CNC mach spindle not spinning
Hi all. I'm a new member and have just purchased a Chinese CNC 6040. Managed to do a Gcode file and got it into Mach 3. All the 3 axis are working well but the spindle is not spinning. Can someone help me. I think there is something that I did wrong in the "Config" in Mach 3. I am a novice in CNC and this is my first attempt at using one. I am into wood working as a hobby and trying to make wooden clocks. I can make them doing manual cutting with scroll saw and band saw. But that is not as accurate as using a CNC machine and it takes a lot of time and effort. Thanks for any help that is offered
Re: CNC mach spindle not spinning
Another Australian wooden clock builder! Welcome to the forum.
I got into clocks by accident after building a Heath Robinson cnc router and wanting something to test what it could do. I'd never contemplate the tedium of cutting wheels by hand.
I seem to have spent most of my time upgrading the router, making things for my wife rather than me and have only just yesterday finished my gear cutting jig which will hopefully see a finished clock appear in the coming weeks for the first time in ages.
Are you familiar with Art Fenerty's 'Gearotic' software? Well worth a look if not.
https://www.gear2motion.com/
EDIT: Can't actually help with Mach3 questions, but you'll find plenty of people here who can.
Kit
Re: CNC mach spindle not spinning
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bernard
Hi all. I'm a new member and have just purchased a Chinese CNC 6040. Managed to do a Gcode file and got it into Mach 3. All the 3 axis are working well but the spindle is not spinning. Can someone help me. I think there is something that I did wrong in the "Config" in Mach 3. I am a novice in CNC and this is my first attempt at using one. I am into wood working as a hobby and trying to make wooden clocks. I can make them doing manual cutting with scroll saw and band saw. But that is not as accurate as using a CNC machine and it takes a lot of time and effort. Thanks for any help that is offered
To help we need more info on your settings and what exactly you have, these Chinese machines are like eating a box of chocolates in the dark.!!
Take some screen shots of your settings and will take a look.
Re: CNC mach spindle not spinning
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kitwn
Another Australian wooden clock builder! Welcome to the forum.
I seem to have spent most of my time upgrading the router, making things for my wife rather than me and have only just yesterday finished my gear cutting jig which will hopefully see a finished clock appear in the coming weeks for the first time in ages.
Are you familiar with Art Fenerty's 'Gearotic' software? Well worth a look if not.
Kit
Geriatric sftware???! :whistle: :smile:
Re: CNC mach spindle not spinning
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dazp1976
Geriatric sftware???! :whistle: :smile:
It's true that Art isn't as young as he was when he wrote MACH3 and brought CNC machining to the masses, but he still retains his idiosyncratic sense of humour, hence 'Gearotic' :emmersed:
Joking aside, it's an awesome piece of software if you want to make gears, gear trains with specific centre spacings, timing pulleys, sprockets, non-circular gears, Genevas, escapements and gear trains for clocks and a host of other things. It's a pay-once-get-updates-for-life license and Art has been adding all sorts of functionality to it almost as an exercise for his own (huge) ingenuity. There's an excellent forum as well. I tend to design in Gearotic and then export PDFs into CamBam for finishing and CAM processing but there is a g-code generator included if you want it.
Kit
Re: CNC mach spindle not spinning
Thanks for your advise. Much appreciated
Re: CNC mach spindle not spinning
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kitwn
It's true that Art isn't as young as he was when he wrote MACH3 and brought CNC machining to the masses, but he still retains his idiosyncratic sense of humour, hence 'Gearotic' :emmersed:
Joking aside, it's an awesome piece of software if you want to make gears, gear trains with specific centre spacings, timing pulleys, sprockets, non-circular gears, Genevas, escapements and gear trains for clocks and a host of other things. It's a pay-once-get-updates-for-life license and Art has been adding all sorts of functionality to it almost as an exercise for his own (huge) ingenuity. There's an excellent forum as well. I tend to design in Gearotic and then export PDFs into CamBam for finishing and CAM processing but there is a g-code generator included if you want it.
Kit
Thank you
Re: CNC mach spindle not spinning
Bernard,
Looking forward to exchanging clock design notes with you. I've built a couple of Sextus (design by woodentimes.com) weight driven clocks but am now working on electric designs powered by a standard USB wall-wart. Here's a video of a prototype which is locked to a GPS receiver. The most accurate wooden clock ever built! Having at long last got my router up to scratch and aquired a decent stock of nice hardwoods I'm hoping to have a finished version of this soon. Quartz-locked rather than GPS to make it cheaper and do away with the trailing antenna wire. Next trick is to add a second hand.
Kit
https://vimeo.com/343781598
Re: CNC mach spindle not spinning
Thanks Kit, I am still trying to figure out how to get my cnc to work. The spindle is not spinning. All axis are moving. I'm new to cnc . Have not figured out on how to program Mach3. If I can get help it will be good
Bernard
Re: CNC mach spindle not spinning
Bernard - Jazz asked for screenshots from your Mach3 settings pages a day or so ago. This is the way forward for you.
Ports&Pins - "Output Signals" and "Spindle Setup" are the main for the spindle. Also worth asking if you already have manual control of the spindle (rotary speed control or similar) as there's an implication there on re-programming the spindle controller.
Expect at some point to be asked for a photo of the board that the PC plugs into on the CNC controller box - the reason for that question will be to try to understand the pin allocated to the spindle controller (probably 2 pins - on/off and PWM-speed control).
Of course, any text from the installation instructions may be useful - we understand these can take some interpretation from a chinese source even if someone professes to know what they're doing.