BP Series 1 to Mach3 upgrade complete (almost)

[keebler303]

I recently got my mill hooked up to Mach using Hillbilly's BOB and instructions. First I would like to say that Darek is a stand up guy and his product is top notch. He promptly sent out the board after I had ordered it and quickly responded to all of my questions. Following his instructions it is extremely easy to get everything hooked up and running. I still have some relays to hook up for coolant etc. which I will be working on here soon. I had the chance to give everything a good rundown this past weekend by running a pattern for a model car I am making for one of my ME classes. I drew the model in solidworks, generated the tool paths with freemill and cut with Mach3. Everything has worked great so far. I would highly recommend Dareks board to anyone wanting a cost effective way of upgrading their BOSS control.

Here are some pictures of my project in MDF.

Matt

[snakebit95]

That looks GREAT!! Which ME class is this project for?? I am guessing fluid mechanics?

[keebler303]

Thanks for the compliment.
It is for my manufacturing processes class. It will be made of carbon fiber or gelcoated fiberglass. I am making my own wheels and steering linkage to go with it. It is a model of a car I am working on to compete in the SAE supermileage competition next summer.

Matt

[Adobe Machine]

wow, cool, little different than when I went to school for an M.E...doing projects like that will make you an EFFECTIVE M.E., instead of some of the theory only persons whom I'm sure a lot of us have had to deal with.( and deal with..and baby sit etc)

Adobe (old as dirt )

[snakebit95]

Adobe makes a good point about having some machine-shop experience. Most Engineers today, lack valuable shop experience. They have no idea what it takes to make something to .0002"; let-alone how to measure it. It is funny when you hand a fresh-college graduate a set of mics and ask them to measure a part <chuckling>. I was fortunate to spend my nights working a 2nd shift job in a local tool & die shop during my high-school days. It helped me to decide on my career path, and has given me the edge at each of my past jobs. Keep-up the GREAT work!!

[keebler303]

Originally Posted by Adobe Machine wow, cool, little different than when I went to school for an M.E...doing projects like that will make you an EFFECTIVE M.E., instead of some of the theory only persons whom I'm sure a lot of us have had to deal with.( and deal with..and baby sit etc) Adobe (old as dirt )

I am a senior this year and it amazes me how many of my peers have no interest in going to the machine shop. I would like to be there all day. You are correct in your statement Adobe. Due to cooping and actually knowing how to make something I have gotten offers to quit school for 50k to start working and I don't even have a degree. Some of my fellow ME seniors can't even tell you what a four stroke engine is.

Matt

[jdelaney44]

Got a link to that BOB?

[keebler303]

PM Hillbilly
He will tell you everything you need to know.
He has a web site at http://home.icx.net/~ashburn/index.html

All told its about $70 and an hour to buy and hook it up.
I was running on mach a couple hours after I got the BOB.

Matt

[jdelaney44]

Thanks, that's a nice looking board.

[bbuonomo]

Hey Keebler,

Thansk for the recommendation, i got the bob controller and wired it up and setup a machine to run MACH3.

Only questions I have are:
1. what POST Processor are you using now?
2. Does your Z axis "crash". It used to home and stop at the end of the quill travel, but now i get gears crunching at Z+ above the old ZERO point. Do i need to do something special to wire a Z limit switch?
3. what acceleration settings do you use?

Thanks again, Mach 3 looks great, more to try out tomorrow.

[creep_pea]

bbuonomo

1. You haven't said which cam program your using, I used a general 3 axis fanuc post for mine but had to alter the drilling cycle a bit to get it working properly, this was in mastercam.

2. Your Z shouldn't chrash, if you've gone past your old Z zero I'm guessing you will have bent or broke something, the z home switch is a push button so it can't go past it without bending it or breaking it. I would have a look behind the cover to see if you've damaged anything.

Have you followed HillBilly's instructions "Z Home should be enabled, set to port #1 pin #12 and set to active low." Mine was wired into pin 13 for some reason, it may have been me wiring it incorrectly. If you done this and you can home your Z I would also set up softlimits from 0 to -127mm (-5"), a slow zone of about 20mm and set the %speed to 5%. I would also enable Z++ to the same port and pin as your Z home.

3. I use 26.25 mm/s/s for my acceleration, 2010 mm/min for the velocity and 100 steps per mm. This is for a Boss 6.1 a metric machine with a 5mm pitch ball screw so will probably be different to yours.

Hope this helps

Chris

[bbuonomo]

Sorry, using Mastercam X. I'll check the pin and port settings again.

Thanks.