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Rik
Vectric Craftsman
Posts: 197
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Location: New Hampshire

Post Problems Here too

Post by Rik »

My problems are similar to mphillips. I've made the motor adjustments but no dice. My K2-5414 runs the program in Mach 3 up in the air. It is nowhere near the material and cuts only air, and the Z axis movements are backwards also. Any body have any ideas as to help me? :cry: :cry: :cry:

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Tony Mac
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Post by Tony Mac »

Hello Rik,

Which VCW postprocessor are you using to test the output?

If you have any cnc toolpath programs that run your machine correctly,
please e-mail some samples to suport@vectric.com and we will take a
look to see what the difference might be.

Tony

Rik
Vectric Craftsman
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2005 10:50 pm
Location: New Hampshire

Post by Rik »

Tony. I have'nt any that run as of yet VCW is my only program for runnung my machine. I've tried both the new and old posts for Mach 3 and a standard G code genereator from the drop down list of posts in VCW. I am also waiting for some assistance from the Mach Support Forum. I'm about ready to chuck the whole thing in the crapper. :cry: :cry:

mphillips

post processor problems

Post by mphillips »

Rik,
I have not run Mach 3 with my machine but I am sure that the settings are similar in Mach 2.
My axis problems were solved by simply reversing the motor directions under the config menu.
You should see a "motor reversals" setting which allows you to change the direction of the X, Y, or Z axis.
The other change that I had to make was the "steps per unit" setting. Again, under the config menu, select motor tunning and you will find the "steps per unit" box. The number inside the box is critical.
Mine was factory set at 2000 step per unit and it was recommended to me to change it to 16000 which gave me much better results. After you make a change in this setting you will also have to adjust the velocity and the acceleration settings which you can do by trial and error.
Good luck!
Marty

mphillips

post processor problem

Post by mphillips »

Rik,
I checked in Mach 3 and there is a slightly different way to alter axis direction than in Mach 2.
If you go into the config menu you will find the "Homing/Limits" section. Within this menu you will see a column with the X, Y, and Z axis listed. In the adjacent column you will notice that the heading is labled "Reversed". If you click on the axis that you want reversed you should get what you are looking for. There is supposedly another way to accomplish this but this sounds much easier!
Marty

hbhbbb

Post by hbhbbb »

I did that after reading your post Marty and it did not work, exactly. What I mean is it made what looked like the proper move related to the size of my design, just not in the right place. It went to somewhere in the air above the table and cut air again. I believe I'm having a positioning problem in Mach 3 which may be the crux of my angst. As soon as I get help with that problem I'll report my progress if any. :? :? :?

mphillips

post processor problem

Post by mphillips »

Rik,
I noticed that you described your machine as a K2 5414. Is that a typo? I have a K2 2414. I suppose we could compare setup notes as we have similar or the same machines.
Let me know how you make out with your latest attempt.
Marty

Rik
Vectric Craftsman
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2005 10:50 pm
Location: New Hampshire

Post Prob's

Post by Rik »

Rik here. I've settled all my machine issues and it was not the post processor, it was the control software. All the required setting are now working. I got help from a Mach 3 forum member. Now I have toolpath saving issues. I can't seem to find them when I go to load them into Mach 3. But thats another story. Oh yeah, my machine is a K2cnc 2514. :oops:

Rik
Vectric Craftsman
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2005 10:50 pm
Location: New Hampshire

Post by Rik »

I now have my machine tuned and running smooth. But, now I have a bigger problem !. I can't find any of my saved tool path files. I have a postp for Mach 3 that saves in .tap but I not sure that VCW supports that extension format. I had one that saved in .txt and had the same trouble. Does anyone have Mach 3 here, and if you are successful in finding and loading files to Mach let me know how you do it. I'm at wits end here. I've had VCW for over a yera and have'nt cut one solitary successful part yet, I am really bummed out.HELP!!!!!!!!!

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Tony Mac
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Post by Tony Mac »

Rick,

There are many customers running with Mach 2 and 3 using VCW toolpath files,
so I'm not sure why you are having problems again.

Which postprocessor are you using in VCW and what file extension gets added to the toolpaths?

In Mach - when opening / loading a toolpath file what file extension is the software looking for?

In Mach - If you type *.* you should see all the files in the folder you have open - can you see any other files?

In VCW - try Saving the toolpaths onto the Desktop then you should be able to see them and open them in Mach?

Let us know if this works?

Tony

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Burchtree
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Post by Burchtree »

Hi Rick
When you say you can’t find the file. Do you mean you can’t find it at all or the machine can’t find it? Can you open it with notepad? I made a simple Mach file and saved it in documents and a floppy. I was able to find and open both with notepad. Perhaps someone could make a simple file for you to try and run on your machine.
Dan

Rik
Vectric Craftsman
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2005 10:50 pm
Location: New Hampshire

Post by Rik »

The search find no files saved under either extension, .tap or .txt, I will try again and report my progress as soon as I can.

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