Pulled the Trigger on a PM 45 CNC...

[Ray C]

Ok I'll put together a video showing what I have learned and post a link here when I get it finished.
warning my best friend says my videos put him to sleep and require a lot of coffee to watch
steve

Steve... Don't feel bad. Everyone in my household rolls their eyes every time I walk out of the shop and start talking about the latest project.

Anyhow, a new day bring new revelations. I made a slightly smaller and different test part. Also solved the homing issue and switched to a 2 flute HSS endmill. I have no idea what I was thinking when I grabbed a 4FL carbide... Anyhow, this one looks really nice and the dims are only off about 1.5 thou this time. Finish wise, I dare say, it's about as good as if I turned the radius on a lathe and cut the flats with the manual mill.

Time to quit while I'm ahead and pay some attention to a million other things...



Ray

 

[bloomingtonmike]

Do you guys have accessable inputs on your controller?

Are you guys just manually jogging the Z down and then zeroing out?

 

[Ray C]

Do you guys have accessable inputs on your controller?

Are you guys just manually jogging the Z down and then zeroing out?

Mike,

I do not have a probe if that's what you mean. I believe (but am not certain) the controller has a couple available inputs and I could indeed add a probe -and I will as soon as I get my feet on the ground... Danger: Steep Learning Curve Ahead (LOL).

Anyhow, yes, I'm jogging down and then stepping in 0.0001 until touch off. Believe it or not, it accurately steps that precisely in all dimensions.


Ray

 

[bloomingtonmike]

Mike,

I do not have a probe if that's what you mean. I believe (but am not certain) the controller has a couple available inputs and I could indeed add a probe -and I will as soon as I get my feet on the ground... Danger: Steep Learning Curve Ahead (LOL).

Anyhow, yes, I'm jogging down and then stepping in 0.0001 until touch off. Believe it or not, it accurately steps that precisely in all dimensions.


Ray

If the head/tooling is grounded you can wire a single strand or wire to a small pcb plate, wire that to the input, and have the tool jog down automatic to the pcb and touch off on it. You dont need a probe right away and teh pcb setup should cost you about $1 with long wire.

I use the mach blue big tex screen and it has the script already on it for single and dual plates. You edit the script on the buttons for whatever movement you want.

I put a banana plug port on my X carriage so I could just plug in the pcb when needed. I run dual plates. One is on teh bed permanently and the other I use on top of the work piece. This allows for simple tool changes and the second + tool change just touches off on teh fixed plate (that is out of the way).

Maybe i need a video to make this more clear?

Here is good info too.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/mach-wizards-macros-addons/56079-xyz-probe-modification.html

 

[jumps4]

Ray so I didn't clutter up your thread I have posted the first video on backlash compensation on my thread with a link;
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php?t=19633&p=187038#post187038
I'll have to break it up into a few videos to keep it shorter and not include all the setup time
this first one is about what is happening under the table lol
it's not for the pro machinist I know they know this stuff but the hobby guys like me may not.
steve

 

[noman]

Ray, have you thought about how to get the pendant that came in the box up and going? are you using BobCad with any good results? joseph

 

[Ray C]

Ray, have you thought about how to get the pendant that came in the box up and going? are you using BobCad with any good results? joseph

Yes, the pendant works. Initially, I told Mach 3 to ignore it and now that I think of it, maybe the instrucionts I wrote does not include the proper settings. I will check.


I am having some issues with BobCAD and they're due to importing the data files. There was not much information in the training videos on how to do it but, after asking and a lot of experimentation, I found the right combination of tricks to make it happen. I can do 2D paths without too much issue now; while before, I was struggling. I haven't tried any 3D paths since my latest revelations but, I suspect things will go smoother. For really simple shapes, I had no problems with 3D paths but when doing contours, I hit a wall. I think it will be better the next time I try.

If you're not using a stand-alone CAD program (in my case Alibre/Geomagic) you won't have the same issues if you use their internal CAD program. I've grown really fond of parametric solid modeling so, I prefer not to use BobCAD's CAD functionality; thus, I need to learn a few extra steps.

Ray

 

[twr]

Great thread Ray, anymore input about BobCAD? My new to me cnc should be here fri. and i will need some sort cad/cam software program.

 

[Ray C]

Great thread Ray, anymore input about BobCAD? My new to me cnc should be here fri. and i will need some sort cad/cam software program.

No great revelations as of this time... The 2D work is coming along fine -dare I say, very well. I'll try more 3D this weekend and that's when I'll know for sure.

I'm doing some offsite work right now and am delayed with my investigation.

What CAD package are you using?


Ray

 

[drs23]

No great revelations as of this time... The 2D work is coming along fine -dare I say, very well. I'll try more 3D this weekend and that's when I'll know for sure.

I'm doing some offsite work right now and am delayed with my investigation.

What CAD package are you using?


Ray

So...Hangin' on a yak is work? I delivered them for quite a few years and considered it a PAID VACATION! Bahamas, Florida, New Jersey? Not a problem. Fill up the fridge and the expense account and we're outta there!