Future career as a CNC comedian?
Originally Posted by
Ranscon
Hello all,
I'm new to cnc (completed machine this afternoon). Hope someone can help me out a bit. (bit, wow, I'm a natural at this already)
Seriously, I have built a 24" x 48"(cutting area)router table with Keling 425 oz motors, 4030 drivers, c10 BOB. 10-Tpi Acme leadscrews, rotozip 6amp 33000 tool. Computer is an amd athlon 2.2ghz,512 ram, I have mach3 software. I'm losing steps. Could someone please give me some decent startup settings for the motor tuning? Or a particular sound to listen for from the motors.
Also, I'm trying to figure out the "write" wizard in Mach3. I cannot change the letter dimensions. What do the numbers refer to? Are they in thousandths? What is rapid height? I have already drilled a hole through my table trying to figure this one out. I think I,m losing steps because when I hit return to z after cutting the machine does not go to the home position(mostly z but x a little as well).
Any advice will be greatly appreciated, Jeff
Hi Jeff, asking for help is a sign of true greatness. Anyone can sit in the corner and cry in their beer .(ruining it in the process).
Using the data that you have provided, which doesn't say what type of micro stepping you are using, or what voltage the PS is. I guessed at 10 micro steps( which I justed checked and is NOT one of the options) x 200 steps/ rev x 10 tpi = 20000 steps/ per inch. Insert what you are using for micro steps in the formula.
The only way to find the fastest speed that your machine can reliably go is thru trial and error. Try this for starters. 20,000steps per inch x 10ipm = 200,000/min or 333.333 per second or ten ipm. I forget how it is setup in Mach3 and I don't have Mach3 in front of me. If the motors are actually stalling, you willl hear a noise that will make you cringe, it is an ugly buzzing sound. If you are failing to return to zero by only .020" or so, you may have play in the system that you need to correct.
If it is off buy a huge amount say 1" plus, then you are in for some real fun. One way to make sure that you are not loosing steps is to make a mark on the stepper motor shaft and then run the code. When you get back to the starting point, the mark should be exactly where it started.
The 10tpi acme screws will limit you on fast you can ultimetly go, but as long as it is fast enough for you, then that is OK. If the motor can turn 500 rpm and not loose steps, your max carriage speed will be 50ipm. For some driver and motor combinations, 500 rpm is not possible. Similar motors on my Taig mill at ~30v will only go 10 ipm on a 20tpi screw which would be 20 ipm on a 10 tpi screw. HOWEVER I am not using the keling drivers and Your Mileage may vary.
Warning: DIY CNC may cause extreme hair loss due to you pulling your hair out.