@22:25 Using the dial indicator mounted into the spindle is also a great method of checking your bed flatness. I run the indicator up, down and across my bed to find any high or low spots when mounting a new spoil board. When finding high spots adding a deep countersunk screw will most times bring it down.
Thank you Peter for those valuable motivational tips. Because of you I took a weekend off just to re-calibrate my DIY CNC. Now my cuts are cleaner and more accurate. 90 Degrees are true 90. No more scarring my sacrificial board. FYI my machine was accurate roughly 0.49mm now down to 0.02mm according to my dials and calipers. Thank you,
Peter, I'm in the process of justifying a router and I want to thank you for putting out some of the best videos available. This sort of calibration is not new to me, after years in machine shops, but, I never fail to learn valuable information from you. That being said, for me, the high point of this video was the line, "Okay. Well, before you guys lose the will to live..." While, that wasn't the reason I subscribed, it's a great reason to remain. Thanks again!
Thanks Peter for your outstanding explanation that has clarified and connected steppers and Mach 3 settings. One of the best I have seen and it arrived at a perfect time. I am on the other side of the ditch, enjoy my trips to" the real down under" each year and really appreciate your generosity. That does not apply to the All Blacks of course. Woodie
Hey Peter, I have used this method in Mach. I'm sure many will benefit from your video. I'm going to try the caliper method for the z. Simply brilliant!!!!
@18:20 When calibrating your axis start with a small number first. Reason being if your preset step calculation are wrong you run a risk of crashing your machine by it traveling farther then you think it will. I started mine at an 1 inch and it travelled 10 inches. Once I entered the travel distance in my Mach3 for recalibration I started over giving it a longer distance. I also just use a 60 degree V bit to give me a nice sharp center point .
A fine explanation of a difficult subject. Not sure I truly understood it a few years ago, but the Mach3 calibration tool is a great help. I can cut a perfect circle so I'm happy
Hi Peter, Good morning I am currently building a cnc router+CNC plasma combo lagger size machine 4M*2.6m*400mm , I learned much from your videos .Thank you for your informative videos,been very helpful.
Hello Peter, your video tutorials are great. Related to stepper motor calibration, can you please explain in a video or here the following: 1) how to setup the acceleration for the axis 2) at what procent of nominal current the drivers should be set 3) what is the best over voltage ( eg. nema 23 rated at 3[A]/2.1[V] is driven with 36v in order to achieve the best performance) from the open loop steppers. Thank you!
Hi Ovidiu Ovidiu I suggest you watch episode 207 to learn about the voltage for a stepper motor and how to calculate it. For acceleration start at 10% of the maximum speed and play from there. There is no hard and fast rule you need to experiment. Set the motor to it's rated current. That is why they specify the current in the first place. cheers Peter
Thanks for the upload particularly your comment about getting different reading for your racks for now I understand what is happening with my machine. I did the squaring method in your last post but long cuts still ended up with the ends not parallel. I have just run the calibration on each side of the gantry and one side does indeed travel nearly half a mil more than the other. Currently doing battle with Mach3 because when I try to change the steps per on one motor it changes it on the other motor as well so I might have to resort to reading the instructions.
I didn't mention doing the dual drive seperately because as soon as you slave one axis off the other the 2 are locked and it uses the main axis to control both no matter what values you have in the Slave. This is true in both Mach3 and UCCNC. UCCNC makes this even plainer by not allowing you to change the values on on the slave axis. They revert to the main axis values when you try and save them. Mach3 lets you change them but ignores the slave setting. When I check my machine on both sides of the table I get the same travel on both. As a thought there could be 2 possible causes for the error you are seeing. 1. One of the racks is on a slight angle with respect to the other rack so the pinion has to travel further to cover the same linear distance. (This could also be a way of fixing the travel distance by purposely angling the rack to change the travel distance.) 2. If you have a similar setup to mine with a belt between the stepper and the pinion you might have backlash if the belt is loose or one of the set screws is loose. This could account for 1/2 mm or more easily. Hope this helps Cheers Peter
I think that I have found the problem. The ball screws came from different sources and one is has a longer pitch than the other so I have squared the machine with the gantry in the centre of the travel so hoping that that will halve the error until I get a matching pair of replacements.
Good one, sounds like you are on to it. For some reason I thought you had Rack. Interesting about the ballscrews being different. Not a problem used by itself but a major issue if paired with another. Cheers Peter
After a lot more testing turned out the screws were fine and the issue was electrical noise so rewired the temporary 4 year old wiring with shielded cables and lots of ferrite rings, 0.1uf capacitors and 1k resistors and all good now. Now I can have a go at getting the auto tool setter to work because the new BOB probe works on active low.
Hi peter,I have a problem with my stone diamond wire bandsaw cnc machine, what happens and only while cutting on curve cut,my machine stops each time,error code pops up ,sometimes time it says, y axis ,or x axis error ,sometimes it says both,,can you help me..already spent alot of money on this machine try to figure it out
Hello, my CNC machine has a Nema17 stepper motor, 16 gears (teeth pitch 2 mm) GT2 pulley and DRV8825 driver using 1/16 micro step. In this case, how many mm does my CNC machine advance in 1 revolution in the X axis?
Hey Peter, Great video. A couple of things I thought I would pass along. Pitch Diameter can be found by first determining the pitch of the gear, diametric Pitch = (Number of teeth +2) / diameter. The whole number will be the Diametric Pitch. The Pitch diameter then can be found by number of teeth on gear / DP. The distance a tread travels in one revolution is called "lead", so my 5 start 1/2"-10 acme screws have a pitch of .1" but a lead of .5" I realize you are keeping stuff simple, but though maybe someone would want to know. Joe
sir. i am worry for cnc machine . i am facing level problum. some vector thick some vector thin in design. i did level machine bed but same problum after leveling. can you tell me about this issue.
Good video as usual Peter, good concise and well explained information. I always look forward to seeing your videos. Australian Inventor Roger Clyde Webb
Hi. Can you help please. After I load G-code in to machine (Example G-code X=1" But the machine only move .250 ". Can you help how to set up the machine move as the same value as the G-code . Thanks you very much!
Thanks John. I don't know really. I was just showing that you would enter the imperial value if setting up the machine as imperial but after I released the video realized it was probably a silly thing to do. Brain disengaged. Cheers Peter
I have no idea. The number of teeth a pulley has is irrelevant. It is the root diameter that counts. Fit all I know your 18 tooth pulley could be twice the size of your 20 tooth pulley. Since the pulleys are on different axis that bear no relation to one another. Run the calibration and let Mach3 work it out for you. Cheers Peter
Nice explanation, clear and good to follow. I do this at regular intervals to keep the machine as accurate as possible (belts etc. wear out after all). Do you have your A axis slaved to the Y? I do, and so it is necessary to use the same values in both Y axis and slaved A axis. If not, you'll soon find out that the gantry is no longer square and it will get worse every time the gantry moves back and forwards. If entering the values of Y into slaved A, make sure you use the full number of digits, or it still will be off. Thanks for the video!
Hi Paul, I forgot about belt drive and need to keep an eye on travel distances over time. With Rack and leadscrew it is a one time set and forget but belts and chain need checking due to stretch over time. With regard to the Y & A settings my testing has swown that once the A is slaved to the Y axis it ignores the A axis and uses only the Y axis settings. I retested this morning on my machine and in both UCCNC and Mach3 the slave axis settings are ignored. Maybe it is the version of Mach3 you are using. Cheers Peter
hi Peter , nice tutorial , do you have any calculation like you did for your stapers for Servo motors. i have servo motors and i need to set them up with my centroid 12. thank you
Hi Peter thanks for that good explanation I have just Started using UCCNC software I've had my Router Table for over 18 years I was using supercam software which was ok but I had a bit of a problem with the break out board (was called a Campod) that was only compatible with Supercam But it went bung on me and SuperTech no longer is up and running Site is closednow . I use Vcarve Pro and AutoCad to draw my parts and import to UCCNC When I import a 3D Gcode from Vcarve it worked really well Only problem now with this software is when I do exactly the same thing If I start the Z axis surface as 0 after about 5-10 minutes of going through the Gcode the 0 surface starts to gradually move down a so does the cut Would you know of a solution to this I tried slowing it right down but just takes longer but same result the whole job is tapering down John
@@cncnutz Hi I have tried to measure it running the calibrate set up I think I will look at getting one of those dial gauges Funny thing is I didn't have this problem before You mentioned a zero backlash fitting what type do you use Regards John
Peter - I set my steps per mm to 320 in mach3, test, and the router moves the correct amount, however, when I try to jog using my arrow keys, I get the following error message "jog access access is small!" what did I do wrong?
I have no idea. I have never heard of such an error. I wonder if you are on single step mode. Check out the single step size you have set. There are quite a few of them that you cycle through. I made mine all the same so I never got caught if I accidentally changed the one I was on. The step sizes are on the general settings page. Cheers Peter
ok, you are not going to believe this but if I type in the steps per unit of 320, I get the error I described. HOWEVER if I leave that 320 value in the steps per unit and I go to the Settings Alt6 screen as you point out in this video, select Set steps per unit, enter 10 (mm) as the amount I would like to move the axis, see that the spindle moved 10mm, enter that value in the "How far did the axis move?" then click yes to the question "axis will be set to 320 steps per unit. Would you like to accept it?" Save my configuration. Exit Mach3, Re-start Mach3, everything works fine. Thanks for your great videos!
Looks like I picked the coldest night this week to record the video. Temperatures have gone up a bit now but probably not for long. Can't really complain as it never snows here. Cheers Peter
With leadscrew I would do it only once as wear will not alter the lead. With Rack I would check it if I saw wear on the pinion because it's diameter would now be smaller but mine still look new after the 6 or so years I have had it. For chain and belt I would check every month or 2 depending on use as these drives are prone to stretching. Belts and chains need to be kept tight so after any tension adjustment on a belt. Note. I am not talking about the type of belt used on my machine which is for gearing as stretch on this will alter distance travel. Cheers Peter
you can use this method to calculate the steps/mm for a completely unknown system. you don't know the steps per rev, the gear ratio, nor the rack tooth spacing, nor microstepping. so you set steps/mm to '1' and run a test. your distance actually moved will be much less than the commanded motion so you may need to command a very long movement to get something to measure. Therefore you must be careful to give the correct commands after the first calibration (a much shorter motion to get back to the start), and you will need to repeat the calibration 3 or 4 times. I found that when calibrating GRBL that it is best to move back to the start point before updating the steps/mm, and do at least a soft reset before the next test.
Very true that you don't need to calculate anything on a new system as long as it is moving but I went through the process to show how it is done and because it makes the calibration easier if the figures in the machine are not wildly out to start with. I find it good to understand how and why things the way they do. Cheers Peter
Thanks Peter you make it look so easy:) Question, given that my machine is tight, well aligned, etc. in your opinion do you think a UC100/UC400 rather than my straight parallel port setup would make my readings more consistent? I'm getting some inconsistency when i do this. Great video Peter!
I don't see why it would make any difference personally. You should still get the same number of steps and the rest is done by the driver. Cheers Peter
Machine is pretty tight but my calibration tools might not be stiff enough. I'm using a wood dowel attached to my Dial Indicator... should probably make a metal one. I'm looking for an excuse to get the UC 400 as well:) Cheers,
Thanks John Not sure what version it is. I will have to look when I get home from work tonight but they all look the same to me. Are you sure that you weren't mistaking the UCCNC screen shots for the Mach3 because they do look nothing like what you would have. Cheers Peter
Yes, that's what it is, at about 10:57, just after you press Save Settings, when the screen changes-- so what is UCCNC and what is it doing for you in the tool chain?
UCCNC is another common controller software just like Mach3. You can use either one or the other and I was just showing the calibrate function built into it. I did a video on UCCNC software last year. It has the advantage over Mach3 that it isn't obsolete. It is far cheaper and works just as well. They only work with motion controllers which is maybe a disadvantage but in my opinion is a strength since they make both the software and the hardware. Cheers Peter
Hi Isaac Episodes 75 -82 cover my rotary axis builds and how I used it. Episodes 79 and 80 specifically cover building the new Rotary axis build and there are plans included if you want to make one like mine. I'm not sure what you are looking for with regard zeroing in Mach3. Could you be more specific. Cheers Peter
Hi Peter! Very usefull video as always! 1) Would it be interesting to make a video on backlash and how to avoid it in Mach3 (comp.)? 2) Did you experience some unexpected freezes while using 2-steps Z Auto Zero script?
I will have a think about the backlash video idea. I don't have any freezes on the scripts. Which version are you using? At what stage does it freeze? It might be easier to email me and we can have a look at it. Cncnutz65@gmail.com Cheers Peter
hi, that was the Best tutorial i've seen so far, i was looking for an answer about gear ratio calculation for a long time but no one could explain in such a easy way like you did. i have a big 12' x 6' CNC wihch has gear reduction two times before it gets to rack and pinion on each axle, i have hard time calculating gear ratio . I wonder if you can help me to calculate. Thank you
nice...i just see how far mine moves and start lowering the numbers until it does what i want it to if it moves too far and almost crashes i yank the plug and lower my numbers in the settings then start it back up lol
@22:25 Using the dial indicator mounted into the spindle is also a great method of checking your bed flatness. I run the indicator up, down and across my bed to find any high or low spots when mounting a new spoil board. When finding high spots adding a deep countersunk screw will most times bring it down.
Thank you Peter for those valuable motivational tips. Because of you I took a weekend off just to re-calibrate my DIY CNC. Now my cuts are cleaner and more accurate. 90 Degrees are true 90. No more scarring my sacrificial board. FYI my machine was accurate roughly 0.49mm now down to 0.02mm according to my dials and calipers. Thank you,
Great news. Glad it helped.
Peter, I'm in the process of justifying a router and I want to thank you for putting out some of the best videos available. This sort of calibration is not new to me, after years in machine shops, but, I never fail to learn valuable information from you. That being said, for me, the high point of this video was the line, "Okay. Well, before you guys lose the will to live..." While, that wasn't the reason I subscribed, it's a great reason to remain. Thanks again!
Thanks Jim
Thanks Peter for your outstanding explanation that has clarified and connected steppers and Mach 3 settings. One of the best I have seen and it arrived at a perfect time. I am on the other side of the ditch, enjoy my trips to" the real down under" each year and really appreciate your generosity. That does not apply to the All Blacks of course. Woodie
Thanks Roger. Much appreciated.
Cheers
Peter
Thank you Peter for the clarity of your explanation about how to calibrate a cnc set up. Finally I know what to do. Brilliant. 👍😀
Thanks Andrew. Hope it all goes well for you.
Cheers
Peter
Hey Peter, I have used this method in Mach. I'm sure many will benefit from your video. I'm going to try the caliper method for the z. Simply brilliant!!!!
Thanks Mick
Thank you for this tutorial Peter. It is excellent. This is exactly the information that I needed to get my 6040 calibrated!
Thanks austimbo, glad it helped.
Cheers
Peter
@18:20 When calibrating your axis start with a small number first. Reason being if your preset step calculation are wrong you run a risk of crashing your machine by it traveling farther then you think it will. I started mine at an 1 inch and it travelled 10 inches. Once I entered the travel distance in my Mach3 for recalibration I started over giving it a longer distance. I also just use a 60 degree V bit to give me a nice sharp center point .
A fine explanation of a difficult subject. Not sure I truly understood it a few years ago, but the Mach3 calibration tool is a great help. I can cut a perfect circle so I'm happy
Thanks Gareth
Hi Peter,
Good morning
I am currently building a cnc router+CNC plasma combo lagger size machine 4M*2.6m*400mm , I learned much from your videos .Thank you for your informative videos,been very helpful.
Thanks Ghansham
Really useful and clear. Great tip for the Z Axis; Thank you!
Hello Peter, your video tutorials are great. Related to stepper motor calibration, can you please explain in a video or here the following:
1) how to setup the acceleration for the axis 2) at what procent of nominal current the drivers should be set 3) what is the best over voltage ( eg. nema 23 rated at 3[A]/2.1[V] is driven with 36v in order to achieve the best performance) from the open loop steppers.
Thank you!
Hi Ovidiu Ovidiu
I suggest you watch episode 207 to learn about the voltage for a stepper motor and how to calculate it.
For acceleration start at 10% of the maximum speed and play from there. There is no hard and fast rule you need to experiment.
Set the motor to it's rated current. That is why they specify the current in the first place.
cheers Peter
Thank you!
That was a good explanation and easy to follow.
Thank you Peter for all the time and effort you put into here.
Thanks Geert.
Thanks for the upload particularly your comment about getting different reading for your racks for now I understand what is happening with my machine. I did the squaring method in your last post but long cuts still ended up with the ends not parallel. I have just run the calibration on each side of the gantry and one side does indeed travel nearly half a mil more than the other. Currently doing battle with Mach3 because when I try to change the steps per on one motor it changes it on the other motor as well so I might have to resort to reading the instructions.
I didn't mention doing the dual drive seperately because as soon as you slave one axis off the other the 2 are locked and it uses the main axis to control both no matter what values you have in the Slave. This is true in both Mach3 and UCCNC. UCCNC makes this even plainer by not allowing you to change the values on on the slave axis. They revert to the main axis values when you try and save them. Mach3 lets you change them but ignores the slave setting.
When I check my machine on both sides of the table I get the same travel on both.
As a thought there could be 2 possible causes for the error you are seeing.
1. One of the racks is on a slight angle with respect to the other rack so the pinion has to travel further to cover the same linear distance. (This could also be a way of fixing the travel distance by purposely angling the rack to change the travel distance.)
2. If you have a similar setup to mine with a belt between the stepper and the pinion you might have backlash if the belt is loose or one of the set screws is loose. This could account for 1/2 mm or more easily.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Peter
I think that I have found the problem. The ball screws came from different sources and one is has a longer pitch than the other so I have squared the machine with the gantry in the centre of the travel so hoping that that will halve the error until I get a matching pair of replacements.
Good one, sounds like you are on to it.
For some reason I thought you had Rack. Interesting about the ballscrews being different. Not a problem used by itself but a major issue if paired with another.
Cheers
Peter
After a lot more testing turned out the screws were fine and the issue was electrical noise so rewired the temporary 4 year old wiring with shielded cables and lots of ferrite rings, 0.1uf capacitors and 1k resistors and all good now. Now I can have a go at getting the auto tool setter to work because the new BOB probe works on active low.
Thanks for the update. Great to see you got to the cause of the problem.
Cheers
Peter
Hi peter,I have a problem with my stone diamond wire bandsaw cnc machine, what happens and only while cutting on curve cut,my machine stops each time,error code pops up ,sometimes time it says, y axis ,or x axis error ,sometimes it says both,,can you help me..already spent alot of money on this machine try to figure it out
Thank you Peter - always something interesting to learn. (I have acquired many useful techniques from your channel)
Thanks Perry
Hello, my CNC machine has a Nema17 stepper motor, 16 gears (teeth pitch 2 mm) GT2 pulley and DRV8825 driver using 1/16 micro step. In this case, how many mm does my CNC machine advance in 1 revolution in the X axis?
Great idea with the dial indicator!! I'll check my calibration. Thanks
Thanks Dave
Hey Peter, Great video. A couple of things I thought I would pass along. Pitch Diameter can be found by first determining the pitch of the gear, diametric Pitch = (Number of teeth +2) / diameter. The whole number will be the Diametric Pitch. The Pitch diameter then can be found by number of teeth on gear / DP.
The distance a tread travels in one revolution is called "lead", so my 5 start 1/2"-10 acme screws have a pitch of .1" but a lead of .5"
I realize you are keeping stuff simple, but though maybe someone would want to know.
Joe
Thanks Joe.
Great information thanks for sharing.
Cheers
Peter
sir. i am worry for cnc machine . i am facing level problum. some vector thick some vector thin in design. i did level machine bed but same problum after leveling. can you tell me about this issue.
Good video as usual Peter, good concise and well explained information. I always look forward to seeing your videos.
Australian Inventor Roger Clyde Webb
Thanks Rodger.
Looking forward to seeing your new 6040 machine in action.
Cheers
Peter
Sir, could you kindly help cause Mach3 dont permit motor turning value input (Erro found art code 9991)
Thanks Peter, you explained this very well!
Thanks Larry
Cheers mate
I have cnc router with servo motor, is this video help for us for calibration axis of the machine with servo motors.
This video applies to all drive systems.
Cheers Peter
Hi. Can you help please.
After I load G-code in to machine (Example G-code X=1"
But the machine only move .250 ". Can you help how to set up the machine move as the same value as the G-code . Thanks you very much!
Thank you. Great video. that will help help a lot.😊😊😊🤜🤛👍
Great explanation video Peter. Why do you use imperial on UCCNC instead of metric when you are using metric on Mach3?
Thanks John.
I don't know really. I was just showing that you would enter the imperial value if setting up the machine as imperial but after I released the video realized it was probably a silly thing to do.
Brain disengaged.
Cheers
Peter
I really like the design of your cnc. Can you do a video showing all the major parts - axis movement. I love that drag chain solution its so gorgeous.
i wanna ask one question. if X axis pulley teeth 18 and Y axis pulley teeth 20 . then what is our calibration ?
I have no idea. The number of teeth a pulley has is irrelevant. It is the root diameter that counts. Fit all I know your 18 tooth pulley could be twice the size of your 20 tooth pulley. Since the pulleys are on different axis that bear no relation to one another. Run the calibration and let Mach3 work it out for you.
Cheers Peter
@@cncnutz i draw one circle .but machine draw circle not close 2mm distance between start and end point.
Your issue has nothing to do with calibration. You are loosing steps.
Cheers Peter
@@cncnutz its mean that. 18 teeth pully X $100=88.89 and 20 teeth pully Y $101=80 . this setting is ok .
thank you sir you've been a good help. I like you and your presentation.
Nice explanation, clear and good to follow. I do this at regular intervals to keep the machine as accurate as possible (belts etc. wear out after all). Do you have your A axis slaved to the Y? I do, and so it is necessary to use the same values in both Y axis and slaved A axis. If not, you'll soon find out that the gantry is no longer square and it will get worse every time the gantry moves back and forwards. If entering the values of Y into slaved A, make sure you use the full number of digits, or it still will be off. Thanks for the video!
Hi Paul,
I forgot about belt drive and need to keep an eye on travel distances over time.
With Rack and leadscrew it is a one time set and forget but belts and chain need checking due to stretch over time.
With regard to the Y & A settings my testing has swown that once the A is slaved to the Y axis it ignores the A axis and uses only the Y axis settings. I retested this morning on my machine and in both UCCNC and Mach3 the slave axis settings are ignored.
Maybe it is the version of Mach3 you are using.
Cheers
Peter
hi Peter ,
nice tutorial , do you have any calculation like you did for your stapers for Servo motors. i have servo motors and i need to set them up with my centroid 12.
thank you
Servos are another matter all together. I haven't had anything to do with them myself.
Cheers
Peter
thank you Peter
Hi Peter thanks for that good explanation
I have just Started using UCCNC software I've had my Router Table for over 18 years I was using supercam software which was ok but I had a bit of a problem with the break out board (was called a Campod) that was only compatible with Supercam But it went bung on me and SuperTech no longer is up and running Site is closednow . I use Vcarve Pro and AutoCad to draw my parts and import to UCCNC
When I import a 3D Gcode from Vcarve it worked really well
Only problem now with this software is when I do exactly the same thing
If I start the Z axis surface as 0 after about 5-10 minutes of going through the Gcode the 0 surface starts to gradually move down a so does the cut
Would you know of a solution to this
I tried slowing it right down but just takes longer but same result the whole job is tapering down
John
You are clearly loosing steps. Have you checked the mechanicals to make sure it isn't binding?
Cheers Peter
@@cncnutz Hi I have tried to measure it running the calibrate set up
I think I will look at getting one of those dial gauges
Funny thing is I didn't have this problem before
You mentioned a zero backlash fitting what type do you use
Regards John
Peter - I set my steps per mm to 320 in mach3, test, and the router moves the correct amount, however, when I try to jog using my arrow keys, I get the following error message "jog access access is small!" what did I do wrong?
I have no idea. I have never heard of such an error. I wonder if you are on single step mode. Check out the single step size you have set. There are quite a few of them that you cycle through. I made mine all the same so I never got caught if I accidentally changed the one I was on. The step sizes are on the general settings page.
Cheers
Peter
ok, you are not going to believe this but if I type in the steps per unit of 320, I get the error I described. HOWEVER if I leave that 320 value in the steps per unit and I go to the Settings Alt6 screen as you point out in this video, select Set steps per unit, enter 10 (mm) as the amount I would like to move the axis, see that the spindle moved 10mm, enter that value in the "How far did the axis move?" then click yes to the question "axis will be set to 320 steps per unit. Would you like to accept it?" Save my configuration. Exit Mach3, Re-start Mach3, everything works fine. Thanks for your great videos!
brilliant thank you, i'm off to check mine now :-)
It makes a change for us to be warm and you cold :-)
Looks like I picked the coldest night this week to record the video. Temperatures have gone up a bit now but probably not for long. Can't really complain as it never snows here.
Cheers
Peter
Metric leadscrews have mm/turn imperial have turn/inch, these are reciprocal to each other
Good video Peter! Typically how often do you or should you check the calibration?
With leadscrew I would do it only once as wear will not alter the lead. With Rack I would check it if I saw wear on the pinion because it's diameter would now be smaller but mine still look new after the 6 or so years I have had it.
For chain and belt I would check every month or 2 depending on use as these drives are prone to stretching. Belts and chains need to be kept tight so after any tension adjustment on a belt.
Note. I am not talking about the type of belt used on my machine which is for gearing as stretch on this will alter distance travel.
Cheers
Peter
you can use this method to calculate the steps/mm for a completely unknown system. you don't know the steps per rev, the gear ratio, nor the rack tooth spacing, nor microstepping. so you set steps/mm to '1' and run a test. your distance actually moved will be much less than the commanded motion so you may need to command a very long movement to get something to measure. Therefore you must be careful to give the correct commands after the first calibration (a much shorter motion to get back to the start), and you will need to repeat the calibration 3 or 4 times. I found that when calibrating GRBL that it is best to move back to the start point before updating the steps/mm, and do at least a soft reset before the next test.
Very true that you don't need to calculate anything on a new system as long as it is moving but I went through the process to show how it is done and because it makes the calibration easier if the figures in the machine are not wildly out to start with. I find it good to understand how and why things the way they do.
Cheers
Peter
Thanks Peter you make it look so easy:) Question, given that my machine is tight, well aligned, etc. in your opinion do you think a UC100/UC400 rather than my straight parallel port setup would make my readings more consistent? I'm getting some inconsistency when i do this. Great video Peter!
I don't see why it would make any difference personally. You should still get the same number of steps and the rest is done by the driver.
Cheers
Peter
Just as a thought Lyle have you chacked the axis for backlash. This would give inconsistant measurements.
Cheers
Peter
Machine is pretty tight but my calibration tools might not be stiff enough. I'm using a wood dowel attached to my Dial Indicator... should probably make a metal one. I'm looking for an excuse to get the UC 400 as well:)
Cheers,
Excuses
1. future proofing your machine
2. Remove load off pc
3. It looks impressive
😎
What version of Mach3 are you using? My settings page doesn't look anything like yours?!?? Great video btw, thanks!
Thanks John
Not sure what version it is. I will have to look when I get home from work tonight but they all look the same to me. Are you sure that you weren't mistaking the UCCNC screen shots for the Mach3 because they do look nothing like what you would have.
Cheers
Peter
Yes, that's what it is, at about 10:57, just after you press Save Settings, when the screen changes-- so what is UCCNC and what is it doing for you in the tool chain?
UCCNC is another common controller software just like Mach3. You can use either one or the other and I was just showing the calibrate function built into it. I did a video on UCCNC software last year. It has the advantage over Mach3 that it isn't obsolete. It is far cheaper and works just as well. They only work with motion controllers which is maybe a disadvantage but in my opinion is a strength since they make both the software and the hardware.
Cheers
Peter
Very nice video. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Victor
Great Video Pete, keep warm
Thanks Keith. Will do
Great video! Very clear instructions, thank you!
Thanks
Friend do you have a tutorial to make you A axis rotary. And what about your tutorial of zeroing with mach3
Im finding your old tutorial but there is not nothing.
Hi Isaac
Episodes 75 -82 cover my rotary axis builds and how I used it.
Episodes 79 and 80 specifically cover building the new Rotary axis build and there are plans included if you want to make one like mine.
I'm not sure what you are looking for with regard zeroing in Mach3. Could you be more specific.
Cheers
Peter
Thanks Peter......Great video!!!!!
Thanks Mike
Hi Peter! Very usefull video as always!
1) Would it be interesting to make a video on backlash and how to avoid it in Mach3 (comp.)?
2) Did you experience some unexpected freezes while using 2-steps Z Auto Zero script?
I will have a think about the backlash video idea.
I don't have any freezes on the scripts. Which version are you using? At what stage does it freeze? It might be easier to email me and we can have a look at it. Cncnutz65@gmail.com
Cheers
Peter
hi,
that was the Best tutorial i've seen so far, i was looking for an answer about gear ratio calculation for a long time but no one could explain in such a easy way like you did. i have a big 12' x 6' CNC wihch has gear reduction two times before it gets to rack and pinion on each axle, i have hard time calculating gear ratio . I wonder if you can help me to calculate.
Thank you
You can email be if you like and I will see if I can help. Have you ried the spreadsheet I provided?
Thank you very much.
Glad it helps Arristo.
Cheers Peter
Thank you for this content Sir.
Thanks for the video. Great info.
Thanks Grant
Good Info. Enjoyed
Thanks John
Great job thanks sir
Thanks
Tin Stips. Is that the same as Ten Steps. :)
Similar but higher quality 😄
dam good video loved it ty
Thanks
nice...i just see how far mine moves and start lowering the numbers until it does what i want it to if it moves too far and almost crashes i yank the plug and lower my numbers in the settings then start it back up lol
There's more than one way to calibrate an axis and in my book if it works then it's right. 😉
Saves all that calculation as well.
Cheers
Peter
Anyone here on youtube understand Austrailian? ;)