Is it my PC

[TT350]

I have had my Tormach for a few mouths now and made a few parts but there’s a bug some where.

I can run it for a hour or so and the thumb wheel on
the shuttle jog controller will stop working.
The outer jog ring will continue to work.
I can close and reopen Mach and it will work again
and at times it won’t take commands from my key board
either, same thing close and reopen Mach and it will
work.

Also there have been times where it seems to skip
some of the code, for example I have two holes that
I am cutting with a .500 end mill the holes are .750
and there is a commanded to rapid to the top of the hole
and start the operation.

More that once it has moved the XY over the hole and started the operation with out move the Z to the start
level, in all these cases I have reloaded the G file and all
was well.

One time it moved the Z to the correct start level and started moving the XY to cut the hole but the XY looked
like it was in slow motion about a 10th of the normal speed. Agene I reloaded the file and all is well.

I thought that my pc was getting hot, it is in the Tormach
cabinet and I cut a hole in the door and put a 12x12 filter in the door and a muffin fan in the hole provided by Tormach when I first setup my machine.

I have went so far as to put a 5000 BTU window ac on the floor and build a duck work to blow cold air in the pc
compartment and it keeps it a 70deg and I still am having these gremlins’ from time to time.

I can’t trust it enough it walk away and let it work.
I site on a stool with my stomach in knots prying
this thing doesn’t freak out and cut my $500.00 vice
of worse the table.

Do you guys think it mite be my PC?

[Chuck Reamer]

Thats a sticky situation your in, I know im having spindle troubles with mine. I am working through the problems with tormach and I hope it will all work out.

Have you contacted tormach about your problems, they would be the best ones to talk to first. Thats all I can suggest for now, I sounds like the PC is the likely cause.

[MichaelHenry]

What sort of PC are you using, which OS, and have you gone through the optimization steps recommended in the Tormach manual?

Mike

[TT350]

Originally Posted by MichaelHenry What sort of PC are you using, which OS, and have you gone through the optimization steps recommended in the Tormach manual? Mike

Yes I have made all the recommended mods to the PC.
It is XP PRO.

[Switcher]

Do you have a Screensaver on the pc?

.

[TT350]

Originally Posted by Switcher Do you have a Screensaver on the pc? .

No it is turned off.

[keithorr]

Originally Posted by MichaelHenry What sort of PC are you using? Mike

.

[TT350]

Toshiba

[nagjames]

Originally Posted by TT350 Toshiba

Correct me if I'm wrong Toshiba is a notebook and not a PC. If you are using a notebook I'd try a real PC. You loose more money if you crash your mill.
I don't own a Tormach yet. My current mill is a MaxNC but I had problems with controlling it with a notebook.

[TT350]

Originally Posted by nagjames Correct me if I'm wrong Toshiba is a notebook and not a PC. If you are using a notebook I'd try a real PC. You loose more money if you crash your mill. I don't own a Tormach yet. My current mill is a MaxNC but I had problems with controlling it with a notebook.

No they make PC's too.

[MichaelHenry]

How old is your Toshiba desktop PC? I'm not familiar with the brand but Google turned up a PC World link from 2001 claiming that Toshiba was stopping production of desktops at that time and a quick look at the Toshiba web site didn't turn up any current consumer desktops. My point here is that your Toshiba could be old enough to have some hardware problems.

I've also read that some parallel port chips used low voltages and that this can be a problem for Mach, though that seems to be a more common problem for laptops.

FWIW, my Dell desktop PC is in the stand enclosure with no supplemental cooling and it seems to be working fine aside from some false limit switch triggers that were probably related to wire routing inside the cabinet. I do leave that compartment door open though and the mill is in the basement where it is generally 75 °F or less.

I'd check with Tormach and see what they have to say. If you have another PC, I'd be inclined to try that out as well.

Mike

[TT350]

Thank's for the info!