[Hirudin]

Ah darn! When I watched your gib-adjusting video I thought "ohhhh, that's how you do it... that makes sense". Some time in the past I too decided I might be able to get some more accuracy by adjusting my gibs. I went through and tightened them all while the machine was turned off. I got them to the point where I could turn the screws manually without too much trouble. Again, since there's no instruction from Novakon I was basically "winging it". After that, I turned the machine back on and moved the table around. Everything looked OK as far as I could tell. Then I went to set the X/Y zero point and found that the motors didn't have the guts* to overcome the gib stiction when doing single steps (0.002 mm steps). What a pain. I've tried messing with the servo drivers, but, again, without any kind of guide to work with** (and no previous experience) I was left with "winging it". I think I tuned them to something better than they were originally (less singing at least) but it would have been nice to have some instruction. I was not able to solve the stiction problem so I ended up loosening all the gib screws.

I don't know about yours, but ALMOST EVERY setting in my servo drivers was set to the default value. As far as I can remember, every setting other than the step multiplier values was literally set to the default. It seems to me that it would be exceptionally unlikely that the optimum parameters for the Z axis and the X axis would somehow match. It's even less likely that the Y would match the X.

* a catchall term because I don't know what the real problem was
** the manual does attempt to convey information, but it doesn't do a very good job - I believe the details were lost in translation

[mklotz70]

Sorry about that!!!! I was in exactly the same boat. If you go to the part 2 vid on youtube, in the comments there's a reference to nyccnc's vid....I looked it up and watched it. I've watched it before, but that was before I bought the mill......so I watched it, but not with the same set of eyes I did this time. It's on his tormach. He's got an older vid doing it on his little mill he started with....it's not that one.

I tested my mill after the gib adjust to see if the steps were accurate and if it was losing any. It seemed to come out okay, but I'll do it again after I use the proper procedure to adjust the gibs. I used the auto step tuning....I don't remember resetting any other driver settings...been a few months already since I was in there.

There's supposed to be a new manual coming down.....or already here?

I've got a week off coming up soon.....I'm hoping to get all this stuff reworked and move on to milling some stuff

[Hirudin]

No apology necessary! I really appreciate that you take the time to record and edit all those videos! I look forward to the next ones (right or wrong)!

[mklotz70]

Did you check on John's vid? If not, here it is....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paCaT-M07qg

This is how I'll be doing it as soon as I get a chance.

I wish I could just stay in the shop and make vids.......dang job keeps getting in my way!! lol

[LeeWay]

My job is at my shop and it gets in my way too.
Thanks for the videos. I'll take a peek at the last one soon.

[mklotz70]

Lee.....I've always said if I was self employed, at least I'd only have to work for one idiot!

Here's a fairly short vid with some 700ipm rapids. I guess I remembered wrong....I had to turn them down to 650 for accuracy. But, as I say in the vid....if the accel was turned down, it would probably do the 700 without a problem.

Novakon Torus Pro - Rapids w/Smooth Stepper - YouTube

[kvom]

Maybe do similar test with vise or fixtures to add weight to the table?

[LeeWay]

It reminds me more of a pile driver than a mill.

[mklotz70]

Maybe do similar test with vise or fixtures to add weight to the table?

I'm thinking the same thing. I was thinking about loading it up with an extra 100+ lbs, but I really doubt many people will have that kind of weight on the table.....so maybe just 30 extra with the vises?

It reminds me more of a pile driver than a mill.

Lock the spindle and it would make for some pretty quick broaching!!!

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I was thinking about loading it up with an extra 100+ lbs, but I really doubt many people will have that kind of weight on the table..

Mu big vise weighs almost 100#, and I've run with three vises on the table (one Glacern 6", two Novakon 4").

Regards,
Ray L.

[mklotz70]

Ah....that's right. I forgot they were that heavy. I think my 6 inchers are about 80 ea.. I was just thinking that a lot of guys run two vises, so I was trying to pick an extra weight that would represent a semi-realistic part weight. Most guys seem to be running aluminum, so 30lbs extra would be a pretty big chuck! But.....I'd bet that your 3 vises ways more than my two with an extra 30lbs. Suggestion or it's pointless to test?

[LeeWay]

I would say it is pretty pointless really. All it would accomplish is satisfy some curiosity.
One thing I did notice in the last video was that when you had fast rapids set, it never reached the end of the travel. It reversed quicker than it should have I think. The dial gauge only indicated on the last pass. I think to set it correctly, it should indicate on each pass to that extent. I could be wrong, but that didn't look right to me.

[mklotz70]

Curiosity is probably enough for me to do it

You saw it correctly. I was wondering why it didn't go all the way to the end either. I reset it to absolute stop, but, now that I think about it, if I didn't shut mach3 down and start it again, would it have taken a change to the general config? I was hoping one of you guys had an answer. lol!

[LeeWay]

Sometimes it will save it immediately and sometimes it will not. I always hit the save settings button at the bottom. Even then if it is something important (most things are in Mach) like a tool offset, I will shut it down. crank it up and verify that it actually stuck in the tool table the way it should have. So, to be safe and certain, save settings, shut down, restart and confirm the setting.

[DBD]

That wasn't the concrete moving, that was the head flexing. Would like to see you mount your indicator base to the table and place your indicator stylus on the spindle
and see how much you can flex the head by hand pressure. Thinking about purchasing one of these machines and that flex concerns me.
Thanks

[mklotz70]

Sometimes it will save it immediately and sometimes it will not. I always hit the save settings button at the bottom. Even then if it is something important (most things are in Mach) like a tool offset, I will shut it down. crank it up and verify that it actually stuck in the tool table the way it should have. So, to be safe and certain, save settings, shut down, restart and confirm the setting.

I'll have to remember that and stick with the "better safe than sorry" method by restarting it when I make config changes. Thanks!

That wasn't the concrete moving, that was the head flexing. Would like to see you mount your indicator base to the table and place your indicator stylus on the spindle
and see how much you can flex the head by hand pressure. Thinking about purchasing one of these machines and that flex concerns me.
Thanks

lol! Yep.....I know it wasn't the concrete moving.....I could sure feel in in the concrete. The whole thing moved around, so I couldn't really tell if there was much flexing going on. I'll try to remember to do the check you're talking about when I revisit this test again. Some really awesome parts are being turned out on these machines, so I don't imagine it's much of a problem. Thanks!

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Re-starting Mach3 after configuration changes is completely unnecessary, especially for a tool table change. Simply use Config->SaveConfig, and it will write the XML immediately, saving any configuration changes. The tool table is written to a different file as soon as you click OK in the tool table dialog.

Regards,
Ray L.

[LeeWay]

...and I say that because it has occured that this did not happen like it should have. It SHOULD be unnecessary, but if you don't shut it down and crank it up and verify that it did stick, you too could plow deep into your vise jaws.
It may have actually been a setting in the tool table or something else that was in error or didn't stick like I expected it to. Restarting and verifying would have kept me from breaking a tool and messing up the vise jaws.

[mklotz70]

I'm guilty of making changes and not telling it to "save settings" so I'll make a point to do that from now on. Thanks!

[AUSTINMACHINING]

I've learned bad things happen if I don't hit "apply" when changing offsets in the tool table before hitting "ok". Also regenerate the tool path after any changes to the tool table. I still have the random occasion where Mach forgets where tool "0" is in the Z offset. I'll zero everything when touching off zero with my Haimer, Current tool set to 0. Regen tool path, hit cycle start, and the tool is (fortunately) way above the part. I'll repeat the process and everything works.