Charlene
Hi Matt,
You helped me load the license so that it would load more than 150 lines of code.
Charlene
But I think you helped me only with the Sheetcam license. How can I check to see if I loaded the Mach license correctly?
jeepsr4ever
You need to lacate the file Mach1lic.dat and drag and drop it into C:mach3 directory then restart Mach 3.
Charlene
I just did that and it still says Demo Version in the About Mach3 page...
wickedinhere
If i remember correctly I had to rename my mach 3 license to leave off the .dat for it to work.
jeepsr4ever
Yes another customer said he had to rename the liscesne file to get rid of everything after .dat then it somehow did an auto change. We have been sending a few liscenses already changed. I think its a quirk with Mach 3 right now.
Charlene
Alright! That seemed to do the trick. Now, I had a couple issues during the cut. Now Matt, I will say it before you do, "I should learn to walk before I run!" But, I wanted my first cut to be something I would want... Okay, the couple problems I had probably stemmed from the same thing. I think that the water caused the the arc to go out, which stopped the program where it was. There didn't seem to be any errors in Mach and everything was still showing as being on. So, I clicked Torch Off then Torch On and it started running again. Now I think that that caused my second problem, which is that it missed part of the cut, so things didn't fall out that should have. I think when I hit the Torch On/Off button it probably missed the lines of code... Also, at the biginning of some of the internal cuts, there are round pierce points. Does this mean that the pierce delay is set too long? *And I sit here typing this, the torch periodically blasts air... Why??
Matt, I am going to send you a couple videos because I can't seem to manage the youtube stuff right now. Sorry they are so long! Feel free to fast forward! Let me know what you think.
But I will attach a pic of the cut. It is a little hard to hold up and take the pic but I think that you will get the idea!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]177[/ATTACH]
wickedinhere
THe best thing to do now is cut small stuff till you get the hang of it or your gonna waste alot of metal. I see your cuts are starting on the wrong side of the metal you need to look at the starting points in sheetcam. In sheetcam you can start the cut on the inside or outside of the part depends on the file. Look at the top square of the windmill it did an outside offset and should have been an inside offset.
Charlene
Yeah, it's weird. Some of the cuts look right and others don't. And then it seems to have cut when it was supposed to be travelling. That was probably from me turning the torch on & off. Maybe I messed it up. I also figured out how to go to a certain line of code & start it from there. That worked pretty good so that I could finish the center. When I go back out to the shop I will check everything in Sheetcam just so I will know for sure. But, I will choose a bunch of smaller files to bring over to try to cut tonight.
However, I am very happy with the first cut and excited to keep to trying!
jeepsr4ever
If you misfiring you may be loosing you + from the ground clamp. Misfiring can be from noise as well...doubtfull in your case.
Charlene
It almost seems like the water from the water table is splashing up and snuffing the arc. Is this possible?
jeepsr4ever
No
jeepsr4ever
I am willing to bet you ran out of air pressure
Charlene
Okay, I will move the clamp. We had hooked it to the bottom of the water table with a welding magnet.
jeepsr4ever
Long cuts will tax your compressor hard. It is most likely that you ran out of air pressure. This is the most common arc loss and why we say learn to walk before you learn to run or fly. You will learn your system and your air compressor either through working up to them or by frusteration. Some will use a holding tank of another compressor while making long cuts with a budget air system. The powermax will absolutely fault a few times if air pressure dips.
Charlene
Well, we have a 15 cfm compressor with the gauge set at 100. Does this seem adequate?
Here are some pics of my 2nd cut. I need to get better at checking the whole pic in Sheetcam before sending it to Mach. Why would Sheetcam choose only a couple of the inside cuts to pierce on the outside of the cut instead of the inside? Now I am getting a little dross. What are the settings that I should try adjusting so that I can limit this even further?
[B]FRONT:[/B]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]178[/ATTACH]
[B]BACK:[/B]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]179[/ATTACH]
[B]CLOSE-UP:[/B]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]180[/ATTACH]
wickedinhere
Yep its getting better but you have to check inside/outside cuts in sheetcam. You can adjust lead in also and sometimes what your cutting is too small but sheetcam will tell you if it cant lead in. If its small details like you have on this fish it cant lead in on the real small cuts, i just remove them from the file when i see they are real small. Your compressor is plenty big, just make sure the power is on when your table is cutting. When i first started i would forget to flip the switch and run out of air half way through a cut. I would suggest grounding directly to the metal your cutting i also grind a shinny spot on the metal for good grounding.
jeepsr4ever
A certain amount of dross will happen no matter what. I have seen a customer spray anti spatter on the backside of a sheet before cutting. Worked pretty good! Often to get the small cuts to play nice you have to find them and edit them or change them to another layer.
Mav68erick
thats what the backside of my 1/8th looks like that Im cutting now, looks bad. But I bought a Pistol grip needle scaler from northern tools, lay the piece on some cardboard on the floor and hit it, the vibration knocks almost all of it off instantly, sometimes you need to float over certain areas that are close but it sure beats whapping things with a hammer.
[url]http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200466768_200466768[/url]
Id avoid this one, I bought it, cant remember if I got the warranty but the plate that holds the needles cracked out and the needles fall out, and I dont think they have replacements like the other brand northern sells. But this is by far the best thing next to a sand blaster as well I stripped my mill with it the paint just chips off in big pieces.
The video doesnt show a very good job of it, trying to strip primer and surface rust but its truely an awesome tool, I think the neighbors can appreciate it as well its pretty loud
Edit: looking at your lead ins, the scaler wont help much there, as sometimes the steel is almost welded but I usually get dross from the water cooling the sparks on the backside and is usually all the way around as Ive been keeping my water level as high as possible then dumping water on top of the sheet
I to have a 15cfm compressor, but the pressure switch was adjusted because when it hit 160psi it was breaking hose clamps now it comes on at 60psi, and occasionaly faults out the torch after fire. if its Cutting the compressor kicks on early and doesnt bother it, hell one time I forgot to turn it back on and it was cutting below 50psi and still cut somewhat ok. Other times I get a fault error of Consumeables stuck, but if I manually fire the torch in mach it goes away I think its a speed issue of the fire signal.
Charlene
Thanks Mav, that is helpful. Now I am just trying to figure out the lead in problem. I am trying to figure out how to switch them to internal lead ins... Also, is it okay to use no lead ins at all?
