First part!

Last night, I cut my first successful part on the CNC'ed Sherline mill.
It's a 7-sided shape (heptagon) cut into the top of a block of Delrin
(acetal plastic, but I know this piece is really Delrin brand name...)
Nothing that will win any design prizes, but enough that I scribed the date
into the side of the block. :-) I put a picture in the files area at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO/files/Randy%27s%20Sherline%20m
ill/heptagon.jpg

I wrote a macro to take a 2D toolpath (lines and arcs) drawn in VersaCAD
(my ancient 2D program of choice) and output the G-code for the path. All
G1, G2 and G3. Then I go in with a text editor and do the initial
positioning, depth setting, linear speed etc.

I'm using DeskNCrt to drive the Mauch 2A board. I'm being really
conservative for now, using 10ipm for jog and G0, and cut the part at 4ipm.
I had made an unsuccessful try on Sunday, which cut the shape OK but was
misplaced relative to the stock because the G0 speed was too high. I've
also played some with the acceleration, but I don't see a setting in the
INI file that lets me set the before-ramping speed. I had to reverse the
sense of the Y and Z axes by putting negative numbers in the INI file for
INPUT_SCALE and OUTPUT_SCALE.

A thought that just came up is, I need to check the current settings on the
driver board. I had dropped back on them when I was testing it before the
motors were on the mill, but I don't know whether I bumped them back up...

Best regards (with a big happy grin),

Randy

Randy Gordon-Gilmore ,----.___________ ______________ _________________
ProtoTrains // = = === == || == == == = || == == == = == =|
Rio Vista, CA, USA /-O==O------------o==o------------o==o-----------o==o-'
zephyrus@... http://www.rickadee.net/~zephyrus