To CNC or not

ozzie34231 said:
Mach3 always gave me trouble when pausing or doing "start from here".
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That's why I don't have issues, I never use those functions.
If you're playing with CNC where you might need to stop part way through a job you should always ensure you have a datum point accessible at the start which doesn't disappear during the job, - it can be off the job ;-)
 
If I need to stop mid job to flip a part and bump it up against a stop or onto alignment pins I program an M0 in the code. Oh, wait. I can't do that without a momentary use of hand coding. LOL. Actually I put it in the operation header, and name the operation to remind me why the machine stopped.

The run from is a bit tricky I admit. I prefer set next line as. It starts with that line. Of course you have to position the machine so that next line doesn't do anything stupid.
 
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There's also the option to treat a situation where you have to manually move a part, to access another face/area, as two separate jobs and post the code appropriately, you can even have the tool park in a convenient position on completion of the first face/area!
 
magicniner said:
There's also the option to treat a situation where you have to manually move a part, to access another face/area, as two separate jobs and post the code appropriately, you can even have the tool park in a convenient position on completion of the first face/area!
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I used to run every tool change as a separate job when I was starting out. Now I use the tool change macros to save the current position, move the machine to a convenient tool change location. After I complete the tool change and set the height, it automatically returns to the saved position. (That's because some CAM programs do not put out axis that do not change position from one operation to the next.) The end program macro parks the spindle out of the way making removal of the part easier when the job is done.
 
Yeah, I use Tool Offsets in the table too, if you have enough tool holders it saves so much time mucking about zeroing tool heights during a job :D
 
I still use Mach 3 but also UCCNC and to be honest have not had any major issues with either. You may find the UCCNC CNC software a better option than Mach 3. I think It's a little more user friendly and seems to be more compatable with the newer versions of windows and newer machines and laptops that don't have parallel ports. The hardware connects to your PC by USB or ethernet. Like anything else there are some pros and cons to both and a little research will give you a better idea of their capabilities.
 
Ethernet is generally better than USB since it has built in error checking and timing. USB and Ethernet motion devices work just fine with Mach 3. I'm currently running 4 machines nearly every day with Ethernet Smoothsteppers, and I have a router running on a USB Smoothstepper. I also have a couple UC 100s in my desk for experimental machine builds.
 
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