RF Laesr Pin Setup and Focus Lens

[powerfade]

Thanks Rich.. I will check out that the setting for the laser and give it a shot. I was kind of thinking it was the weight of the gantry, but when I ran it at 5mm per second, the circle is really poor still. It weird when I cut a circle it looks like its going then jumps out a bit at the top right corner of the circle and then continues. Almost like something in the program is telling it to go that point. I will keep at it for sure.. Hopefully it won't take too much reworking.. The straight and diagonal lines are great though!! hahhah

[baccus61]

Hmmm. Might pay to check that all your drive gears/cogs are all tight. There isn't much that will throw off a circle except loose components, stretch of the belt from broken internal tension strands or binding from misalignment. I have some gears and belt here that has about 5 thou slop in them from brand new. Now I only use TDH circular profile belts as they seem to be the best for anti-backlash.

Have you done the test for the pulses per mm. The developers have got this working now and is pretty easy to use. It's next to where you type in the pulses in the section where you need to input the password to be able to access it. It's a small blank square that you click on and you type in the amount you wanted to move then measure it and type in how far it actually moved and the program will set the pulses for the axis. Easier to do than to write about.

Keep at it.....

Richard.

P.S. As an aside note, We had a small problem with our electrical connection over the past week or so and I got the suppliers around today to check it out. We were getting an electric shock off the metal parts in the shower when the heater was on.
I got a bit worried about that and after the electricians finished testing the power lines today they found out the neutral line had completely burnt off at the pole causing the electricity to go down to earth. We had 20 volts and 9 amps in the water pipe system and they said if it wasn't for the earth being connected to the pipes and earth stake we would have had full potential of 240 volts through us. I have residual current devices on all my boards and sub boards but that won't work if the positive doesn't go to earth. No wonder the power was pretty crappy. Not a good thing being wet in a shower and having electricity running through you. Probably the worst place in the house for it to happen. LOL
We're still alive. I can't die until we get you sorted out.....
Rich.

[powerfade]

Hey Rich... I will still keep on plugging through until I get this thing working.. I have checked all of my gears and pulleys and they are all tight. I am wondering if it may be a slight alignment problem. I think I am going to take off all of the belts and see how freely the gantry moves. It's been so long I honestly don't remeber how it rolled. I did have a bit of trouble way back, but I think I got it worked out. I checked for the pulses test, but I could not find it in the software. I had also looked for the high low setting for the laser, but I didn't see that either. There is a high low setting for the limit switches on that page, but that is it. Which version of PHCad are you running?? I think I have the latest.

I am going to keep on keeping on!!!

P.S. Please don't take a shower until I get my machine working!! hahahahaha Just kidding.. I am assuming they got it all fixed. That's actually scary!! eesh!!

[baccus61]

This is where the pulses test button is. (page 26 in the manual) Picture attached.
I think the High low setting for the limit switch setting actually changes the way the whole program works and I reckon it is how you change the high low for the laser as well. I seem to recall that I changed it a few times and had to alter other settings to compensate for the change. I may be wrong but I'm 80% sure.
The manual needs a serious update to keep up with the software engineers changes. Most things are just covered enough to get you in trouble and they need to invest a lot more time in it to make it more legible for the layman and maybe even explain what the different thing do. They are 90% there but not all the way yet.
Rich.