Upgrade to latest lockdown version of Mach corrected the Motor Tuning problem.

What version were you using before you upgraded?

Thanks

Originally I had 3.042.022 when this whole fiasco started, then I upgraded to 3.043.057 and that is when I noticed the motor tuning not working correctly. Now I am using 3.043.066. I would be willing to bet that if I would have put in 22 I would have not seen the motor tuning glitch because I actually used motor tuning up down arrows to set up in 22. I did not in 57, I only changed the numbers but not try to use the up down arrows. It was just by chance that I checked it the one day. I think I have read the mach install config manual 10 times these past 2 weeks.

Our maybe it did not install correctly. I only know it did not work right and now it does.

"I think I have read the mach install config manual 10 times these past 2 weeks. "
So...can this mean you're are new MACH tech guy :p....:D
Robert ;)

only 10 times??? You are a fast learner!!!
I recalled I read the manual twice a day for weeks on end when I was trying to get my plasma table running.

Well I was hoping that I missed something and the big hammer would boink me on the head.

This question is one probably for the Mach forum and not here but I will seek your knowledge. My Motor Tuning settings are 500 and 25. When a G00 is called the units per minute state 640 on the program run screen, why is it higher than the velocity in motor tuning?

Out of precaution, I tuned the motors down to 400 so the rapid displays 448 when transitioning on G00

Ken, I can remember numbers like you would not believe. Can't remember a persons name from one day to the next. Only numbers and technical detail. Plasma table looks to be a lot more difficult to build especially with controlling the current paths and keeping it out of the electronics. I will let that to you all who have proven to be better at it. Plus I deal with metal all day at my place of employment, would hate to drag that home as well.

I work as a on-site tchnician for a local cnc plasma manufacturer and I have to admit chasing down the emi is a pain in the butt. Proper grounding, earth ground to common star ground is the first thing I do no matter what. Even than than sometimes doesnt work so I'm having to space the torch lead and grounding clamp away as much as possible from the shielded cabling.
Dang I'm off work. Enough about that!
Moral of the story is.... What was the point I was trying to make??? :-)

James I hear you there. I am an electo-mechanical tech. The last thing I want to do at home is anything to do with electrical, programming, machine troubleshooting, mechanical, plumbing or hvac. That is why I like wood...it is not steel or copper. That is why I liked building my addition on to my house (if you can call it that, built around three sides and rebuilt the entire roof). A CNC just made sense for the things I was doing here. I would never be able to afford insurance for the family without my current job and wood is a nice hobby. There was a benefit to working in the industrial background. Took a lot of thought out of building the MechMate. I can honestly say that if I worked at a commercial wood shop I would not be doing this now. Gerald provided great prints to either use alone or build on to. The people here are great and helpful, they make you think and are willing to answer questions with technical response instead of the bloat you get in other forums. Is the MechMate the best machine out there that you can build on a budget , I think it is.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7324/8...42b10704_b.jpg
Some cutting between cabinets, on Flickr

Very Nice!
Cheers
Tim

Thanks Tim. Is appreciated.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5468/8...143f29fd_b.jpg
First V-Carve in Lexan 12" wide, on Flickr

The story behind this is a fellow I know has two replicas of the Ford Mustang horses and wants to put a lexan sign between them. His original idea was prism cut letters and glue them to wood. I was explaining to him how you can carve it and light it from one or more sides and the opaque color will show the light colors. He was not sure how it would look. So I carved this and put an led strip underneath it to demonstrate. Now he likes this better.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5349/8...6af6b41c_b.jpg
LED Lighting, on Flickr

I envisioned that with a applied black-out film followed by v-carving the text. That way when led's are introduced it only shines on the v-carving therefore allowing the test to stand out more significantly.
Thanks for sharing this with us Pete.

Finally rooted out what I think was the cause of the problem with the steppers. Hood at Mach suggested it may be the processing needed to view the toolpath is impacting on my system. So I turned off the toolpath view and the it has worked so far. I noticed that the jog buttons would take a while to respond on larger programs as well as the stalling action was occurring. I think I my have to try a different motherboard or computer as I do like the toolpath display. I will try to remember to keep you all posted.

Well I guess that blew my theory of gremlins...live and learn

A better graphic card or a CPU will save you from horrors of toolpath preview, but for really large 3D toolpaths we have to wait for Mach3 v4 where the toolpath preview is hardware accelerated.
Recently I started using a smoothstepper board, while just looking at the toolpath and screen it works better, but when you start rotating the preview you got 3 seconds until it locks up the communication :)
What I used to do was make a toolpath on/off button and after loading and reviewing the toolpath shut it down

I remember Greg from smiths falls telling me he had a similar issue that was solved by adding a beefed up video card instead of using the on board graphics. Solved a lot of little glitchy type things like this.

I have a lower end graphics card, not a several hundred dollar one in it but not a forty dollar model either so I am thinking it is on the processor end. It is a 1GHz XEON workstation first generation. Don't know if the cores are part of the problem but I highly doubt it as I has seen many posts elsewhere of dual core AMD motherboards. It could be just that style of motherboard. I have 3 other computers lying around so maybe in my time between my projects I can try one. I have MachScreen so I can change my layout to include the toolpath button on the main page. I had to do that to add the spindle control to the Big Tex Blue Probing main page.

Danilo,
Was reading up at Yahoo groups on Mach4. It sounds like they are close to Alpha testing but still don't have the parallel port driver quite finished. I was looking at the smooth steppers but will have to wait to see how the first release of Mach4 is. It appears to me that using a smooth stepper is the better option but I don't want to buy the stuff to convert and find that it is not compatible with Mach4.

Tom, I found the gremlin....Here he is caught in the act!!!!

Hi Pete

I have seen a video where they are talking about Mach4 and Warp9 are already on board with the new code.
The Alpha build of Mach4 is a complete rewrite of the code still in 32 bit.
The Alpha build test for the talk was using a smoothstepper so it seems the connection between the Artsoft guys and Warp9 will remain intact for the upgrade.

They also made the rather obvious but ominous statement that the parallel port is dying.
Artsoft are readying themselves for the transition away to USB and Ethernet control but even the rewrite of the code itself should give smoother motion they promise.
I get the very clear impression the 'Hobby" release will happen when it happens and not before.
They also indicated that no upgrade path should be expected from Mach3 but some early adopter pricing might be offered.

Danilo - yep that watchdog will time out if you fiddle with the 3D display... everytime !!

Ross

Thanks Ross for the information. I figured it would be another purchase as it is a major revision. I saw that Brian was mentioning they were waiting for the OEM's to get onboard and that was the hold up.

The toolpath is definitely the problem cause of my last half a year of headache. I turn it on and start a program....STALL. Turn it off and can run the program at least ten times no problem. Turn it back on and it stalls all axes. Amazing how something you would not suspect is the culprit.

Just picked up some white oak and sapele for a table top. Another 'Honey Do' project....the cabinets will never be done.

Finally have enough money to purchase components to proceed with A axis indexer side project. Steady it goes.

Finished pinch point guarding today. For kids protection and my own.

More progress on the 4th Axis

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2815/9...52c1d28d_z.jpg
View 1, on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7418/9...6ac7508b_z.jpg
View 2, on Flickr

Hey Pete, that looks amazing! Give us a little info, ratios, the sensor, your buddy...you know, the basics.

Tom,
It is a work in progress. I used a 6" self centering chuck. Machined the adapter plate and shaft out of steel. Welded, cut and faced the adapter plate and assembled. Total runout in the lathe was 0.0005" Used tapered bearings for the 35mm shaft and uses 3 different types of seals based on the size required. Bearings are loaded to remove play front to rear and packed in high speed bearing grease. The larger blocks are 2"x6"x5.5" that house the bearings. The reduction area is 16:1 using a double reduction of 4:1. The steps per degree should be 88 when and if I ever get it hooked up. The motor is a PK299-F4.5A. With 880 in-oz of torque, I should have 73.3 ft-lb holding torque with the reduction. The proximity switch is for homing the A axis. It is a 24VDC PNP inductive switch with a 4mm range. The finger guard is lexan and the lizard is covering the epoxy patch that I had to make when the saw busted it when making the final trimmings. The lizard came with the Gecko 203V drive from Gecko Drive Products.

My design is for 12" round max. cutting capacity. I will have to modify the crossbearers for this final stage of the implementation process. The center of rotation of the A axis will be the Z zero on the spoilboard. This way I can use the "Use Radius for Feedrate" so Mach will adjust my feedrate automatically instead of turning slowing because it uses degrees per minute and not IPM. I still need to finalize the plans on the removable part of the table. The bedway I am leaning toward 80/20. The Axis will be mounted outside the cut area to give the capability of a full bed length carving. I doubt I would ever need it but I would rather have it and not use it than need it and not have it.

Would love to know how to embed youtube videos here, none of the standard wraps seem to work. Here is a link to the testing of the A axis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5olqPYid14E

Pics of the simple guarding I posted about the other day

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3699/9...ef759e58_n.jpg
Drive Guarding, on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7381/9...9eca9802_n.jpg
Drive Roller Guard, on Flickr

That is some impressive work, sir.

Thank you Darren, I love working with anything electro-mechanical that requires designing, assembling, and proving out. I am not so good with wood, too used to working with metal where everything has to be exact. Thanks again for the kind words, they are appreciated.

The table top I am making is almost complete. Have to say the without this machine it would have been a bear to do. Using a 0.75"x2.00" bit to surface the edges for gluing. I will post picture when it is complete.

On another note, the gremlins are gone as long as I close their door before starting. Since I have been turning the toolpath preview off, no problems. One time I forgot to shut it off and it did not take long to remember why it should have been.

Hey Pete, what screenset are you using?

A modified screenset. It is Mach Blue Probing by Big Tex. It is located here at http://www.machsupport.com/software/...es/screensets/

I modified the set so the spindle speed was on the main screen using Klaus’ MachScreen and the code for setting z zero only had 6 inches of travel so it was modified also using the button editor.

As to the gremlins, I had a similar experience with the toolpath being shown in my 2010 Mach screenset. If I shut it off the machine would cut properly. After playing with the video card, I changed out the whole computer with a faster processor. I went from 1.2 GHz to 3 GHz. The problem went away. FWIW.

Uploaded the tabletop progress to my Flickr account. You can check it out if you wish. Will post the finished picture here when it is done. To get there, click on my username on this post and click on goto pblackburns homepage. It is currently under the CNC Work set. I would post a link but I might move it later and it would create a bad link here.