NEW BUILD NEWBIE NEEDS HELP

[Imacman]

Hello all, I need help with MACH3...Any Help Is Much Appreciated


It's been a while since my last post, heres' an update, and a request. I have gotten lots of experience with my milling machine, and have since purchased a Metal Lathe , Craftex from Busy Bee tools... and the best part is My CNC build is actually finished.... been a long road... bought some parts, built others etc. I'm running the Gecko Controller Pkg from Fineline, and have downloaded MACH3 to learn..... at present I have hooked everything up, set up Mach3 using the XML file for the Gecko G540, and it all seems to work fine... I am able to manually jog all of the axis, and have played around with the motor config to see how fast / slow my machine is... all so good so far. I have bought some limit switches, but haven't installed them yet. So...now I'm looking for what I need to do next, I'm anxious to cut something or engrave some text maybe? I'm kind of cautious right now...


-SPECS Stepper Motors using ACME Screws ( 5/8" 8TPI on X Axis.... My Y & Z Axis use 1/2" 10 TPI ACME SCREWS ) I think my steppers are 320... ( Might be 270 ) the size is about 48" X 24" with a cutting max height of about 5" ) hope this helps?

I know nothing about MACH 3 I think I need to find out the following...

A.) How to set soft limits in the software so I don't crash the machine.

B.) How can I set up my limit switches to work, and act as home switches as well?

C.) How do I set up the software to use say a 1/4" end mill ( I'm using a router right now as a cutter.) ie cutter diamtere & length etc

D.) is there a Basics/ Getting started site I can go to to move forward from here?

Any and all help is much appreciated... this has been a long long road, over 2 years now, and I've learned lots about everything... now I need to learn the basics about Mach3 & Lazy Cam... ( if it helps I am a professional graphics person, using Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop CS4... graphics and animation programs are second nature for me, as well I've started using Google sketchup as a primer to a CAD program.

Thanks for any and all help.


Paul ( Imacman )

Newfoundland