[bill.anderson]

Can any put me on the right path to convert my Patriot BridgeMill from Mach3/Mach4 to Linuxcnc? Has anyone done it? Would you share the process?

Thanks
Bill A.

[sharpshooter90]

You might look over on the Tormach forum- Their early machines were all Mach 3 based, but the new Path Pilot is a linux system, and there has been a lot of discussion about it.

[bill.anderson]

I've looked over there, they are pretty well involved with the Tormachs. I was figuring that over the years someone with a Patriot CNC would have moved to LinuxCNC and would be willing to share the process they took.

bill a.

[109jb]

I have never done it but i believe there is a way to import the Mach3 xml file into LinuxCNC. You might want to try asking over at LinuxCNC.org

[bill.anderson]

I have been over there, but they have a tendency to assume that some things should be obvious to the most casual observer and they aren't.

[109jb]

Is the patriot a stepper controlled machine? If so the instructions are at this link under the section "2. Start Page". There is an import option.

Stepper Configuration Wizard

[bill.anderson]

Yes the Patriot is a 4 axis combination Lathe & Mill with Gecko G540 and an USB SmoothStepper. When I decided that Mach wasn't doing it for me I went and got a Mesa 5i25 and a new computer. The wizard may work with parallel port but doesn't communicate with the G540.

[bill.anderson]

I guess I need to understand what files the wizard writes importing the Mach3 xml and how to apply that to the Mesa 5i25 card.

[smallblock]

[QUOTE=bill.anderson;1912156]Yes the Patriot is a 4 axis combination Lathe & Mill with Gecko G540 and an USB SmoothStepper.

I tried the USB Smooth stepper and could never really get it working right- Then I bought the ESS and it worked fine except that you could not cut threads. The ESS software does not allow feedback from Mach 3 and the sensors to properly control the spindle speed and feed rate. I finally got rid of both and went back to the original setup with parallel port cable and I can cut threads fine.

[bill.anderson]

That is similar to my experience. After the USB smooth stepper and all the fun between the USB smoothstepper and Mach3's non standard implementation of G76. I decided to try LinuxCNC. I am convinced that there is likely to be a configuration that will allow me to cut a consistent thread with my Patriot BridgeMill. Something I have not been able to do since 2008. I have licenses for Mach3 and Mach4, but I have found that the latest versions do not necessarily keep previous fixes, and that each version works or breaks differently. Based on my experience with the problems with the smooth stepper I was not willing to go from a poorly supported product to a different product from the same company (ESS).
A Mesa 5i25 with a G540 is what I am playing with now but I am having trouble understanding how to use PncConf to configure the 4 axises, charge pump and estop. A lot of the terms and how they relate are confusing.

bill a.

[smallblock]

Looks like we both went down that same dead end road- I tried the smooth stepper because it allowed the use of newer computers and even tablets with the ethernet cable and they claimed it smoothed out the motors and improved speed, which on the ESS was true to a certain extent. However getting them to admit that their software did not allow thread cutting was like pulling teeth- you can see my threads over on their forum. They promised a software upgrade which has not been done as of yet. I looked at Mach 4 and also found that it was very costly to get the same features as Mach 3 and was plagued by a lot of bugs. Ironically, after going around in a lot of circles and down dead end roads, I found that the Mach 3 version that came with my Patriot does everything just fine including cutting threads. JT posted some examples here just recently. I guess it all comes down to that old adage- "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"

[bill.anderson]

My stretch goal is to migrate PathPilot, but there is a lot to do by hand that I don't quite understand yet. I think it's a matter of learning enough to ask the right questions. I suspect that I'll get more usable answers either here or on LinuxCNC forum. I can get LinuxCNC working on my parallel port, I just am having trouble how to convert those settings to those for the Mesa 5i25 card

[daniellyall]

find pcmesa and ask him he is the mesa guy, he is very helpful

[bill.anderson]

Is he on here or on the LinuxCNC forum?

[daniellyall]

both look in the path pilot page on here

[bill.anderson]

Thanks

[bill.anderson]

Couldn't find a pcmesa on either forum.

[109jb]

PCW_MESA

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/members/pcw_mesa.html

[bill.anderson]

Thanks

bill a.