CNC Mill Log

When something goes wrong, its nice to note it here. Also nice to note any fixes (eg. resurfacing the milling platform).

2 May. 2013

Maximum X-Axis feed rate of 60in/min was moderately error prone, occasionally triggering emergency stop. Reduced to 40in/min, identical to Y-Axis setting. mirage335 2013-05-02

2 Feb. 2013

Settings on Mach3 were incorrect; communication with the mill controller was impossible. The following settings changes were made (and some fiddling done) and the mill appears to be functioning and calibrated well:

• Changing the port to address 0x378 allowed the spindle control to function.
• Changing X,Y,Z,A drive and step ports to port 1 (0x378) and setting low trigger on axis X.
• Recalibrated "steps per" with the calibration wizard under settings using dial indicator (now set for ~16250).

Note: Often restarting Mach3 seems to be required to actually update some of the port settings (although it pretends otherwise). Mill calibration was accurate to only ~0.003" (which maybe a limit imposed by the limited rigidity of the mill+stand).

Shawn Nock (OpenPGP: 0x65118FA5) 12:47, 3 February 2013 (PST)

22 Jan. 2013

• Major upgrades in progress thanks to TJ.

10 July 2012

• Platform still needs replacing, but Barlow resurfaced the remaining usable area. At least now it is level again.

28 Apr. 2012

• Someone accidentally resurfaced the milling platform (milled too deep). Now the platform needs replacing.

11 Apr. 2012

• Milling platform is no longer level, thanks to the screws holding it down being loosened up. Needs resurfacing.