Manual machining with a PM45 CNC mill

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zr8cnc

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Has anyone been able to use their PM45-cnc in manual mode while running the spindle? I want to have the freedom of being able to quickly run the mill as a manual machine but at the moment the stepper motors have the axis's locked when Mach3 is running. I obviously want the mach3 open so that I can use it as my DRO. Any input would be greatly appreciated

thanks,
 
I think you need to use jog and single line g code. They're not really meant to be dual purpose.

Dave
 
never seen one in person, but it still has handwheels, i thought it was meant to be dual purpose???PM-45M-CNC-VS.jpg

PM-45M-CNC-VS.jpg
 
I thought the speed control was provided by Mach on this machine? Did I misunderstand the thread Ray started on his machine? If Mach controls the speed it must be on. Currently the Mach profile includes control for x, y and z axes so it will lock them, home them, etc. depending on what you tell it to do. It won't free them because it is not in control in that case. Do you create a second profile in Mach so that you can have it control some things, maybe spindle, coolant but remove the control for the x, y and z axes? Would that allow you to crank the handles? What about column elevation (Z)? No handle so you can't move it without Mach. You would be limited to the quill.

As far as using Mach for the DRO in manual mode, won't work. It has stepper motors which do not include encoders to report position. It (Mach) assumes position based on steps taken (not missed steps) that Mach has move them from your set zero point. If it misses steps you are out of position. That is why configuration setup is so critical.

If spindle control is available without Mach then it looks like you have some manual ability dealing with head height. You have a great machine there, I think I would just use some manually entered g code for those times I wanted to make some simple cuts.

Dave
 
i have no clue, but i would assume you can disable all the axis drives, or one at a time for that matter. my initial research indicates it can possibly be done in the 'ports and pins' menu.
 
I have been trying to find time to look at this but, it seems to me, you can find the breaker for the VFD motor controllers and de-energize them. This would not be convenient to easily switch back and forth though...


Ray
 
Why not just pull the fuses or breaker on the stepper drives to disable them, I use this method for testing some systems. That way Mach3 can be on but can not run the drives. Unless you have separate DRO scales, you will not get a read out on the Mach3 DRO. It tells you where the motor should be, not where it actually is. Mach3 has no idea if the drives are on or not.

Even if you disable the step motors, you will be turning against the resistance of the step motor unless you mechanically de-couple the motor.

If you don't have manual spindle control, you may have to write a little program that starts the spindle and sets the speed.
 
I'm not absolutely sure but I believe, the DRO in mach doesn't feedback from the table movement ie: there are no scales on the table to actually measure movement. It is strictly an internal DRO that assumes that the motors actually moved the table. It counts the steps that are broadcast to the stepper motor and translates that to table movement. This is accomplished thru motor tuning in mach.

If it's a servo system there is feedback from the motors, but even then, I'm not sure that you'd be able to disengage them and still keep the feedback portion of the motor intact.

To use your machine manually, you have to shut down mach, but then you'll have to install a seperate DRO system to show you table movement.
 
Thomas Paine said:
i have no clue, but i would assume you can disable all the axis drives, or one at a time for that matter. my initial research indicates it can possibly be done in the 'ports and pins' menu.
Click to expand...

Correct.

Edit: Just start your Mach loader, choose create profile, clone from your working profile.

Start Mach with that new profile go into ports and pins and disable X and Y. Leave Z so you can jog it. I think that will free the two steppers.

I wouldn't edit my main working profile for nothing.


Dave
 
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