[Cartierusm]

So I finally got my lathe running and went to do my first cutting then on the second tool change where it's going to be following the arcs is starts moving the tool as if it were following the the circle that created the arc, oh this is being used in Mach3. The tool comes so far out on X that I have to stop it so the carriage doesn't hit it's limits.

I've been messing around with it but so far I haven't been able to figure it out. As I'm writting this I've only tried messing with the dolphin program, but I just thought maybe there is some weird angle arc setting in Mach.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Cartierusm]

So a couple of settings in Mach I haven't figure out what they are for.

In Ports and Pins > Turn Options > Reversed Arcs in Front Post??
And in General Config > IJ Mode Absolute or Incremental??

[HuFlungDung]

Maybe post a sample of your programming. There are plenty of ways it can be wrong

[metalworkz]

Hello,
I don't use Mach3 for turning but it is my controller for my CNC mill. For milling I know that if the IJ Mode is set opposite to the CAM program you will see it in the file when displayed in Mach3. Arcs will be displayed as complete circles instead of an arc and it is very obvious. Just click the other radio button for the IJ Mode and then load the file and if it displays correctly you probably have fixed the problem. From your description that is what it sounds like the problem is. It is easy to try and also easy to change back if it does not fix the problem. Good luck, and I hope this helps you.
Regards,

[Cartierusm]

The IJ problem solved the arc problem. Thank for the help. Now I have to figure out the other problems. I keep getting in mach when loading the gcode, "radius to end of arc differs from to start line 203". Have no idea why this come up. Here is the Gcode.

[Cartierusm]

Scratch that last post as I got it working for the most part.
I'm now having another problem, this time it ruined my part!!! So far Dolphin is not winning me over.

I went to go cut threads and a few times it just plunged the bit in WAY too deep and ruined the part and stalled the motor. I'll post the Gcode as well. The first problem is the offsets you setup up for each tool doesn't work, it doesn't compensate at all it's useless to put the offsets if it's not going to use them.

I set the rough passes at 8 and 4 finish passes but it's having cut MORE than the total depth in one pass and then repeating that a bunch of times.

Any HELP??

P.S. Besides the animation in Dolphin how do I test cut a thread program without ruining the part?

[Cartierusm]

I've been messing with the program. It seems as the offsets do work but not in the correct direction, when I change the value from negative to positive Dolphin gives me an error. So I took all the offsets out and will do them manually until monday when I can call Dolphin.

The threading problem still exists as I did the offset manually when I went to machine it. The weird part is in the simulation the threading tool shows that it's a distance away from the work piece that looks to be as far as I set the offset but something else is going wrong as it crashed the tool.

Anyway any help is appreciated, see the gcode in the previous post above. The thread depth it's tying to do is greater than the depth I asked for, or as far as I can tell from looking at the Gcode.

[metalworkz]

Hello,
I'm sorry I didn't return until now to see there is still a problem. I vaguely remember when we first started using Dolphin we encountered a problem with the units of measurement (inches vs. metric) as it seemed to default back to metric. I think there are several places where the units of measure are input and once we finally changed them all to inches(our choice of units) we finally got it all sorted out. I am not sure if the current version still has several locations for the units to be set, but it may be worth checking into. I think Dolphin was set to metric and Mach3 was set to inches and we would keep getting an error when the file was loaded into Mach3. The error you are getting seems familiar(radius to end of arc differs from to start line ) but that was a long time ago. Check to be sure all of the inputs text boxes for the units of measure is set to the same unit you are using in Mach3. I hope this helps as well as the IJ mode did.
Good luck! If it doesn't do the trick I'm sure Rodney or someone else at Dolphin USA will be able to get you fixed up.
Regards,

[Cartierusm]

Thanks for the help. It seems as though when you mess around a lot with the program you already built in the CAM portion it outputs a little weird. I just rewrote it, which didn't take that long and it out put correctly.

More problems, different though. I'm going to call Rodney tomorrow. I know it's not with the program, it's doing what it's supposed to, it's just me understanding it. The program is a little buggy, refresh rates on the simulation and tool crashes it doesn't realize are happneing in the simulation, but it's just something I have to work through. I figured ways around it. The biggest problem I was having I think was my offsets were incorrect. I spent a lot of time setting up my tooling and it was wrong. I set my main tool up then put a new tool on the QCTP and slide it to touch the work piece, turns out this is not the correct way to do. I ended up setting up the main tool, then putting the new tool it and jogging at .0005 increments until it cut then backed off. This seems more accurate. That takes care of the X axis the Z is a little harder to set up as I kind of have to do it by eye. For my reverse tool bit for going from chuck to tailstock I just faced a piece with my regular tool zero it out and then move the new tool and use a square on the faced piece until it touches. Seems to be working. I'm just real nervous about ruining another piece. Like for the threading it seems to be cutting way too deep for the first few passes and I don't know of a way to test it to see if it's at the correct depth before cutting.

[John S.]

Just an idea as I don't use Dolphin for turning, you don't have a post that work in diameter mode when you are expecting radius mode or visa versa, are you.?

Sorry can't be more helpful but all the turning i have done to present was been with the wizards in Mach.

John S.

[Cartierusm]

As I mentioned above it was the IJ mode changing it to aboslute instead of incremental. But thanks for the help.

[John S.]

I meant the bit about it cutting too deep, sorry should have been clearer.

John S.

[Cartierusm]

Yes it's set correctly. If it were wrong you would really know
Dolphin Tech is looking into it.