[cnataliec]

Hi

I´m a newbie who got a second hand chinese machine. The people I got it from never really used it, they played with it and one day decided to sell it. I don´t know anything but thought that with this machine I could learn and get better. Tried using it but the scale was always way to small. Something that was supposed to be 1.796in would come out as 0.366, very very small. Then I tried scaling it but it would still be smaller than I hoped it would be. Tried changing the units from in to mm (I work usually with mm) but it still came out way too small.

Then I found that maybe the steps per min were wrong. So I followed a tutorial on how to set them with the tool Mach3 has. They were very wrong, I would ask it to move 5mm and would only move one. When I finished I thought that maybe finally I had discovered the reason of all evil. But no. When I tried to run a test code (just a 8mm circle pocket) the machine moved so fast, way too fast, and then it went down really fast until the tool holder was rubbing against the mdf and then everything shut down. I could not turn on anything and found out (after panicking) that the regulator I was using died in the process. Everything else was fine.

Can anyone help me? I think I made a huge mistake, and can´t figure out what it was.

Here is the gcode I used when this happend. I ran it before changing anything and the circle supposed to be 8mm was of only 3.88mm. Please help.
(1001)
(FREEUNOCTAVOBITV2)
(T1 D=3.175 CR=0. - ZMIN=-2. - FLAT END MILL)
G90 G94 G91.1 G40 G49 G17
G21
G28 G91 Z0.
G90

(2D POCKET2)
M5
M9
T1 M6
S5000 M3
G54
G0 X2.087 Y0.874
G43 Z15. H1
Z5.
G1 Z2.817 F1000.
X2.1 Y0.855 Z2.698 F333.
X2.136 Y0.8 Z2.597
X2.186 Y0.715 Z2.527
X2.238 Y0.608 Z2.5
G2 X-0.522 Y-0.608 Z2.335 I-1.38 J-0.608
X2.238 Y0.608 Z2.169 I1.38 J0.608
X-0.522 Y-0.608 Z2.004 I-1.38 J-0.608
X2.238 Y0.608 Z1.838 I1.38 J0.608
X-0.522 Y-0.608 Z1.673 I-1.38 J-0.608
X2.238 Y0.608 Z1.507 I1.38 J0.608
X-0.522 Y-0.608 Z1.342 I-1.38 J-0.608
X2.238 Y0.608 Z1.176 I1.38 J0.608
X-0.522 Y-0.608 Z1.011 I-1.38 J-0.608
X2.238 Y0.608 Z0.845 I1.38 J0.608
X-0.522 Y-0.608 Z0.68 I-1.38 J-0.608
X2.238 Y0.608 Z0.515 I1.38 J0.608
X-0.522 Y-0.608 Z0.349 I-1.38 J-0.608
X2.238 Y0.608 Z0.184 I1.38 J0.608
X-0.522 Y-0.608 Z0.018 I-1.38 J-0.608
X2.238 Y0.608 Z-0.147 I1.38 J0.608
X-0.522 Y-0.608 Z-0.313 I-1.38 J-0.608
X2.238 Y0.608 Z-0.478 I1.38 J0.608
X2.366 Y0. Z-0.5 I-1.38 J-0.608
X0.604 I-0.881 J0.
X2.412 I0.904 J0. F1000.
X-2.412 I-2.412 J0.
X2.412 I2.412 J0.
X2.219 Y-0.2 I-0.2 J0.
G1 X-0.44 Y-0.29
G2 X-0.647 Y-0.104 I-0.007 J0.2
X2.362 Y0.104 Z-0.665 I1.505 J0.104 F333.
X-0.647 Y-0.104 Z-0.831 I-1.505 J-0.104
X0.806 Y1.507 Z-0.915 I1.505 J0.104
X2.366 Y0. Z-1. I0.052 J-1.507
X0.604 I-0.881 J0.
X2.412 I0.904 J0. F1000.
X-2.412 I-2.412 J0.
X2.412 I2.412 J0.
X2.219 Y-0.2 I-0.2 J0.
G1 X-0.44 Y-0.29
G2 X-0.647 Y-0.104 I-0.007 J0.2
X2.362 Y0.104 Z-1.165 I1.505 J0.104 F333.
X-0.647 Y-0.104 Z-1.331 I-1.505 J-0.104
X0.806 Y1.507 Z-1.415 I1.505 J0.104
X2.366 Y0. Z-1.5 I0.052 J-1.507
X0.604 I-0.881 J0.
X2.412 I0.904 J0. F1000.
X-2.412 I-2.412 J0.
X2.412 I2.412 J0.
X2.219 Y-0.2 I-0.2 J0.
G1 X-0.44 Y-0.29
G2 X-0.647 Y-0.104 I-0.007 J0.2
X2.362 Y0.104 Z-1.665 I1.505 J0.104 F333.
X-0.647 Y-0.104 Z-1.831 I-1.505 J-0.104
X0.806 Y1.507 Z-1.915 I1.505 J0.104
X2.366 Y0. Z-2. I0.052 J-1.507
X0.604 I-0.881 J0.
X2.412 I0.904 J0. F1000.
X-2.412 I-2.412 J0.
X2.412 I2.412 J0.
G1 X2.407 Y-0.06 Z-1.988
X2.39 Y-0.119 Z-1.976
X2.367 Y-0.165 Z-1.941
X2.336 Y-0.206 Z-1.907
X2.286 Y-0.253 Z-1.804
X2.267 Y-0.267 Z-1.683
G0 Z15.

G28 G91 Z0.
G90
G28 G91 X0. Y0.
G90
M30

[CitizenOfDreams]

Give us some information about your machine - ballscrew pitch, microstepping, gear reduction (if any) - and we will help you calculate the "steps per unit" value.

[carl1961]

Seems like most likely your setup in mm and your trying to run with inches

[CitizenOfDreams]

The scale difference between millimeters and inches would be 25x, not 2x or 4x.

[cnataliec]

I would love to but they didn´t give me any information and I don´t know how to get it. I don´t even know the model or anything about my machine. I followed a tutorial on how to set up Mach3, like how to set up the program for a new machine, and noticed that there were many settings very different like if they had just done it without knowing what they were doing (the past owner). Tried to fix them and then the machine would not even move. So restored the settings and just went along. That is until I tried this.

[cnataliec]

The scale difference between millimeters and inches would be 25x, not 2x or 4x.

I also think that is the issue, but I did change the native units to mm, maybe I thought I did and didn´t. And when I was cheking the steps per min, it asks "how much do you want it to move" I typed 5mm, and it moved only 1mm, and that happened in X axis, Y and Z. If it was in inches, why didn´t it move 5in when I asked it to move 5? I´m really lost.

[he1957]

In the motor tuning, set steps dialogue you mention. If you said move 100mm and it moved 5 and you answered 5mm and saved the calculated value, redoing the same steps should be correct.

[cnataliec]

In the motor tuning, set steps dialogue you mention. If you said move 100mm and it moved 5 and you answered 5mm and saved the calculated value, redoing the same steps should be correct.

That is what I did, and it went crazy. Because it only asks for a number but doesn't tell you which units I don't know if Mach3 is calculating in inches and me in mm. Is there a way to see in which units it is currently working? I thought I had changed them but maybe I didn't.

[Sterob]

See if this helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B665YN9Jyn0