Locktite and a good quality Allen keys!!! - If you weld the pinions, they are there for ever and it would be very difficult to service or make changes.

Hennie,
I am going away from boxing day until the 9th. Other that hat I am here. I have made an extra set of motor plates for my plasma cutter but if you need them you could take them off me for what I paid.

Regarding the backlash - I made a very large and heavy machine and only had the problem with the grub screws in the beginning. I make all my gears and pulleys with double grubs and very important, use nut grade Locktite on all of them. There should be absolutely zero backlash.

Ja, Ok I got the message, Locktite it would be.Marius I am leaving the 21 st till when ever the kids go to school then I am back for work.I forgot the family wants to go to JHB for their holiday I am back the 28 th so me and Kobus must do a braai anybody else wants to come by for a boerrie.:)It is called bring `n braai I will braai and bring the meat with the broom.:D

Hennie,
I have just cancelled my holiday due to work load. I have to get my workshop finished before January. I will be home for most the time so you can contact me if you need to.

Good idea lets meet some time

Hennie I will send you a PM with my contact details.

Bamboo wine boxes
 

I had some bamboo off cuts left from a job and thought I would try and make some pressies for some friends and this is what I came up with.I did about 50 of these for a client two weeks ago but without the hinges and the carving on top ( only did the bottle carve out for him ).

very nice.

what's bamboo like for machining? what rpm and feeds do you use on it with a ball bit (diameter) ?

Lekker, good choice of wine too. :)

I like those boxes, will make a nice gift even better! :)

Alan I couldn`t find my brand Alto so I got Spier.
Danilo,It Machines ok considdering the bit that I used 12mm bullnose was a bit blunt.I does split in places but other than the normal things it is ok to work with.One thing is that you don`t just put a nail or a screw in it,pilot holes first and glue.Found that the Lamello works best to join it.

Hennie,
Would you mind sharing with us where you bought the bamboo ply please?

Marius you ask so nice:)Got it From Panda but if you get it from me you can get it at the same price that I pay for it you just need to pick it up ( only for MM buddy`s)I get a better deal than what you would get it for.Phone me when you need some I have a price list also from them that I can send you ( 083-734-6218) is the man that you can speak to ask for the tea boy.

Hennie. did you get my email about me passing on a client to you?

Thanks Hennie I will call the tea boy n bit later today.

Hi Sean, no,When did you send it? [email protected]

i sent it through the forum on monday/tuesday this week. i will re email

Remember to address it to the tea Boy.thanks

Right when you don`t expect it your computer packs up.Now a fairly new computer was donated to me with Windows 7 on it.I had to get a parallel port fitted and asked if I can get XP loaded on it as that is what we use.Reply was no Microsoft don`t sell Licences for XP anymore and I have to be Happy with Windows 7.
Windows 7 doesn`t chat with my BOB and although when one switch the computer on I can hear the motors receiving a signal when it energise the motors.On the Device manager it shows that the port is active and in working order.Is there some magic to getting Windows 7 to work with Mach.( F... I hate living with things forced on me Microsoft)

Look here
http://www.machsupport.com/downloads.php

Mach3 - Vista

Mach3 will run under 32-bit versions of Vista with the following registry patch
-------------------------------
It also works with Windows 7 32bit , it works even on 64bit but you can't use the parallel port driver as it was written only for 32bit.
maybe that's your problem?

Just watch it when installing a extra parallel port. The PCI ones that fit into a slot on the motherboard usually have a fixed address that you need to put in Mach.
If you use the SECOND Mach port with this address, make sure your pins also reference to number 2.

for LPT port address setup look here
http://pminmo.com/PMinMOwiki/index.p...le=MACH3_setup

Check this if you use a seperate parallel card. I got caught with this one.

Attachment 12979

Attachment 12980

Nope No luck!Danilo it is windows 7 32 bit .Kobus tried it no go.There is something happenning when you disable and enable the port but once you try and move the axis(jog) nothing happens.

Hennie,
Not all types of parallel ports can be used for IO. Make sure that the port can be used in EPP mode.

What is the make of the chip set on the card?

I-420 pci 2s1p io card It supports (spp),(epp), and ecp tried everything but niks!

What about a bad PP cable?

Heath it is the same cable that i used before the old computer bombed out.I even turned Windows firewall off.

I may sound obvious, but here it goes just in case:
At control panel>device manager>ports>YOUR LPT>resources tab there is usually a port range, you need to enter the first hex number.
Also some ports have two I/O ranges, the one you need is usually the 1st one.

at the 1st screen that Kobus posted also check use port pins 2-9 as inputs.

[edit] forgot, if this second PP is connected thru a breakout board, does it need a charge pump signal? try disabling it.

Firewall has nothing to do with pp ports.

you may want to configure a new mach3 xml and use this second card as the only I/O address for that config, I mean as port#1, so you can use the mach3 diagnostic page to test each input or output.

Good Luck