Added Fourth Axis
 

Hi
I dusted off the Mech Mate, It was desperately in need of some maintenance as I would not oil any of it while cutting fiberglass as the risk of contaminating the work was so great.
I have put a small rotary axis off the end of the table, Many years ago I built it longer than the standard 2.4m sheet so I could do things like this. This puts the rotary axis down the Y axis so a "B axis". My screen layout on Mach 3 has 4 DRO's labelled X Y Z 4 I worked out that 4 is A by default, ie a rotary on the X axis. Does anyone know how to change this to read B axis?

I initially tested with it being A then realised it is actually a B axis. Are (cheap / free) wizards available for gear cutting on B axis?


Any suggestions on how to set tool to zero on centre of rotary axis?

Regards
David

Thanks for the hint search turned up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e94UGi_F5g
with the link to MachScreen
I then edited 1024.set and got the OEM Zero B and DRO B installed on my first page.
:) wont say how long it took...

Storm with lightning and now the computer wont start.. :(

So I went for the old back up.. it boots but no output to monitor :(

I am thinking of ditching the parallel port and BOB switching to a cheap USB to stepper driver from Bitsensor.com
BSMCE04U-PP

Has anyone used this on a Mechmate?

Any heads up on getting it going in English?

Regards
David

Hi David

Hope you are having some good times on that fast boat of yours.

A solution to the "no parallel port problem" that works perfectly is the UC100.
I have no experience with the board you name but it primarily looks like a USB breakout device (could be wrong).
The UC100 allows you to still access cheap parallel port breakout boards (or use your existing one).
Additionally, the motion controller that is built-in will provide far superior pulsing as it offboards that from the PC.
The UC100 and laptop solution worked very well on a surfboard shaping machine I helped build, ran for many years daily using that combination.

The downside is that the specifications are lower than something like a smooth stepper. It is unlikely you would be pushing the machine fast enough to come anywhere near these limits.

When spending your money it pays to remember that the device is much more than a USB break out device.

Cheers
Surf CNC