[Strip]

I have delt with this problem since I first received my machine (used). I'm sick of it. After I complete a run with a mill, the z axis begins to rise and the spindle and coolant turns off as it is rising to the tool change position. Sometimes, during this process I hear a thump in the machine, then the spindle starts back down and will not stop until it crashes or I hit the estop. It happens somewhere after the tool has risen 2 inches and before it reaches tool change position and at random distance. It is not in my code as it does it with code generated from Mastercam, and Sprutcam. It does it very randomly and not always on the same program or the same tool change within the program. I have talked to Tormach about this and have reloaded mach and have switched the drives around and it continues to do this only on the z axis. anyone ever had to deal with this or know a fix?

[Manifoldman]

I believe it is the Mach software, I used to have the problem as well. Once I switched to path pilot all my issues went away. That one as well as others


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[Strip]

Thanks, Now that I switched to a vista pendant and cant switch to PP for a while. LOL just my luck.

[BAMCNC.COM]

I've dealt with it aswell. I turned down my acceleration a few notches, haven't seen it happen since. Of course you have to use SETSYS (Unlocked Mach), instead of the one Tormach gives you to use... Look in your tormach install folders to find it. or search. I run my tormach around 150ipm, I went to path pilot and couldn't' stand how slow it was, had to go back to Mach and deal with the small quirks, plus with Mach you can have Dropbox...

[PCW_MESA]

I've dealt with it aswell. I turned down my acceleration a few notches, haven't seen it happen since. Of course you have to use SETSYS (Unlocked Mach), instead of the one Tormach gives you to use... Look in your tormach install folders to find it. or search. I run my tormach around 150ipm, I went to path pilot and couldn't' stand how slow it was, had to go back to Mach and deal with the small quirks, plus with Mach you can have Dropbox...

Pathpilot will very likely run faster than Mach before stalling for a number of reasons
( one is a trajectory planner that does not violate acceleration constraints by large amounts )

But to run faster than the defaults, you would have to modify settings that have been deliberately
made hard to access (for good business and safety reasons)
So to do this you would have to work around this protection (just as you have done with Mach)

[Strip]

BamCNC, are you saying I need to purchase a new copy of mach to turn this setting down?

[samco]

And using mesa hardware and pathpilot realtime os the pulse train timing is rock solid.

Pathpilot will very likely run faster than Mach before stalling for a number of reasons
( one is a trajectory planner that does not violate acceleration constraints by large amounts )

But to run faster than the defaults, you would have to modify settings that have been deliberately
made hard to access (for good business and safety reasons)
So to do this you would have to work around this protection (just as you have done with Mach)

[R.DesJardin]

Do you have the Noise Suppression Kit installed? I had this issue as you said at random times too.

[mountaindew]

And using mesa hardware and pathpilot realtime os the pulse train timing is rock solid.

Agreed!

and

"So to do this you would have to work around this protection (just as you have done with Mach)"



I was going to mention this in another thread, that the brianbonedoc was parsing path pilot setup to suite his needs

[tmarks11]

BamCNC, are you saying I need to purchase a new copy of mach to turn this setting down?

No, the license that you have for your Tormach version should work in the downloaded version from Newfangled Solutions website.

Not to mention that you could just run the full copy of mach 3 in demo mode and see if it solves your problem when you turn down the acceleration. Mach 3 in demo mode will execute something like 500 lines of g-code.

[Steve Seebold]

I had the same issue with my machine about a year ago. Turned out the Z axis stepper motor had gone bad.

I spent hours on the phone with Tormach before they found the problem.

At first, they replaced the control computer (I still use Mach 3). That didn't change anything so the next thing was to replace the stepper motor. That took care of the problem.

The smartest thing I have done is I kept up the warranty on my machine. Yes, it costs me $450.00 per year, but when I had my Z axis problem the first thing they replaced was the control computer. That was almost $800.00. I don't know how much the stepper was, but I'm sure between the computer and the stepper the bill would have been over $1,000.00.

[Strip]

Thanks for the input. I think the cheapest thing for me to try is to download the new mach program and try that first, If it doesnt fix it, I may swap a couple motors out.

[keen]

I have delt with this problem since I first received my machine (used). I'm sick of it. After I complete a run with a mill, the z axis begins to rise and the spindle and coolant turns off as it is rising to the tool change position. Sometimes, during this process I hear a thump in the machine, then the spindle starts back down and will not stop until it crashes or I hit the estop. It happens somewhere after the tool has risen 2 inches and before it reaches tool change position and at random distance. It is not in my code as it does it with code generated from Mastercam, and Sprutcam. It does it very randomly and not always on the same program or the same tool change within the program. I have talked to Tormach about this and have reloaded mach and have switched the drives around and it continues to do this only on the z axis. anyone ever had to deal with this or know a fix?

Hi Strip. Reading your issue. Are you sure it is not your Z stepper brake? Mine does something similar well, ....the thump and coasting down bit anyway. Is the Z axis still live and able to jog during its descent?

Keen

[Hendry]

When i had this problem i did the same thing You did Cheers.

[daniellyall]

down load M3 grab the start icon from C / M3 folder replace the one in tormach folder with the one from the M3 folder then you have access to all settings

[R.DesJardin]

Thanks for the input. I think the cheapest thing for me to try is to download the new mach program and try that first, If it doesnt fix it, I may swap a couple motors out.

The cheapest is the noise suppression Kit, it's been a few years but I'm pretty sure this solved my problems. It can only help your machine performance and reliability. I currently run Mach on one machine and PP on the other they both work great.

[Strip]

Hi Strip. Reading your issue. Are you sure it is not your Z stepper brake? Mine does something similar well, ....the thump and coasting down bit anyway. Is the Z axis still live and able to jog during its descent?

Keen

The z axis is under power on it's decent. or seems to be, the stepper is whining like it is running.

[Strip]

down load M3 grab the start icon from C / M3 folder replace the one in tormach folder with the one from the M3 folder then you have access to all settings

Can you elaborate a little more? I am not sure I fully understand what you mean.

[TurboStep]

Pathpilot will very likely run faster than Mach before stalling for a number of reasons
...
So to do this you would have to work around this protection (just as you have done with Mach)

I can confirm that Pathpilot is definitely NOT slower than Mach3. I ran Mach at 145in/min for X and Y, 106in/min for Y (the numbers are odd due to conversion from metric). I have Pathpilot now running comfortably at 157.5in/min and 130in/min respectively. The limits are actually slightly higher for both Mach and PP but I backed off a little to ensure that I didn't run into any problems later. I don't cut at these speeds, I only use these values for rapids and jogging. I significantly increased the 4th axis speed under Mach 3 but I haven't tested this with PP yet.
Step

[BAMCNC.COM]

I can confirm that Pathpilot is definitely NOT slower than Mach3. I ran Mach at 145in/min for X and Y, 106in/min for Y (the numbers are odd due to conversion from metric). I have Pathpilot now running comfortably at 157.5in/min and 130in/min respectively. The limits are actually slightly higher for both Mach and PP but I backed off a little to ensure that I didn't run into any problems later. I don't cut at these speeds, I only use these values for rapids and jogging. I significantly increased the 4th axis speed under Mach 3 but I haven't tested this with PP yet.
Step

You modified the stock Path Pilot, which is WHY yours isn't slower. (I didn't see an easy way to do that) Pretty sure stock Path Pilot is at or slower than 110ipm. I didn't feel like figuring out how to turn PP under Linux so I could have dropbox, it was just easier to put the Mach pc back in and start making parts. However IF PP is as easy as the unlocked Mach, then I would say Path Pilot is superior if you ONLY need that on the PC, I couldn't deal with only having Mach. I've looked into Smooth stepper before, has anyone managed a switch over?

As for using Mach, just go into your C: drive (pcnc foloder or something) and find "setsys" and use that as your program, no need to download anything, it's just the unlocked version of the Mach you already have.