Need Help!- Tangential Fabric Cutter Problems

[rickybar]

Hi

I am using Mach 3 with SheetCAM as the post-processor. I have built a fabric cutter with a tangential A-axis. Would also like to have 2 pneumatic cylinders, 1 for the knife and 1 for a pen.

I have the following 3 problems:

1) When the machine is running in a straight line along the x and y axiz, The blade (a-axis) rotates in a circles as it moves in a straight line. However, when I run one of the tutorial programs of Mach3, then this problem does not occur.

2) There is a pneumatic cylinder that controls the Z-axis of the machine. The problem is that when the blade is supposed to be in the air, it is pressed onto the material and vise versa. I have tried changing the active high and low on the Z-axis direction pin. When I do this the direction changes while jogging, but not when a program is run. (In other posts they talk about setting the Z to +200 and -200 which controls the Z height. Where does one set this?)

3)I would like to be able to run a pen and a knife. I understand that I would need a different offset for each cylinder,but how would I control which cylinder is activated and moves up and down along the Z-axis

Thanks so much

Help will greatly be appreciated

Regards

[ger21]

Sounds like all of these may be able to be worked out in SheetCAM. I'd ask Les.

[rickybar]

Hi ger21

I have already been in contact with Les and he has been a great help so far.

Just thought maybe someone else could shed some light.

Thanks alot