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  #91  
Old Mon 24 September 2007, 10:31
Hugo Carradini
Just call me: Hugo
 
Pto. Ordaz
Venezuela
Gerald I am still deeply impressed. I started Saturday night connecting the computer and starting the machine and every thing went perfect. I agree with Fabrica when he said it was nice looking these machine move. It move very soft, no noise, just great. I guess I was to excited Saturday night but when you spend almost four years experimenting, learning, having disappoints, straiting again, a wife around that don't understand why spending so much money for a "toy" and finally thanks to some one who is not an egoistic man and show a way to complete a dream, suddenly you realize that in front of you is a nice and practical machine that works, you feel a deep respect. Thanks Gerald , thank you very much.
I am posting how I end up with the control box and will start to adjust the settings in Mach3 (I did some joggings and they went out nice) The pinions run very smooth over the rails and there is no apparent backlash.
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File Type: jpg Imagen 122.jpg (153.3 KB, 933 views)
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  #92  
Old Mon 24 September 2007, 11:09
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
I am happy because you are happy!

As you can see, it is not a hobby machine. It is a machine for production, to earn money, to pay for itself.

But, the first thing to do is to make something beautiful for your wife!
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  #93  
Old Mon 24 September 2007, 12:41
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
Send a message via Skype™ to Alan_c
Well done Hugo

It looks very good - great inspiration

Alan
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  #94  
Old Mon 24 September 2007, 14:45
Greg J
Just call me: Greg #13
 
Hagerman, New Mexico
United States of America
Hugo,

Looking good !!! I can only imagine what it must feel like to watch it come alive.

I hope Gerald is right when he says "It is a machine for production, to earn money, to pay for itself." I plan on putting this to the test
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  #95  
Old Mon 24 September 2007, 17:49
Hugo Carradini
Just call me: Hugo
 
Pto. Ordaz
Venezuela
Gerald I just finish connecting the rest of the cables. I went to the axis setting and told in setting axis to run 10 mm . It run 250 mm so I told the machine it run 250mm and the machine made the adjustment . Then I told again for checking to run 1000 mm and run 1000 mm exactly. The same with the other axis. The problem is that it runs to slow . When I jog it moves nicely but running a program in the air goes very slow. The other problem is that wen I jog the X axis and I stop it stops quickly , but axis Y wont stop the same, will run about 250 mm extra before it stops.
I was looking for setting the motors but the forum has grown so much that I cant find the formulas I remember seen before. I set the machine parameters in mm .
I have not got home yet so I will send the Igus information tomorrow.
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  #96  
Old Mon 24 September 2007, 19:31
javeria
Just call me: Irfan #33
 
Bangalore
India
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugo Carradini View Post
Gerald I just finish connecting the rest of the cables. I went to the axis setting and told in setting axis to run 10 mm . It run 250 mm so I told the machine it run 250mm and the machine made the adjustment . Then I told again for checking to run 1000 mm and run 1000 mm exactly. The same with the other axis. The problem is that it runs to slow . When I jog it moves nicely but running a program in the air goes very slow. The other problem is that wen I jog the X axis and I stop it stops quickly , but axis Y wont stop the same, will run about 250 mm extra before it stops.
I was looking for setting the motors but the forum has grown so much that I cant find the formulas I remember seen before. I set the machine parameters in mm .
I have not got home yet so I will send the Igus information tomorrow.
Hugo,

I believe that all these problems are the so called "birth pangs" I have seen a dozen of the builders face it, I remember on Fabrica's macing the issue with artcam setting, some where some thing , but you will be able to iron out suff soon and have production. I know of people in bangalore who got the chinese woodpecker machines on which there is no Z 0 anywhere and they took 6 months to just understand and start work on them, but now after 2 years it almost 6 times ROI for them. So ALL THE BEST FOR YOU!

Once my servo machine is up and running I wannna bulid a mechmate soon!

Regards
IRfan
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  #97  
Old Mon 24 September 2007, 21:17
Doug_Ford
Just call me: Doug #3
 
Conway (Arkansas)
United States of America
You control box mounted on the table looks great and a side benefit is that your expensive cables are protected. I've been worrying that mine might get cut laying on the floor when I get around to buying them so I was planning on encasing them in rigid conduit. I might consider a table mount also.
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  #98  
Old Mon 24 September 2007, 22:46
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
You can save a lot of expensive cable with a table-mounted control box. But that is totally the worst place for dust. (Those push-buttons facing to the top will get clogged up quickly). You could put the control box on the table, but bring the controls and indicators to a cleaner, more convenient point. The wires to the controls and indicators are inexpensive.

Also realise that you must get a "printer" cable to run from your PC to the control box. These printer cables give problems when they get too long, and the long ones are becoming more difficult to find. (Printers are now mostly USB).
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  #99  
Old Mon 24 September 2007, 22:52
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Hugo, your 10mm compared to 250mm is caused by mixing inches and millimeters. When you said "Move 10mm" the machine moved 10 inches.

If the axis takes a long time to stop then I think you have a completely wrong acceleration (deceleration) value.

Be patient and check the settings carefully. Do not use inches for anything!
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  #100  
Old Mon 24 September 2007, 23:03
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Hugo, you have a machine with racks & pinions from an inch system, but you want to operate in mm. I also see you have 28 tooth pinions with 7.2:1 gearboxes. Your steps per millimeter must be set at 128.899

I changed the spreadsheet in this post especially for you - and anybody else whose rack & pinion inch/mm is different to the units that they want to run the machine in. In Mach the setting is Config > Select Native Units. Hugo, there you will select "MM's" and on Config > Motor Tuning you must type the value 128.899 into the block "Steps per".
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  #101  
Old Tue 25 September 2007, 09:44
Hugo Carradini
Just call me: Hugo
 
Pto. Ordaz
Venezuela
Thanks.
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  #102  
Old Wed 26 September 2007, 08:44
Hugo Carradini
Just call me: Hugo
 
Pto. Ordaz
Venezuela
Hello Gerald.
First, the gift for my wife. It was made in 6 minutes at 70% of speed. I just could not believe it. With my second machine (this is the third) it was done in 15 minutes with imperfections. Now I think my wife finally understand. She all ready has some ideas
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  #103  
Old Wed 26 September 2007, 08:52
Marc Shlaes
Just call me: Marc
 
Cleveland, OH
United States of America
Send a message via Skype™ to Marc Shlaes
Very cool Hugo!

I will get there sometime!

Thanks for the inspiration.
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  #104  
Old Wed 26 September 2007, 09:02
Hugo Carradini
Just call me: Hugo
 
Pto. Ordaz
Venezuela
I could not set the machine in mm. I tried couple times, even reset the machine and started again, but it will end up working very slow, so I end up doing it in inches. Now I have to fix a little problem . It happened to me before (years ago) and I forget how to solve it. It is the mirror problem. If I make a desing it will come out perfect but the other way. I mean instead of left to right it reads right to left. (You put it in front of a mirror and it looks OK)
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  #105  
Old Wed 26 September 2007, 09:09
Hugo Carradini
Just call me: Hugo
 
Pto. Ordaz
Venezuela
Yes Mark and all the other friends. it is true. If you keep the design and take your time building it your effort will be re compensate. It is a "Blue Beast" that nows how to Rock and Roll..
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  #106  
Old Wed 26 September 2007, 09:22
Hugo Carradini
Just call me: Hugo
 
Pto. Ordaz
Venezuela
Got it. In Mach3 Motor Home/Soft limits we can reverse de axis direction.
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  #107  
Old Wed 26 September 2007, 09:51
javeria
Just call me: Irfan #33
 
Bangalore
India
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugo Carradini View Post
Hello Gerald.
First, the gift for my wife. It was made in 6 minutes at 70% of speed. I just could not believe it. With my second machine (this is the third) it was done in 15 minutes with imperfections. Now I think my wife finally understand. She all ready has some ideas
Hugo thats great,

Usually gifts to wife's makes their brain light up with ideas.

All here in the group are inspiring a lot!

Regards
Irfan
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  #108  
Old Wed 26 September 2007, 12:06
cbboatworks
Just call me: Gene
 
Wilmington NC
United States of America
Hello Hugo

I have been watching your MechMate build. You have done an outstanding job. Is this your first cut with it? Thanks for sharing all the great pictures.


Gene


Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugo Carradini View Post
Hello Gerald.
First, the gift for my wife. It was made in 6 minutes at 70% of speed. I just could not believe it. With my second machine (this is the third) it was done in 15 minutes with imperfections. Now I think my wife finally understand. She all ready has some ideas
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  #109  
Old Wed 26 September 2007, 13:30
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Okay Hugo, put the MechMate logo on the side and you get the next serial number.

What are the big differences between your 3 CNC machines?
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  #110  
Old Thu 27 September 2007, 08:37
Hugo Carradini
Just call me: Hugo
 
Pto. Ordaz
Venezuela
Hello Gerald and friends.
Yes Gene, It was the first cut.
About the first machine. I wanted to learn the basics of the CNC routing, so I started with a MDF machine. Then I find MechMate but was not ready for the Beast so I decide to do a design of my own. It worked better but it was still very amateur. Then I thought I was time to tries dominate the Beast and the rest is story. ¿What is the difference? Speed, precision, and force. I always dream with a machine that could carve more then 5 mm in one pass and that I could see the results quickly . Rig now I am using a 2.25 HP Router and I am happy. I guess that when I put a 3.5 HP Router or a spindle, will be a better performance.
I will be putting MechMate logo soon for proudly receive my serial number.
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  #111  
Old Thu 27 September 2007, 09:36
domino11
Just call me: Heath
 
Cornwall, Ontario
Canada
Gerald / Hugo
Is there much improvement in cutting performance moving say from a 2.5 HP router to a 3.5HP or to a 5HP spindle? What about price / performance?
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  #112  
Old Thu 27 September 2007, 12:33
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Moving from router to spindle does NOT give a 3-fold increase in performance, as you would expect from the 3-fold increase in price. We can go and discuss this over in another thread (it is an important topic), but my basic suggestion is to start out with a router . . . . . you are going to dive that router right into the table, or a clamp, a few times..
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  #113  
Old Thu 27 September 2007, 15:27
garyc
Just call me: Garyc
 
Charlotte, North Carolina
United States of America
I have been a lurker on here for a long time, I just wanted to say I think you have done a fantastic job on building your mechmate!!! Hugo
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  #114  
Old Fri 28 September 2007, 10:11
Hugo Carradini
Just call me: Hugo
 
Pto. Ordaz
Venezuela
Thanks Garyc.
Know is time to to build the dust aspirator system. Hope can make a decent job.
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  #115  
Old Fri 28 September 2007, 17:27
garyc
Just call me: Garyc
 
Charlotte, North Carolina
United States of America
Here are a couple of links for dust collectors,
http://cruzanengineering.net/steven/dustcollector.pdf
http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyc...tionBasics.cfm
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  #116  
Old Mon 08 October 2007, 08:53
Hugo Carradini
Just call me: Hugo
 
Pto. Ordaz
Venezuela
Hello Gerald an friends.
Last week I reset Widows XP(eliminating all the possibilities of hidden bugs and strange programs) and reinstalled it again with no other program except a newer version of Mach3 1.94
Start making the regular settings, checked the "bullet test" and no noise, so everything look nice in the screen.
Turn on the main power and push the start buton...... and first surprise, could not hear the motors lock. Start jogging and second surprise....motors wont move. Start running a G-code program and router started, leads on the parallel card look OK, current in an out of the different system was OK, motors where lock(could not move by hand the gantry) but they would not move and I can feel them getting warm. Checked everything again and the problem persist, so I decide to ask in the Mach support forum but forgot my user name and they haven't send yet my user name so I cant post in the forum and in the mean time am anxious to get back to normality.
¿Any Idea off something I have to check?
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  #117  
Old Mon 08 October 2007, 13:59
Hugo Carradini
Just call me: Hugo
 
Pto. Ordaz
Venezuela
Gerald I hope I am not breaking the rules of the forum with these Mach3 problems, but I cant ask them yet. One question ¿Does vampires work with Dir and Step low signal inputs enabled?
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  #118  
Old Mon 08 October 2007, 14:49
Richards
Just call me: Mike
 
South Jordan, UT
United States of America
For the G203v stepper drivers, you must have the COMMON connected to DC GROUND. (The G202 and G201 stepper drivers have the COMMON connected to 5VDC.) Also, depending on your break-out board, you may have to change some jumpers to get the correct signals routed to the G203v drivers. (On my PMDX-122 cards, I only have to change one jumper when I change from G202 drivers to G203 drivers.)
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  #119  
Old Mon 08 October 2007, 15:01
Hugo Carradini
Just call me: Hugo
 
Pto. Ordaz
Venezuela
Thanks Richard. I think the problem is that I did not enable the low signal in step and dir. I have my machine an hour from my house, so I am going to drive there and check that. I don't know why I did not notice that before.
Thanks for your coments.
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  #120  
Old Tue 09 October 2007, 03:50
garyc
Just call me: Garyc
 
Charlotte, North Carolina
United States of America
Hugo terminal #10 must be connected to a ground of your breakout board, this was something I ran into when I hooked mine up, do not connect it to your power supply ground. This is how the vampires reference the signal, Your power supply ground gets connected to terminal #1
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