Re: mach 3 cv mode stalling
I know this is an old thread but I thought I'd throw this out there. I've finally solved my Mach 3 CV mode bug issues - by switching to UCCNC software with a UC100. I haven't done the switch 100% yet because I still need to write the tool change macros (I'm using Ger's screen sets on Mach 3) but in my initial tests, the UCCNC CV trajectory planner is in another league compared to Mach 3
I've just launched a guitar neck product line and Mach 3 was giving me crazy headaches. I had to slow the acceleration on my long axis to 23 (from 40) and drop my top speed a little. I also dropped the feed rates in my CAM software as well. In the process, I got really bad corner rounding and had to drop my lookahead down to 10 lines to get good looking parts. In the end, I could get a good part in about 1:04 (one hour, four minutes). Even then, I could still see some corner rounding artifacts but it's only because I'm pretty picky. I then ran some other simpler parts and the finish was unacceptable. I had bought a UC100 earlier hoping it would solve the problems but the issue is in the CV planner so it didn't help.
There was a bug in the UCCNC software but, the UCCNC guys fixed it in exactly 2 days. My first run of the guitar neck, running the exact same code ran in :47 minutes. The machine ran much more smoothly. I increased my acceleration up to 60 and it's been perfectly reliable in all the test runs I've done.
Bye bye mach 3.
Not that I have any plans on going back to Mach but, does anyone know if Artsoft has addressed this issue in Mach4? I ask because I'm getting a lot of questions regarding this.
p.s., the UCCNC guys have also seen this bug in Mach3 and they told me that according to their measurements, mach3 can increase the accel/decel rates by up to 100% when in CV mode so the best way to avoid this problem if you're running Mach is to decrease your accels by about 50%.
-Andy B.
http://www.birkonium.com CNC for Luthiers and Industry http://banduramaker.blogspot.com