New and need some help

[BigBee]

Hi all,
I am new to this and am having a few problems.
I have built a gantry style cnc router.
I am running Mach3.
I started trying to draw with the router yesterday using a marker and some foam board.
When I use the test wizard in Mach3 the marker will not lift from the table when it rapids from one letter to the next.
I touched the marker to the foam and reset my Z to zero.
It will write the text but it will not lift up no matter what I do.
Also I am trying to use a frequency converter to control my router speeds.
I am using an optoisolated board.
When I turn on the spindle in Mach3 the LEDs on the board light up so I know that I am getting a signal to my converter.
If anyone can help me with these problems I would appreciate it greatly.
Thanks.

[neilw20]

Can you jog up and down in Z.
If you set your tool/pen to the surface and zero the axis then until commanded to go to a positive z value the z level will not change.
Whether you move at a feed rate or rapid Z will not change.
From MDI enter
G0 Z3.
If it moved up (3 units) then all is well.
Mach3 moves in 3D space.
If the wizard is not written to lift the pen, or you have some setting in the wizard wrong then z won't move before a rapid. It must be part of the program.

[BigBee]

I can jog up and down with the Z when I am in manual mode.
I know that the wizard has setting for the rapid height as well as the depth.
I set the depth to zero and the rapid to +.5 and the rapid still doesn't move up.
I used to run CNC machines so I am a little familiar with G code, but it has been a LONG time.
Thanks for the reply.

[Richster]

This was one of the first things I did with my machine! Can you post a little of the G-code in your post? I suspect the answer lies in there somewhere. Or maybe you have 'Z inhibit' turned on in Mach3? This is in the bottom LH corner near the reset button. You would still be able to jog manually if this was enabled, but it would ignore any G-Code settings. When you use the Wizard, you set the home position for Z, the top of the text, and bottom of the text. With a pen, the top and bottom of the text are the same since it has no depth as such.

[BigBee]

I got it to do what I wanted!!!!!
I just had to edit the G01 to the Z that I wanted.
Apparently the wizard doesn't work properly.
No matter what I did with the depth of cut it would add it to the G00 code.
I tried a + and a - cutter depth and it made no difference.
Now back to the converter.
I have voltage at the plug but when I put a load on the plug the voltage drops to zero.
It is probably some setting I have wrong.
Thanks for the help.
As soon as I get my converter working I will attempt to cut something.
The fun is about to start.

[neilw20]

The wizard more than likely works.
When you enter numeric fields in Mach3 each entry MUST be terminated with the ENTER key. It won't work as desired if you type numbers in the field and MOUSE or tab to the next field.
This stops stupid accidental numbers being put into fields by accident which could have spectacular, expensive and/or dangerous effects.
The number pad and number keys can very easily be hit by accident.
TERMINATE EVERY FIELD ENTRY WITH ENTER. MAKE IT A HABIT with MACH3.
Bet it works if get all the fields right and you don't have dwell on and set to a positive number on screen 1.

With regard to the converter, Read The F(&*!)riendly Manual.
Just a wrong current limit setting or V/F table entry can make it inoperable.
Follow the setup procedure step by step. Start off trying to get it going in manual mode, then get it working from Mach3 signals. Crawl first, walk later, then you can RUN.