Maxnc help
Posted by
Mike Rainone
on 2000-07-02 09:18:19 UTC
Hi, group.
With the help of Jon Elson, Tim Goldstein and Dan Mauch, I have finally
(almost) gotten my homebrew CNC router running. It runs Dan's 5A stepper
board and 300 oz. in. steppers. It was also direct drive onto a rack and
pinion X and Y and had a resolution, I think of, 140 half steps per
inch, which was pretty course. Maxnc DLX was used as a controller and it
worked! Crudely, but it worked. Since then I have geared it down 4/1 to
increase resolution, but I am having trouble getting Maxnc calibrated.
On jog, after a zillion pulses it finally jogs one step or perhaps a
half step. The problem is that the software is accompanied by perhaps
the most criminally negligent documentation that has ever been issued. I
realize that for $250 I shouldn't be complaining too much, but this is
beyond reason. The folks at Maxnc are terrifically nice when you call
them for help, but direct phone contact is NOT a substitute for even
half-assed docs, which these aren't. I also understand that CNC programs
are not all for newbies, but even an experienced CNC user is owed some
information about how a new piece of software works.
I am at the point that if I could figure how to change the "scale" it
might behave itself, though that is only a guess. In addition, I am
importing ".fan" files from Mill Wizard, then changing the ".fan" to
".t" Does anyone know what Maxnc really wants in the form of a G-code
file? Any help would be appreciated.
Mike Rainone
PurpleCowDesign
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
With the help of Jon Elson, Tim Goldstein and Dan Mauch, I have finally
(almost) gotten my homebrew CNC router running. It runs Dan's 5A stepper
board and 300 oz. in. steppers. It was also direct drive onto a rack and
pinion X and Y and had a resolution, I think of, 140 half steps per
inch, which was pretty course. Maxnc DLX was used as a controller and it
worked! Crudely, but it worked. Since then I have geared it down 4/1 to
increase resolution, but I am having trouble getting Maxnc calibrated.
On jog, after a zillion pulses it finally jogs one step or perhaps a
half step. The problem is that the software is accompanied by perhaps
the most criminally negligent documentation that has ever been issued. I
realize that for $250 I shouldn't be complaining too much, but this is
beyond reason. The folks at Maxnc are terrifically nice when you call
them for help, but direct phone contact is NOT a substitute for even
half-assed docs, which these aren't. I also understand that CNC programs
are not all for newbies, but even an experienced CNC user is owed some
information about how a new piece of software works.
I am at the point that if I could figure how to change the "scale" it
might behave itself, though that is only a guess. In addition, I am
importing ".fan" files from Mill Wizard, then changing the ".fan" to
".t" Does anyone know what Maxnc really wants in the form of a G-code
file? Any help would be appreciated.
Mike Rainone
PurpleCowDesign
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]