Help please. Dip switches and mach 3 settings

[Radu_Andrei]

Hi. In the end the problem seemed to be the ram memory slot, which gives this CMOS error, as it is 1Gb and the Pc sees it as 448 Mb. Changing the slot solved the problem for now, but surely I.ll have to change the memory as well soon. So all good until now.
I.ve managed to get a few other things done, like homing, soft limits, spindle probe script and all went fine.

I.ve watched and read everything I could find about setting the spindle speed via mach3, and still could not solve this yet. The main issue is with PWM Base frequency and Spindle pulleys thing. I either have only 2 speed 24000 and 11000, or I have a few more speeds but the SRO% green line goes backwards, like I have to reduce it to get the spindle to go faster.

The other thing is how exactly do you flaten the work surface. I mean what g code do you use for this?

[Radu_Andrei]

I.ve started learning about this g-code, and did some basic cuts. Today I.ve uploaded a greyscale image in artcam and set a 3d relief toolpath with 2 cutters for the job, and generated some code for carving a 10 by 10 cm horse. It has 816 lines of code, but the program always stops at line 500. I assume I should change the tool at this point. It just stops and refuses to continue, no matter what I do.
Reading about this, most sugestions are about editing a file called m6start.m1s. I.ve done this with all the scripts I could find and still could not make it work.
A link with details about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26_N4uwRWmQ

I.m hoping to make the cnc stop, come to a defined position to let me change the tool, rezero the z, and continue from where it left.
So, how do I do this?

[cropwell]

I.ve started learning about this g-code, and did some basic cuts. Today I.ve uploaded a greyscale image in artcam and set a 3d relief toolpath with 2 cutters for the job, and generated some code for carving a 10 by 10 cm horse. It has 816 lines of code, but the program always stops at line 500.

Coincidentally, the unlicensed version of Mach3 will sun 500 lines of code.

[Radu_Andrei]

Ops. My mistake. I forgot to copy the licence file into mach3 folder when I changed computers. This is solved now and it finished all 800+ lines of code, but did not finish the job as it turned out to be only the roughing toolpath.

So I.m still interested in this: How do you approach this tool changing thing?
- One long g code which the cam software exported with the toolchange commands included?
- Or separate files for each toolpath? (like you manualy move the cnc, chnage the bit, rezero z axix, and click GOtoZ button on mach 3 which takes x and y to the start position of gcode)
- Or is there other way?

[Radu_Andrei]

To be more specific, I try to figure out this post processors in ArtCam, as the one I use now GCode (mm)*tap does not support toolchange, and does not let me save multiple toolpaths in one file.
There are many post processors availabe but I have no clue which one to use and why. For example I can save the file using Andersen Multi Tool (*ncc) post processor, and I am already simulating in mach 3 the job.

Oh boy. This hobby is not as easy as I assumed it would be. I am either dumb or the learning curve is quite steep.

[Radu_Andrei]

Hi Rob.
I do not have a tool changer either. I intend to do it manually. It seems EstlCam is capable of generating a multitool gcode.
I have a auto tool zero macro which seems to work fine, and came with a audio file as well with a lady that says 2.0 complete. Quite creepy. I feel like in the movie Alien.

ˇˇI do not have a tool changer, and the code Estlcam generates is M05 (stop spindle) M00 (stop machine) and then M03 (start spindle).ˇˇ - do you use any macro for this m5, m6 in mach3?

[Radu_Andrei]

And what is most confussing is that I have so many options for saving a file:
Machine output file is formatted for: and here there are many many names and file types like in this image:
Some accept tool change, some not.

[Radu_Andrei]

Quoting this guy with his reply to someone.s question:

So you would want the M6Start macro.
However My macro is meant for use with TTS holders Etc. and the Mach 3 tool table.
What your looking for is something just to move to a tool change position then touch off each tool. End quote ----this is what I need as well.

[Radu_Andrei]

It might work by saving a separate TAP file for each tool, and then either run them separately in mach3 or merge them in one file and manualy add this t1m6, t2m6 lines into the code.

How do you do this operation yourself?

[Neale]

Stopping after exactly 500 lines sounds a bit like a demo version of Mach3, not a fully licensed version. Is it worth checking that your licence key is installed correctly?

Tool change issues would only cause this problem if the tool change happened at line 500.