Hi-- I have an older Digital Tool router with rack and pinion gears which can run up to 400 ipm. I never run it this fast for several reasons-- wear and tear on the machine, quality of cut (chatter marks), it will bog down the Porter Cable router, it breaks 1/4" bits, the noise is too great, it is too
bouncy at change in velocity-- which brings me to my question-- Setting the velocity. If I run a program with very small lines at a very fast speed the machine tends to feel like it is vibrating a lot at the transition of vectors (although the cut is really not bad). I have been running this machine almost daily for the last 14 years (not constantly) with only replacement of limit switches so far (knock on wood)(due to the dust getting in them even with a dust collector). It seems to me that if I was trying to run the machine at a high speed it would be dead by now, but maybe some of that is due to improper velocity settings. I run WinCNC as the driving program and wonder if anyone else can shed some insight into the effects of changing the settings in the WinCNC.ini file. On programs wiith lots of short vectors, can the machine even get up to speed and then decelerate in the alotted time, or is a slower speed and less velocity better than instant gratification? thanks-- Jack
In Response To--"wonder if anyone else can shed some insight into the effects of changing the settings in the WinCNC.ini file."
I have been playing with MANY various settings in the WinCNC.ini file all last week. I am using WinCNC version 2.2.07 on an WIN-XP-Home PC. I also use a Porter-Cable Router, the 3.25hp, model 7518 with the variable rpms from 10K to 21K on a 3axis table with Servos. There are lots of variations to try. Yes, WinCNC can react in time, if your motors can cooperate.
If you understand computer jargon, (I have to re-read 10 or 20 times, then it starts to make sense), the WinCNC manual in the help section or on web site, gives advice for calculating velocity, smoothing factors, a sneaky acceleration factor for velocity to be aware of, etc.
If your X & Y axis cuts the length you program it to cut, and if you cut a circle and the arc is even at start and finish, your resolutions must be set correctly. The velocity settings have more to do with transit speeds and rapid moves I believe, I have my file set for accel=s50 which is the default setting on mine for max velocity. On my X & Y, I have it set at c15 for my min. vel. match, and just reduced the XY axisvel=r1600 (with an a2 factor which dbls it, down to r1000 in XY and from r600 to r200 in Z which is very drastic, but reduced LOTS of VIBRATION**. Sometimes the vibration is my indicator to check my grease/lube/maintenance schedule. I have not lost any performance with these new settings. Also, if a file is fairly basic, and lots of small vectors are not truly necessary, but may be the result of copy/paste/editing, etc. , I will often go in and delete/reduce the number of vectors, or use VCP's vector smoothing option on arcs particularly.
I don't know for sure that I could be of help, since I am not as experienced, but if you want to post or PM me with your .ini file as a notepad .txt file or something easy, I will be happy to try since it is very similar to what I have been working on this week or I can send my shop phone#, but would not have much time until Mon. Aft.
IF ANYONE ELSE HAS ADVICE ON SETTING UP WINCNC ini FILES, PLEASE ADD!!
**NOTE: I did this because my bit would not return exactly to the home position, it would be off by .020 or more, depending on file length, and cut speed, usually in the X. I also grounded my motors and rearranged wiring to help avoid encoder interference. Running better, but not perfect yet. OPEN TO ADVICE ON THIS AS WELL.
thanks-- Jack