[Newbie] Mach 3 Or 4??

totalyfrozen

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I am running Mach3 demo, but I see there is a Mach4 Hobby.. is one preferred over the other? Just getting my machine setup. PM-45M with Gecko G540 controller and windows 7.

Thanks!
 
is there a better software that I should be looking at? Also I have Inkscape and Aspire Vectric. To start out with I am going to focus on engraving before I start working on more complex projects.
 
I would use mach3, there is a ton of information on how to set it up and use it.
I follow mach4 daily in their yahoo thread and so far it does not seem stable enough
I want to eventually purchase mach4 for my cnc lathe but there is nothing tested stable yet.
I'm not sure how well mach3 runs in windows7 64 bit?
I use a uc100 controller for my pc's without parallel ports but I still run Xp on all my machines.
Steve
 
I am currently running windows 7 32bit. So far it controls it just fine, just need to finish setting up the PM-45M into the settings. I have engraved on some scraps with it, but lettering is large from files made in Inkscape and only partial engravings from Aspire. Aspire files look great in the program but dont show up right in the demo version of Mach3.

Thanks for the input!
 
Mach 4 also only has drivers for a very few number of motion controllers. At least ones that don't use the parallel ports. At some point I will upgrade the Motion Controller on my PM45M-CNC to a motion controller that Support Mach4 but it has to get stable first. My only problem is that I can't get Mach3 and the Motion Controller to support the Probe command.
 
Frozen
I seen you post about the mach3 not showing aspine files correctly in another thread.
have you tried to open a different g-code file in your mach3 to see if it is set up correctly?
Steve
 
ok I was able to engrave some.. as long as I dont put too many letters into it. I also tried to export out in several different formats from Vectric with all the same results. when importing the G-Code into Mach 3 it will only do partial code. Inskcape was a little different, the one thing I did engrave I exported it out using the engraving feature under the G-Code tools. lettering came out huge like I have stated in another post. I went ahead and checked my machine and re-calibrated it. Still get the same results. So sticking with Vectric Aspire for the moment to see if I can get that to work properly. Just too many programs out there to make your head explode haha! Thanks for any help through my struggles on this.
 
I Just read a post on the Vectric forum. Looks like someone had pretty much the same issue that I have. Might be that I have been using the demo version of Mach3, I purchased the license and will install it tonight and see if this cures the problem.
 
Jumps, been watching those videos of yours, thanks for putting those together! I purchased the license for the D2Nc along with Mach3. Cant wait to get off work now.
 
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