Greetings all I am frustrated with Mach3 and trying to configure the software I could use some help. Should I continue using Mach 3 or change. I bought a china controller with 3 nema 23 motors and 1 nema 17 motor. I am using the demo of mach3 with the mm unit settings and every time I try to run the roadrunner gcode it flies to the end of the table and just sits there with the motors going nut. I am waiting for the plates for the micro switches to install the homing stuff but at this point I think I should use a different software. Please help newbie Doug
Without any more info about your configuration there is no help just guessing. Im driving a porsche and it wont move - should i change brand? There is a lot of info/tutorials on youtube to get started... Mach3 is a great software that thousands of people use , i use it now on my second cnc and could not be more happy. I would guess have not zeroed your axis so the part to be milled is outside your machines physical limites. On your screen if you refresh toolpath the roadrunner will be very tiny and far far away from your zero grid? If so: You have to zero the machine coordinates, say lower left corner and then move to say center and zero your work coordinates. There is a button to switch between these two. Now your cnc knows that it should work in this specific area and mill exactly where you zeroed the work coordinates. refresh toolpath to show changes. Read the manual or watch yourtoube, it is confusing at first but gets more easy once you follow the instructions...cnc is not (yet) plug and play. flo
I got my switches and connected does anyone know how many switches for each axis I have two for x and two for y and 1 for z. Joe I have been watching Paul Campbell videos and they are good. Thanks for the help Doug
Depends how you are going to use them. Software limits and one for each axis is usually enough... to play save (compensating for lost steps..) two per axis. Its all in the manual btw. flo
You can use 1-4 on the table, 1 or 2 on the gantry and Z. I'm using 3 on my X, 2 on my Y, 1 on Z. On X (Table) I have 2 to home each side of the gantry to the left and 1 on the right for overlimit. As flo mentioned, you can use one on each axis for homing. Glad you're enjoying the vids. Joe
OK all I was able to get everything working until I run the gcode it moves very slow and noisy. the motors are set using the auto configure the steps per mm which help with the table size and the position of the work place. Just need to get the motors running smoother than they are. I followed all the instructions with the install manual f mach3 just not sure where to go from here regards Doug
Yes they work great but as soon as I load any gcode it sounds like the motors are going to stall. Increased the feed rate and it shakes all over the place I did post a video on youtube. Doug
Those are modal. They tell Mach3 what unit to use while interperating the code. It sounds like your in mm mode trying to interpret code meant for inches. So it may be working, but just really really small. I'm not saying this is your problem. Just something to check.
OK all I did all that I can think of I tried everything everyone gave me and now I am beyond the point of no return. I formatted the drive and reinstalled the mach 3 demo put all the setting in and still runs slow and vibrates when I run gcode . At this point I will look at a new driver board or motors thanks for the help everyone.
Have you set your motor speeds&acceleration, your steps per mm, your micro-stepping, using cv or exact stop? Look ahead? pulse -maybe you are running 2500 base-pulse and high micro-stepping so a single axis is easy to support but dividing those pulses by 3(4 motors) there is little speed left ? mixing units (inch and millimeters?) how much voltage you are running? Have you set your board to correct current per motor? Parallel/serial connects or USB/ Lan? how are your pulses set to be verified/accepted? accordingly set your axis pulses to 0-10 ms.... pulses too short being ignored. just to mention a few things. As you can see from above there are several variables to go wrong, READ the manual, try one for one and then ask specifically. Just switching your board for another will hardly change anything as long you have not managed a working basic setup. Even if your setup works - is your milling speed set correct? maybe you are just telling your mill to crawl? sorry for my english i am not a native speaker - hope you understand the explanation. flo
Definitely sounds Like a config issue best suggestion would be to take some screen shots of your config and any pert any info like belt pitch or screw pitch and let us take a look
I would guess by looking at the accel and deaccel lines that it is too long also it's definitely not calibrated correctly. Get yourself a good dial indicator go to the mdi screen tell each a axis to move an 1" or 25mm which ever works for you measure and do the math
If you have a demo copy of Mach3, the number of lines of the program is limited to 500 lines of Gcode. So, you wont execute all the road runner demo. I paid 175 $USD to unlock it and it is really worth it in my opinion. The learning curve may be steep for a builder to configure it. Lower the feed rate in your test program, say to 400 mm / minute or 2 feet per minute (24 inches per minute) if you are in inches. Starting from there, execute some lines in MDI, changing the speed, then reconfig. A lot to learn Pierre Breault
If the problem only happens when cutting arcs with G02 G03, (and you can reproduce the same error) in config, general config, check arcs I J mode incremental or include G 91.1 in your program before G 02 -03 G 90.1 returns to absolute I J and no, it has nothing to do with G90 G91. It solved my arcs cutting problem a few years ago. If it was missing steps you could not reproduce the same error.
OK guys I have the motors tuned the roadrunner g code runs great, now when I go to load a 3 inch circle of course in mm 76.2 the code goes off the charts I have down everything I can think of except move the position of the starting point. When I try to set the center of the circle to the middle of the table which is 914.4 mm by 914.4 mm the gcode does not act right . So can some one give me some insight. Doug
As i mentioned before... please be specific What does not act right? Your g-code produces squares? Your machine is brewing coffee for you? (i want that bug if so) You are getting ellipses? If so, your x or y does not move as far as it theoretically should. Set your steps per mm. Unless you be more specific we cannot help. flo
HI FLo I ordered a dial indicator today and will try the suggestions from Barry. I think that is my Problem. After I configure and set all that I should be good. Thanks for the help everyone. I will post a new video after the set up is complete.
Greetings all I have calibrated and tuned all motors. I used a dial gage and made sure all was working. Now I have a new problem, I am trying to cut a circle and it is coming out as a football so to speak. I have checked CV which is shut off except the cv stop and the back lash is set to 20 on x and 20 on y. I have ran several gcode from different cam programs but still the same result. I made sure the table was square by running a square and a rectangle. each are perfect and with in the recommended settings. It took me most of Saturday to get all the measurements right double checking and triple checking but the circle is the hardest one to get. Any help would be great. If you need a video I can post it or if you need to see the g code I can post it as well. Thanks to all for your help Doug
What are your power supply and motor specs? Are they from the openbuilds store? What control board and what step settings?
Try step pulse at 10 and direction at 5 at a 1/8 step settings. You may have to change some other mach settings if you're changing to 1/8 step settings on the controller.
Joe When you say step pulse do you mean velocity? Can you clarify since I am a newbie and just getting the hang of this cnc stuff. Doug
