Hey All,
I got my X2 running under CNC! It was quite an interesting process. I'll tell you some of the things that I dealt with in a moment, but first I have a couple of questions:
1. How do I measure the backlash on the machine to compensate for it in Mach3? What exactly am I measuring???
2. Can you change the feedrate right from the main Mach3 screen? There is a feedrate setting, but no matter what I input, the rate of the table movement stays the same. I finally went into the motor tuning and upped the velocity (I think that is what it was called), to get the table to move faster.
Random thoughts on the build:
I used the cncfusion kit and a keling motor kit for the build. I converted the mill to belt drive from LMS. I am running Mach3 on an IBM NetVista P-IV 1.8ghz computer with 1gb RAM.
The wiring *almost* turned into a nightmare. It took quite a bit of google searching and looking at Hoss's site for motor settings to figure it out. I am electronically challenged.
I mounted all the control stuff in an extra Emachine computer tower case. The on/off switch for the computer was exactly the right size hole for the emergency stop switch. It fit perfectly. I have another case and I am thinking about taking the guts out of the IBM desktop computer (appears that the motherboard will fit) that I am using for Mach3 and install it all in the spare Emachine case. Then all my cases will match. I used D-sub connectors on the back to hook up the wiring for the X, Y, and Z axis. That way, all the wiring can disconnect should I ever need to move the mill.
I need to figure out a place to put some of this stuff. I pretty much lost my whole workbench to the computers and monitor for the CNC portion. I also want to tidy up the wiring going from the motors to the controls. I left the wires a little long and they are just laying all over the bench.
I took the mill completely apart and cleaned everything before I put it back together with the CNC components and the LMS belt drive kit. I have a lot of the manual pieces left over from the mill that I probably will never use again.
Wiring in limit switches is going to be the next to-do project.
I have a ShuttlePro controller coming. If I don't like it, I'll give it to my son in Los Angeles. He is an editor out there and he can use it with Final Cut Pro and whatever else he uses.
I finally got the chance to run something through the mill tonight. I used the "Write Wizard" in Mach3 to engrave my wife's name on a piece of aluminum. It took me a couple of hours to figure out how to "home" the mill to start where I needed it. Re-watching the coordinates video on the Mach3 site helped alot there. I also found that I had to tweak the automatically generated g-code to get it to run properly. But, once I got that figured out, it was pretty cool watching the machine do its thing. My wife thought it was pretty cool too. Especially since it was her name being engraved.
All in all, I know that I will be happier with the CNC instead of the powerfeed and DRO that I originally planned on. I still have a lot to learn though.
Mike