[Aarwhy]

good idea, would clear the the swarf also, but how does the cutting fluid fare?

[RCaffin]

Cutting fluid? What cutting fluid?
I use MQL. I do NOT use a cutting fluid per se.

Translation: there is a continuous air blast which cools the cutter (slightly), but which is mainly to blow the swarf away, thereby avoiding any second cuts. At intervals - say every 20 seconds, there is a short pulse - say 1/2 sec, of 'mist'. This is really a spray of fine droplets of a mix of 3 parts kero to 1 part olive oil. The purpose of the mist is NOT to cool the cutter. It is to keep the surface of the cutter slightly 'wet' so metal does not stick to it, causing Built Up Edge (BUE). It also lubricates the cutter slightly, just like some coatings. No BUE, no second cuts: all is well. This works fine on steel, aluminium and even plastic.
Why also on plastic? Because lowering the friction stops the plastic from getting hot, which is never good for accuracy.
Why olive oil? Because it is cheap, biodegradable, and skin-compatible - unlike many commercial cutting oils.
Why kero? Several reasons: it dilutes the olive oil, lowering the viscosity and making it easier to spray, and it is relatively non-inflammable. And unlike alcohol, which is also used on aluminium, you don't end up drunk at the end of the day.

MQL is now used by many major engineering, aerospace and automotive companies. No EPA regs, no disposal costs, no fermenting barrels of coolant, far lower primary costs, longer tool life, better finish, and no mess. Swarf and parts come out essentially dry.

Cheers
Roger

[Aarwhy]

Roger, thank you for the GR8 explanation, I had not heard of it so thanks.

I have never been involved with machining, while certainly this last machine is soft metal capable, I have had my time cutout sorting problems, one step forward, etc.
Background, construction manager, role, problem solver, computers from 1960 using, programing Bla Bla. we had no idea there were measurements smaller than 1/4" hahaha
Since I retired, I thought they should do some work for me now.
I set myself a task to produce a CNC and programs to produce a playable violin from Australian timber.
After 2.5 yrs, designing, building, modifications, turning truck load of timber to sawdust, living in suburbia, build dust extractor, digitizers. drawings, code, my machine has just produced my first unit.

No-way am I am machinist, or a violin player for that matter, it was just the complexity in the violin, both in the programing , and exactness, so problem solver, inventor, at best.

Thank you, really appreciate your time for the explanation.

[RCaffin]

What State/City are you in?
Cheers
Roger
Sydney
PS: first computer was at Melb Uni, IBM 7044. All the way through the mini-computer era, and then the microprocessor era.

[Aarwhy]

Mine was all the first home computers Commadore 64, Atari ect.
No programs, had to do your own. Dos and Basic.
Had the kids doing simple games to get them interested

In those early days, was using Dbase3 for quite some time.
Also, Bates first package B4 Windows, T-maker I think it was, then windows.
How electrics has spiraled from there.

Anyway, I was a sand groper, left in 1990, Adelaide, Melbourne, Been in Brisbane about 11 years

Cheers

[RCaffin]

Ah yes.
You know, I think I still have a T-shirt from the (carefully choreographed) MS release of Windows 95. I have no idea what year that was!
Cheers
Roger

[Aarwhy]

A history of Windows - Microsoft Windows History

XP was a very stable package.
Do you know, even today, with no support for last year or two, it is still the second most used windows in the world.

https://redmondmag.com/articles/2015...-xp-usage.aspx
Then, down hill to 7, which also is very stable for work.

Cheers

[RCaffin]

Curiously, two of our desktop machines are running WXP Pro SP3, and the one running the CNC is running W7 (but only because the XP machine which had been running the CNC died).
Cheers
Roger

[Aarwhy]

Roger,
A question if I may.
Do you use Mach3 on windows 7 neither my mate nor I, have been able to get it send the data out the parallel port any suggestions.
I use Mach3 but mainly USB by planet.
Cheers
Rod.

[RCaffin]

Hi Rod

Yes, I am running Mach3.042.062 on W7, but not via the PP.

There are problems with running Mach on any windows OS. Windows, in any version, is a time-share system, NOT a real time OS. The OS can pre-empt any running process for any amount of time it likes. In order to get adequate real time performance out of a PC running Windows, Mach HAS to run with a higher priority than even the Windows kernal, otherwise Windows might decide to go off into LaLa land for a short while and not run Mach. That would crash a CNC right smartly.

So the Mach PP driver (which is NOT the MS LPT driver!) has to totally subvert the Windows kernal and run at a higher interrupt priority than even the CPU clock which keeps time for Windows. Art Fenerty wrote a fiendish bit of code to do this. (It is quite possible to do this: I have done it myself on a different processor to debug an OS once.)

However, starting with W7 (I think) MS introduced far tighter restrictions on device drivers. They have to be signed by MS before they can be installed. MS will not permit such a pre-emptive device driver to be installed. I can see their point: such a device driver would be a very serious Trojan. But this restriction totally screws up any real-time application such as Mach (plus others).

You have several alternatives here:
I think Art's Darwin driver should work on W7 and beat the MS restriction. Hehehe: do not snark a good programmer.
Run Linux and EMC2 or LinuxCNC instead, as Linux can be configured to allow a real time process.
Run Mach3 but with an Ethernet Smooth Stepper. Frankly, this is my preferred solution. It works VERY well. (But not the USB Smooth Stepper please.)
(There are a few more alternatives like the last one which I will skip over here.)

What the ESS allows Mach to do is to run the User Interface and the Trajectory Planner as a normal Windows process. Mach then pours out the high-level path instructions through the standard MS ethernet driver to the ESS, where those instructions are buffered and interpreted. We call this (the ESS) an external pulse engine. In fact, the ESS can run much FASTER than a PC, because it is dedicated to this one task.

But what if Windows pre-empts Mach for a fraction of a second? No problem: the ESS contains a buffer which can hold up to 4 seconds worth of instructions. Windows itself will not hang Mach for that long. Caution! Do not have your Mach box connected to the internet or even to any other network devices. Networking processes CAN (and will) interrupt Mach for longer than can be tolerated. I use a USB key for file transfer instead.

Cheers
Roger

[Aarwhy]

Thank you so much. Have you had any experience with linux?

For 3 years I have been using Software - PlanetCNC usb It's a really good package. But very susceptible to earthing loops,and electrical interference.
Been going non stop about 10 months for this time, out of blue yesterday, each time I turned the spindle on, it killed the Program. Both work fine individually and if the spindle is running first, it's OK. Strange, nothing has been added or changed, earths all seem good, disconnected all external connections. The only connection between USB board and spindle is the mains common power earth.
12 months ago, when you turned the garage fluro on/off were tripping it.

So today I had to plug my Mach3 control box and XP onto the machine. XP has always seemed to fairly stable, if you DON'T have anything else on the computer.
Have to try and sort this out tomorrow, Dam nuisance is what it is.but, it is so easy to use.and I do a lot of digitizing with it.
Cheers Thanks for that I will print your info out, and try to digest it, Bed time reading hahaha

[RCaffin]

Yes, I have run Linux, on and off, for the last 20 years (and many other OSs on minis and midis before that).
Frankly, I would prefer to drop all the Windows OSs and switch to Linux, but several of my most important programs are Windows-only. (Autosketch, Mach, and a few others.) I may go to dual-boot soon, when I have time.

The USB runs at 0/3.3 VDC and has a 'common' earth. It is great for keyboards and cameras, as those devices are floating. But trying to use the USB to control kilowatts of power is just plain chancy.
The Ethernet runs at +/-15 VDC, and is transformer-isolated at every port. Experience shows it can easily control high-power systems.

The tripping with a USB connection is often due to arcane details in the mains power distribution and especially the mains earthing. It can be a nightmare to resolve. I gave up - and I have >40 years experience in electronics (supervision, design, doing, everything).

Cheers
Roger