[Eden_Stanger]

Hi My name is eden and I work for my dad. We Brought the Chinese cnc machine from Jinan itech machinery model is 1224 2013 China High speed woodworking cnc router 1224, View woodworking cnc router 1224, MULTITECH Product Details from Jinan Itech Machinery Co., Ltd. on Alibaba.com ( the link is a very close example of it, Almost exact to be honest). we ordered with the extra vacuum bed and vacuum pump.

It arrived in July and basically we haven't been able to cut anything out of it useful at all. It came with Nc studio software, that never worked... it always asked for a "usb safety key" or something like that, cant remember exactly, gave up with that software, We then went on to buy "art cam" couple of weeks ago, and also "Cut 2d" a few weeks before that. We have been drawing our company logo and even small objects like a square on them, loaded it up onto usb, we have recently been told to use, axyz.nc files by the seller. The Dsp is the Weihong nk105 CNC control system-NK105 integrated CNC system-NK105 Series-Shanghai Weihong Electronic Technol. We found out today on their website that the dsp accepts dxf nc and eng files. We have tried all of these on the cnc machine. As far as we know all the correct settings are loaded and ready to go for cnc to accept.

Now to get to the main point. the machine doesn't follow these files or doesn't know how to "read" them. we plug usb in, load up selected file, calibrate the machine and were good to go. Machine is at its home position at this point. we press the green go button and it goes, It sometimes shoots off to the other side of the machine and all the way to the bottom, sometimes hits the limit and make a screeching noise because its trying to go to far and the motors don't like it. It does small patterns like rows and rows of lines about 10mm apart. no relevance to the company logo there at all. It sometimes plunges into the wood like a drill, back out and stops there. There seems to be no link from our drawings to the machine bed, we set it to start from home position it wants to start at other end of machine bed. All these problems and it has never followed an instruction of ours.. I don't know whether it needs calibrating or a simple setting needs changing I don't know, Its doing our heads in!!! the axis are running correctly too, after a little playing that was...

That sums it up pretty much. Any help is great, I can always get photos or videos if needed.

[stucliff]

Hi Eden:

I assume that you don't have any previous experience working with CNC machines. Getting used to work with a CNC machine takes some time and can be very frustrating at the very beginning but as long as you get to know some basics you'll be able to work with it easily.

For what you say I understand that your machine is working properly, all axes are running with no problem and the machine "homes" properly. So the mechanical part of the equation seems to be out of the problems. Are you able to jog the machine, right?

You've switched from NC Studio and a PC control to a DSP control. Did you checked if the DSP was configured properly for this particular machine? The manufacturer gave you any instructions and/or files to configure the DSP?
You have to consider that the DSP is a "generic" device that has to be adapted to every particular machine. Ask the manufacturer for detailed instructions about that matter.
I personally don't have a DSP on my machine, but at least you have to be properly configured the pulse equivalent, table size, motor direction, home and spindle. These parameters "tells" the DSP how's your particular machine, how it works and how to control it.

This is the first thing that you have to be sure that it's configured properly. It's really useful to familiarize with those concepts, because it helps you to understand how the CNC machine works.

Once this is done. You'll be able to run some code on the machine and make it work. But you have to be aware that it's not just a matter of compatible or "readable" files. You DSP may accept a certain type of files. But also these files must be written so that the driver "understands" perfectly. G-Code has a lot of different instructions and variations, and your DSP may not "understand" all of them. For this purpose there are the "post processors" in the CAM software (ArtCam, Cut 2D), that make the program code generated perfectly compatible with your controller. Again, you have to ask the manufacturer about what post processor to use. Maybe the DSP manufacturer or even the CAM software house can help you on that.

When you have all of this covered, you'll be facing more challenges, but at least to operate the CNC machine will not be one of them.

I hope this helps.

Regards.

[Eden_Stanger]

Hi thanks for your reply... i think i may have confused the people reading this, the machine came with dsp control. It also had the nc studio software, but that failed to even start up, and had a virus i think...

How would i know if the dsp setting are right? e.g the pulse equivlent, table size etc...

As Far as we know, from what the manufacter has told us, the axyz, dxf, and nc files will work on the controller, we have asked them about post proccessors before, and that was there response.

The machine we are able to jog yes. It does all the moves correctly, jog, stepping etc...

My brother (who used to work for dad) has had previous experience on a cnc before, never the setting up side of, he could make the programs and make it cut what he wanted, but this was all on an ready to go machine from another company.. This company we also asked a guy called marious, who works on this company's machine to come and look at ours, however this didnt help at all and it even stumped him.

Thanks for reply and responding,

Regards.

[awerby]

See if you can get whomever sold you this machine to send you a test file that's supposed to work. That would clear up one basic question: is it a G-code software problem or a hardware/setup issue? If it's simply a matter of configuring the G-code files correctly so that the machine can interpret them correctly, then you should be able to get a post-processor to do that with your CAM program (ArtCAM or whatever). If the test file doesn't cut correctly, you'll know there's either a electro/mechanical problem in the hardware or something basically wrong in the way it's been set up.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[stucliff]

What Andrew tells is very clever. Do that to make sure if there's any problem. Some machines comes with a test file for that purpose.

To see if the machine set up is done correctly, simply jog the machine with the DSP. If everything is OK the readings on the display should be "logic", I mean if you move 5 inches (or 100 mm) the readings should be analogue to that. That's a simple way to see if anything is wrong with the pulse equivalent, I think that if the table size is well configured (and the pulse equiv as well) every axis should stop before reaching its limit.

Ask the DSP manufacturer for an advise and/or recommendation on post processors. Some DSP works with standard Fanuc instructions or are compatible with post processors made for other machines.

Customer service is the weakest point in Chinese machines. And is very annoying to deal with problems almost by yourself, but this is one of the factors that makes the price of Chinese machines so attractive.

regards

[Eden_Stanger]

What do you mean by analouge? So i move the cnc 100mm on the x axis, to the right from the home postion, it would read what on the dsp? 0.100, 1.00, 100. etc etc? And yes the manufactuer did indeed send a file over email to us, however it was practically blank... i mean it had a picture of a buddah but no commands or anything at all... very frustrating. i will indeed contact weihong and ask them about post processors...

I am starting to think its not set up properly... i mean dont think ive ever seen it read the distance ive moved it, e.g the 100mm matching the dsp, i will check this soon as possible and let you know what it reads.

Thanks for all this help.

Regards

[stucliff]

If you move 100 mm in the x Axis, from the starting point of the machine zero it should read 100.000 in the DSP, as long as mm is the unit setted in the system. Sorry if I may confuse you.

Try to get from the manufacturer the setup specs for the DSP controller and a .nc file as well to load into it, as Andrew told you. Remember, it should be an .nc file.

I would try to get information from the DSP manufacturer as well...

Take a look at this video Single Video Player _Quickstart is not specific for your machine, but is very clear, and covers the fundamentals that are very similar in every machine.

Take in count that what in the video is explained as "work envelope" is the "table size" in your DSP configuration.

If you try to follow what he does, but has no good results, it very likely you have a setup or mechanical problem on your machine...

Regards

[Eden_Stanger]

Hi today i have done some quick movments with the machine and it seems to be bnot set up properly... i moved 100mm, the dsp read 158.000. Attachment 204020 Attachment 204022 i also have a picture of the pulse equivilent... Attachment 204020

My next step is to now contact weihong for the dsp settings,watch that video and go from there really...

RegardsAttachment 204022

[stucliff]

It's clearly a bad setup

You should contact Itech for that. The pulse equivalent is related to the motors and the ballscrews used in the construction of the machine. Basically it tells the breakout board how many motor steps are needed to move one unit (mm). Technicians al Itech should know this value for sure. Senf this pictures to Itech so they know what are you talking about.

When I bought mine (it's controlled by a PC running Mach 3) I set the values by myself (there is a function in mach 3 for that) and when the chinese technicians made the set up the machine remotely the reconfigure the values wrong, so be prepared to ask at least a couple of times and be patient.

On the brighter side, once you get the machine running all those problems disappears...

Try to load and run the axyz.nc file the manufacturer gave you.

[Eden_Stanger]

Hi again, sorry for a late reply!

Good news though!! the machine is up and running, dad is a very very happy man, Long story short, instead of wasting a day or two emailing itech, I fiddled with the pulse equivalent, bit of guesswork, luck and some small judgment, I managed to get it to move the 100mm I asked for, on the x and y, not 100% perfect, but good enough.. The z still needs some work, but that I will ask for when I email itech for the 100% exact pulse equivalent on all three axis.

Its amazing how something so simple could cause major havoc!! It doesn't hit the limits now, makes no screeching noises, And finally dad has seen some proper cutting!

There Is one other issue i'm now having, I think with the programming, I have been using Artcam the past couple of days, and at the end of the program ive drawn (many Drawings), the last 10% fails, and I get the error "nc file running error", cutting haults, spindle doesn't shut off and that's it, wondered if you know anything about that?

Anyway we are very happy, and thank you very much for suggesting and helping us, and your time.. Its much appreciated, I hope I can do the same for someone soon!

Regards.

[awerby]

Congratulations on getting it running. What do you mean by "pulse equivalent"? Are you talking about the steps per unit settings or the pulse width? If you're using Mach3, it sounds like you may have run into the 500-line limit - an unlicensed copy of Mach3 (which many Chinese machines ship with, since it's free) will quit working after 500 lines of code. If that's the problem, go to Machsupport.com and buy a license - it's worth the $175.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[Eden_Stanger]

Hi thanks :-) I mean the steps per unit. Well im pretty sure thats it anyway... I have been using artcam since its worked. I also used a pre drawn program. By us. That was done on a paid version of cut 2d. This worked fine. I loaded it and away it went. Cut and 100% completed. But since ive been drawing on the artcam. I keep getting 10% unfunished and the error.

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk now Free

[awerby]

I doubt it's a problem with ArtCAM, unless you bought it along with your mill. Looking at your original post, it appears that your machine doesn't use Mach3, but Weihong's proprietary control software called NC Studio. I don't know much about it, but here's a link to download the manual, which might help you figure out what's going on (or isn't): NC Studio User Manual En

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com