything except money I did not want to spend. I have enough power now for the addition of the 4th axis A. I have the added benefit of having the extra torque to achieve the higher cut speeds.

I already have a Rosewill 304 pci parallel card that I am using. I could switch the two cables and switch the addresses so the motor pins are run on the Rosewill card instead of the onboard card. I am not much concerned about it now.

Just an update.

Have been repairing my mother's aluminum roof and why did the old home builders love 9-12 pitches on 2 story homes (early 1800's). Slick, steep and thankfully the rope did not break. I just wish the guys that put the aluminum roof on would have went in a straight line with the nails. Some sections were every foot spacing. Most popped on the sun side so I had to pull all of them and replace with screws and sealant in places needed.

In the time available the machine has been cutting air for about 10 hours combined. Still no hiccup. So I think the clean install did correct something. I think I am going to create a new profile with just the step and dir and see if the motor tuning issue goes away. This will give me one to experiment on and do what Ross recommended while just being able to swap the cables back for the existing profile.

...and don't forget to save this installation XML file of MACH to a safe place for a good restore later.

I did find one time I loaded Mach that it did stall but also the dwell was not working either, I just closed Mach and reopened it and it worked fine.

In the meantime, I was working on better dust collection. The setup I have now works fine except when I am cutting a sheet that is about the same size as my spoilboard which is 49x97. My crossbearers are located slightly before and after the maximum cut area I had planned for (48 x 96). The problem is with the shoe being half over an open area I have dust that is unmanaged. My solution, until I have to replace my spoilboard, was to use 1x6 on the sides screwed to the crossbearers with T-nuts added for additional holddown locations. For the front and rear, I utilized a removable leaf concept. Using a 1x12 with two pieces of aluminum and plastic receivers I can slide then into place when they are required for adequate dust collection. Next time I will split the spoilboard in the middle to cover the entire area with the crossbearers but for now this will serve the purpose. I have not marked the spoilboard yet so I am assuming to get a long life out of it thanks to my Z zero input.