Trouble With Program

[pzzamakr1980]

I am new to this whole thing so please bear with me. I have finished setting up my sieg x3 with the cncfusion kit and all the other necessary hardware with the exception of limit and home switches. I am now trying to use the mill to machine the mounts for the switches. To home the machine temporarily i wired up some switches and press them when the machine reaches its home travel. It works okay because i will then press the soft limit switch in Mach and the mill wont go past the soft home. The problem I am running into is this. I designed the part in Mastercam X, Its very basic and very small, roughly 2*2 inches. I am using the default mill/generic mill for my machine type. When I import the nc file into Mach i get a giant red box with red lines leading to the part. The part will not go onto my machine table in the toolpath view in Mach regardless of how I position the table and click regen toolpath. When I try to run the program the machine will soft home itself and then it will ask for the tool change, i click continue cycle (since i wanted to demo it first on the machine i just have a pen mounted), and next it immediately says "softlimits switch thrown" or something to that effect. I am including the file so if i am doing something wrong in that yall can look at it and tell me.

[Tim S]

pzzamakr1980,

I'm not to sure on Mach3 code, I believe it is pretty similar to Fanuc. The first few lines of code with "/" in front of them are going to send the machine to its home position (G28 Y0 & x0) if you do not have the block delete selected on the control. The "/" will block the control from reading the lines if you have block delete turned on. Best bet would be to remove the lines from the program. Also, remove the A0. callouts. This is for a rotary (4th) axis. Usually if you don't have the rotary axis, or if it's not hooked up, that will alarm out the machine as well.

Hope that helps,

[pzzamakr1980]

The problem has been fixed for the most part, it took updating the MasterCAM X post and control with the older MasterCAM 9 post for Mach2. Im running Mach3 but I havent had any problems and what little I understand of the G-code it looks okay and runs okay. The problem is when I run the program it is not taking into account the stock material. It is cutting from the starting position of the tool rather than moving over the correct amount that I set in Stock Setup/Stock Origin. So if I have the part sitting in the middle of the stock so that I have extra material that offset of centering the designed part is not being taking into account. It just starts cutting, in this case drawing, the part from the place i edge find and not moving over .9 inches x and moving over 1.2 inches y to start cutting. The z axis does not have any problems. . I hope this was clear as to what i mean. File is attached again.

[Tim S]

Again, not being too familiar with Mach3 code, I don't see a work offset (G54) in your program. If you don't have a work offset, the machine will start machining the program from right where it sits. Look into your manual for Mach3 and look for work offsets.

[pzzamakr1980]

I didnt know what a work offset was to be honest, at least not as its defined in G-code. I had thought that the CAM program, in this case Mastercam figured it out and put it in there. The design is setup on the work/stock so that it will have enough extra to be milled out properly. I imagine that i can put one in there now if someone shows me how to do so.

[Tim S]

To set up a work offset you need to define where your X0 & Y0 is going to be on the machine (for this particular program). The zero that you define on your machine, needs to correspond with the zero that you programmed from. Lets say that the zero on your part in Mastercam is the upper right corner, then you need to set the zero to the upper left corner on your stock (then move a little on X & Y to allow for removal of stock). When you find those coordinates on your machine, you will define them in your control as a G54. Your program will then call a G54 and start from that position. You will also need to touch your tools off on the top of the piece and define those as your height offsets (H1 for tool 1, H2 for tool 2 and so on). Otherwise you might make a nice mark in your table.

Use an edgefinder to define your X0 & Y0. Not sure of where you are, but MSC, J&L and other industrial hardware stores will carry them.



Check you rmanual for setting work offsets, that should get you on your way. I've never used Mach3 so I couldn't tell you, but maybe somebody with Mach3 experience can chime in and help you further.

[pzzamakr1980]

Thanks Tim, Art from Artsoft had already suggested the same and I in fact had already done this method, I didnt realize that it was the same as a g54, or rather what I was doing would call a g54 sequence, or whatever.

[pzzamakr1980]

Okay, this part is clamped in a vise and I want the final cut to release the part. The problem is it makes the outer roughing cut first which cuts through the part and then makes the finishing cut. It cant make the finishing cut because the part drops down. How would i make the finishing cut be the one that cuts it out and lets it drop. Thx

[Tim S]

Without seeing your part, my first suggestion would be to increase the Z level of your final roughing pass so that it leaves material holding them together. The problem with this is, when it makes the finish pass, as it gets toward the end of the cut, there is nothing holding the piece in the vise. It will probably end up breaking your cutter. You can post your file here if you want me to take a look at it.

[pzzamakr1980]

Heres the program Tim. Okay, so rather than break the endmill what should I do. Should I mount it on another piece of larger stock?

[Tim S]

If you can post your actual Mastercam file, that would be very helpful. What version are you running?

[pzzamakr1980]

I am running MasterCAM X