Diagnostic ?

[grahamshere]

This may be a dumb question but is there such thing as a diagnostic program that will tell you if you have a problem or can tell you what happening with your machine like they have for auto,s. this leads to a problem I,m having, seems when ever I do a ruff cut I lose steps and every thing goes wonky but doing a finish cut or carving every thing is fine, What I,m thinking is my router is not power full enough and is not going through the material the way it should. I,m using a porta cable laminate trimmer on maple at 40% stepover and a 40 ipm cutting speed. Thanks for any replys. Graham

[ger21]

If you cut the speed and accel in half, does it still lose steps? Or just cut your depth of cut in half.

Also, run the program with the spindle off and again with it on, but don't cut anything. Does it still lose steps both ways?

[grahamshere]

Thanks Ger ill try that today and see but Seems my z axis lead nut is striped so that needs replacing but wont take to long to do. report back soon. So what about the diagnostic tool I was mentioning, is there such thing? Graham

[ger21]

No, there is no such thing.

[Oldmanandhistoy]

diagnostic tool = ger21 @CNCzone.com

[grahamshere]

hahaha isn't that the truth. Well Ger if you know how to program then theres a new tool or toy you can create for all us dumb dumbs that cant figure things out . Graham

[ger21]

I tried to make mach3 easier to use.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61101

[Oldmanandhistoy]

Originally Posted by ger21 I tried to make mach3 easier to use. http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61101

Nice job on the screens

John

[grahamshere]

That is a nice screen for mach, might give that a try . But what I was thinking(if only I was a electronics engineer and programmer) Like with my lead nut striping, I was lucky I was jogging my machine with the game controller and router off because the z axis dropped to the table, That would have been disastrous if I wasn't there. But if there was a diagnostic tool that tells me my threads are wearing thin and shuts the machine down or something like that. Say if you have a thin wire in planted in the lead nuts so that if it wares to the wire a signal goes off. or say the motor misses a step the same thing happens and so on. If they can do it with autos why not a cnc machine. Its all computerized. It sure would be a lot safer if some one was very inventive and built such a very handy tool.Just my thoughts. Graham

[ger21]

Originally Posted by grahamshere Like with my lead nut striping, I was lucky I was jogging my machine with the game controller and router off because the z axis dropped to the table, That would have been disastrous if I wasn't there.

Limit switches.

[grahamshere]

Ya Ger I thought about that after I posted my reply but still think there would a market and a need for a diagnostic tool of sorts don't you?

[ger21]

It's probably not feasible, and would cost too much if it was.