#linuxcnc Logs

Feb 25 2022

01:12 AM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
01:57 AM MrSunshine: uff, would 7 - 10k pulses a second be readable by parport ? (spindle encoder wheel)
04:14 AM JT-Cave: morning
04:49 AM Tom_L: morning
05:26 AM JT-Cave: I found a new panasonic ac servo and drive in my collection
05:26 AM JT-Cave: just need a couple of cables for it and I'm good to go
06:20 AM solarwind: CaptHindsight[m] I just started playing with pulse settings for TIG and I'm getting _really_ good with this
06:21 AM solarwind: I can weld in all positions now, any kind of joint with full penetration, nice looking beads, take advantage of the awesome pulse features to avoid burning through thin stuff and out of position welds
06:22 AM solarwind: The one annoying thing is I have so many water cooled torches and I hate how it takes 5 different connectors to swap torches
06:22 AM solarwind: and they leak all the water out unless you purge them with an air blow gun
06:22 AM solarwind: They should the euro MIG style connector for these torches with a single connector that carries the water and gas
06:23 AM solarwind: Maybe I'll machine a prototype
06:34 AM solarwind: Or at least make a manifold where I can keep all torches plugged in at all times and select the one in use with some kind of valve
06:35 AM solarwind: That's probably easier than machining a specific connector maybe
07:52 AM MrSunshine: well im a smart fellah, turn off the computer after i ask a question .. did anyone answer my question ? =)
07:54 AM MrSunshine: JT-Cave, ah nice =)
07:56 AM JT-Cave: you can also say index
09:18 AM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
09:24 AM roycroft: we set a record low temperature yesterday for the second day in a row, but the cold spell is over now
09:25 AM XXCoder: still have some leftover snow here lol
09:25 AM XXCoder: cold
09:30 AM roycroft: we did not get any snow
09:30 AM roycroft: it was too cold for snow
09:30 AM XXCoder: it barely snowed, white dusting everywhere
09:30 AM XXCoder: but it presisted
10:18 AM unterhaus: we have over an inch of rain-soaked snow. I was hoping the rain would melt the snow, but no such luck
10:19 AM unterhaus: won't melt for a few days, so I better go shovel it.
10:20 AM roycroft: the clouds are returning here - we'll get a lot of rain next week
10:20 AM roycroft: but that's fine
10:27 AM roguish[m]: sub zero here this morning............sub C zero......
10:27 AM roguish[m]: but dry as a popcorn fart
10:29 AM roycroft: it got down to -4 last night
10:29 AM roycroft: but we'll be above freezing for the next week or so
10:53 AM mrec: is anyone doing 5 axis cnc?
10:54 AM mrec: I wonder do Z coordinates change to eg. X/Y movements of a table when rotating the object via A axis?
10:54 AM mrec: or how does that work?
11:00 AM Loetmichel: *hmpf* note to self: 300eur 40W China co2 lasercutters are NOT meant for continous operation. had to change the cooling water every 2 hours today because the laser stops if the tube gets above 45°C... well, thats what you get for being cheap and using hobby tools in a production enviroment. and having to come in tomorrow for a few more hours to get that &%/$&% job done :(
11:01 AM XXCoder: sucks
11:01 AM Loetmichel: [/rant]
11:14 AM roycroft: i've read in several places that those lasers tend to die after a few dozen hours at most of use anyway
11:15 AM Loetmichel: well. so far it has a few 100 hours on it
11:15 AM Loetmichel: so cant say thats the case
11:15 AM roycroft: perhaps you're lucky
11:15 AM roycroft: perhaps folks are just ranting about chinese products without knowing what they're ranting about
11:15 AM roycroft: that is more likely
11:18 AM Loetmichel: roycroft: i am ranting about my boss being a cheapskate buying a 300 eur "hobby" tool doing industrial work
11:18 AM XXCoder: sometimes I wonder why you work for him lol
11:18 AM roycroft: yes, i understand that yours is a different rant, and it's one that is based on reality
11:19 AM roycroft: perhaps you should get a bigger coolant tank?
11:19 AM roycroft: convince your boss to install an olympic size swimming pool next to the production line
11:19 AM roycroft: and plumb your coolant pump to that
11:20 AM Loetmichel: you mean: under my workdesk?
11:20 AM Loetmichel: or outside the open window where the fume exhaust tube snakes out?
11:20 AM roycroft: our governor has announced a firm date for ending the masking mandate - 19 march
11:20 AM roycroft: and the covid state of emergency will end on 1 april
11:22 AM mrec: so all the hazzle for nothing
11:23 AM roycroft: and the republican reaction?
11:23 AM roycroft: they are claiming that she is lying, and that democrats will never end the mask mandate
11:24 AM * JT-Cave doesn't care
11:24 AM roycroft: a republican state legislator who has been told three times he must wear a mask in the legislative chamber, and complied, just refused to wear one to protest the mandate, and he was expelled from the chamber
11:25 AM JT-Cave: sound like little children
11:25 AM roycroft: i guess it's hard for them to remove their hateful wedge issue
11:25 AM roycroft: yes
11:25 AM Loetmichel: JT-Cave: yeah, was my first thought, too "sounds like preschoolers"
11:25 AM roycroft: they're taking their cues from our former president
11:25 AM roycroft: "don't believe what you see - only believe what i tell you"
11:26 AM JT-Cave: so roycroft I'm making a fixture to clamp down the bowls so I can engrave my sisters names on the bottom
11:26 AM roycroft: i'll just be gla dwhen it's all over
11:26 AM roycroft: cool
11:26 AM JT-Cave: making the clamps on the BP knee mill
11:27 AM JT-Cave: they have a pivot pin with a hole for the hold down bolt and a sleeve to elevate the nut up a tad
11:27 AM roycroft: what are the clamps going to grab onto?
11:28 AM JT-Cave: the lip on the bottom of the bowl
11:28 AM roycroft: oh, ok
11:28 AM JT-Cave: I'll have one on each side... take some photos when done
11:28 AM XXCoder: nice
11:28 AM roycroft: and what will you use for the engraving?
11:28 AM roycroft: the bp?
11:29 AM JT-Cave: yep
11:29 AM roycroft: ok
11:29 AM roycroft: that should work well
11:29 AM JT-Cave: f-engrave v carving
11:29 AM JT-Cave: made some samples on scrap wood yesterday to sort out what size to make the letters
11:29 AM JT-Cave: it would be nice to darken the letters a bit somehow
11:30 AM roycroft: for bowls it might be kind of neat to laser engrave the names
11:30 AM roycroft: depending on the wood, of course
11:30 AM JT-Cave: these are red oak
11:31 AM roycroft: if it's wenge or something burning would not stand out very well
11:31 AM roycroft: that should give enough contrast
11:31 AM roycroft: of course it requires a laser mounted on a cnc machine
11:31 AM JT-Cave: just hop over to Loetmichel's work and do home work during work time
11:32 AM JT-Cave: no laser here... I was thinking of using a soldering iron to darken the wood before putting T&T on the bottom
11:32 AM roycroft: i've been working on the drawings for my cnc router cabinet
11:32 AM roycroft: the top part is currently a mix of si and american customary units
11:32 AM roycroft: it's getting rather unwieldy
11:33 AM roycroft: the linear rails are metric, so i was using si units for the overalld dimensions
11:33 AM roycroft: but the wood i'm using is american customary
11:33 AM roycroft: i'm about to ditch the whole design and start over, just using american customary units, and planning on modifying the metric parts to fit
11:34 AM XXCoder: just plane em down to si ;)
11:34 AM mrec: did anyone do 5axis machining using tool vectors?
11:34 AM JT-Cave: I just use inch and if it's a mm I do 1.23mm and press enter
11:34 AM JT-Cave: in sw
11:35 AM roycroft: making a torsion box 23.80712"x74.80315" is kind of hard to do
11:35 AM roycroft: yeah, since i discovered that sw can take mixed units in a dimension things have gone better, generally
11:36 AM JT-Cave: say I have a part that has metric hole locations I do what I described above
11:36 AM roycroft: i can do something like "6mm+0.75in" in a dimension
11:36 AM roycroft: which is really nice
11:37 AM JT-Cave: that's cool
11:37 AM roycroft: but what i did with the router is draw the router gantry/rails/etc., and then draw a torsion box to fit in between the rails
11:37 AM roycroft: and i came up with those odd numbers
11:38 AM roycroft: i was thinking i could cut my parts close enough, but it's making the whole rest of the design difficult now
11:38 AM * roycroft wishes this country had done the sensible thing and ditched the archaic units a long time ago
11:39 AM JT-Cave: yea like before I was born would have been nice
11:39 AM roycroft: yes
11:39 AM * JT-Cave notices that lunch minute is up so back to the shop
11:39 AM roycroft: back in the 1870s, when we officially adopted the metric system the first time
11:39 AM roycroft: or maybe even in the 1970s when we officially adopted it the second time would have been ok
11:40 AM roycroft: if we wait until the 2070s to finally do it, i'll be dead
11:54 AM XXCoder: https://youtu.be/l8MniygX9ss
11:55 AM XXCoder: fancy engraved nail
11:55 AM XXCoder: cool cnc lathe engraving
11:55 AM mrec: does anyone know where I can download some basic 5axis gcode files?
11:58 AM JT-Shop: last part for the Whirlpool assembly machine is in the powder coat oven... when it comes out I'm done with work for the day
11:59 AM roycroft: and for the week
11:59 AM roycroft: hopefully
11:59 AM * roycroft has to work again tomorrow :(
11:59 AM roycroft: third saturday in a row
11:59 AM roycroft: and last weekend i got to work on both saturday and sunday
12:00 PM jdh: JT. I'm interviewing a PLC guy Monday. Any suggestions for questions or topics?
12:00 PM JT-Shop: what kind of PLC's do you have?
12:01 PM jdh: Siemens and GE
12:01 PM XXCoder: man thats way overkill and fancy nail lol
12:02 PM JT-Shop: I've never programmed either of those...
12:02 PM jdh: Yeah. More looking for general concepts to ask about
12:03 PM JT-Shop: you might ask him how the PLC scan works... typically a self scan, get input status, solve logic, update outputs
12:03 PM JT-Shop: my favorite is "last one wins" when it comes to outputs
12:03 PM jdh: Every time I think I understand that, I get bitten by something weird
12:03 PM roycroft: imagine the hammer that will have to be made to drive that nail properly
12:03 PM XXCoder: imanage price of building house if all nails in that was made that way lol
12:03 PM XXCoder: roy indeed lol
12:04 PM roycroft: it would have to be at least a nasa hammer
12:05 PM jdh: I hate code that relies on last one wins
12:05 PM JT-Shop: you can only have an output one time in ladder if you have two the last one sets the bit
12:05 PM JT-Shop: or I should say resets it
12:05 PM XXCoder: well that video was fun lol
12:08 PM roycroft: it's too bad that the person who made the nail didn't finish it properly
12:08 PM * JT-Shop is stuck with a napping cat in his lap
12:08 PM roycroft: they left way too many scratches before the polishing attempt
12:09 PM XXCoder: lol
12:13 PM JT-Shop: hmm I see an egg on the nest box camera and it's still below freezing out... might have to wake up the cat
12:48 PM unterhaus: I got my timing belt pully, it has the biggest taperlock hole I have seen and still weighs a lot
01:28 PM JT-Shop: clamps are done now for the pivot pins
02:06 PM JT-Shop: https://gnipsel.com/images/wood-working/engraving-jig/engraving-jig-01.jpg
02:08 PM XXCoder: nice!
02:24 PM JT-Shop: thanks
02:27 PM * Tom_L punches out for the week
02:28 PM Tom_L: that machine vise has too much wood dust on it!
02:32 PM JT-Shop: lol
02:47 PM JT-Shop: https://gnipsel.com/images/wood-working/engraving-jig/engraving-jig-02.jpg
02:49 PM XXCoder: nice indeed. cant wait to see it in use
02:49 PM JT-Shop: working on it
02:49 PM JT-Shop: gotta router some slots in the base
03:14 PM solarwind: Hi all, can anyone recommend a decent cheap laser cutter head I can mount on my CNC router?
03:19 PM solarwind: I need to cut some stainless steel mesh. It's so thin that even setting the TIG welder to 10A will burn through immediately and the surrounding area
03:19 PM solarwind: Only way to weld it is spot welding.
03:21 PM solarwind: I cut it by hand with aviation snips right now because it's too fragile for anything else. I haven't tried the plasma cutter on its lowest setting, but I imagine that'll burn off way too much material as well unless there's some kind of heatsink or backing pad on the part I don't want to ctu
03:21 PM solarwind: My use case is dead simple, just need to cut circles of various sizes, ranging from about 10mm to 50mm, and ideally with a 2mm hole right in the middle so I don't have to drill it manually later
03:23 PM solarwind: The other option I was thinking of is making simple dies using copper pipe and using resistance welding technique but for melting purposes. So it would sit sandwiched between the faces of two copper pipes with high current applied such that it simply melts off at the edges. But this feels crude
03:24 PM solarwind: Given how thin the stainless steel mesh is, like about the mesh you find on residential windows to prevent bugs from getting in, I don't think I'd need a very powerful laser. But it would be fun to oversize it for future use
03:42 PM JT-Shop: https://gnipsel.com/images/wood-working/engraving-jig/engraving-jig-03.jpg
03:42 PM JT-Shop: two more parts to mak
03:42 PM JT-Shop: e
03:44 PM Tom_L: been running a few of these http://tom-itx.no-ip.biz:81/~webpage/rue/Can_Holder/A9_New/A9_A10_batch.jpg
03:45 PM Tom_L: http://tom-itx.no-ip.biz:81/~webpage/rue/Can_Holder/A12_New/A12_1.jpg
03:45 PM Tom_L: those are next
03:46 PM Tom_L: fancy clamps
03:47 PM * Tom_L recomends these since he doesn't do wood: https://www.kbctools.com/itemdetail/1-904-20402
03:58 PM JT-Shop: I have some of those
03:59 PM miss0r|basement: Evening
04:00 PM JT-Shop: yo
04:03 PM roycroft: i have a set of those clamps in 3/8" and in 1/2"
04:05 PM * miss0r is moving around a bit
04:05 PM miss0r: I just replicated a faulty PCB design I have 1:1 to the best of my knowledge on a breadboard, and now it works flawlessly :S
04:06 PM miss0r: if only I wasn't completely bald, I would be picking out the rest of my hair by now
04:12 PM Tom_L: maybe bald but at least you haven't blown your head off with that thing yet
04:12 PM miss0r: Tom_L I don't intend to either :) Don't loose any sleep on account of my safety :) I sorta know what I am doing
04:13 PM Tom_L: it will be a glorious day when it finally works
04:14 PM miss0r: Hear hear. This project has dragged on for far longer than I intended. But at this point, its personal :D
04:23 PM miss0r: Tom_L: Any idea if rue will be online later?
04:39 PM JT-Shop: https://gnipsel.com/images/wood-working/engraving-jig/engraving-jig-04.jpg
04:48 PM CaptHindsight[m]: miss0r: you in the basement?
04:49 PM miss0r|basement: I am
04:51 PM roycroft: when do we get to see the engraving?
04:51 PM miss0r|basement: CaptHindsight[m]: I've been meaning to run this project through you. Knowing about electronics as you do :)
04:51 PM XXCoder: awesome
04:51 PM miss0r|basement: But at the moment I cannot get smart about what is happending here :)
04:52 PM roycroft: i might put a thin rubber mat underneath the bowl, to help it stick better to the base
04:57 PM JT-Shop: thanks for the suggestion but the bowl is pretty tight and the cutting force of a 60° engraving bit is very small
04:59 PM roycroft: it's probably fine then
04:59 PM roycroft: it's just that hardwood on mdf is kind of slippery
04:59 PM roycroft: those look like some strong clamps though
05:00 PM JT-Shop: I just grabbed the bowl and shook the jig for all I was worth and the bowl didn't budge
05:04 PM roycroft: i'm almost done with work for the day
05:04 PM roycroft: so it's almost time to start work
05:04 PM * roycroft has a bunch of country fair it stuff to deal with this weekend
05:29 PM unterhaus: the lcd display I just desoldered goes for over $100. But it is 4x20
05:29 PM JT-Shop: hard to get work done with Woody III the shop cat sleeping in your lap
05:30 PM Tom_L: miss0r, i'm sure he will
05:31 PM Tom_L: JT-Shop, are you engraving the bottom or the round part?
05:33 PM Tom_L: i suppose you'd need a 5 axis for that or at least 4
05:33 PM Tom_L: you should have modded your rotary :)
05:38 PM JT-Shop: the bottom
05:42 PM JT-Shop: too much slop in the rotary for cnc
05:51 PM JT-Shop: engraving jig is working quite nicely
05:51 PM XXCoder: :)
06:11 PM JT-Cave: need to make a few more test cuts to get the text in the correct place
06:16 PM Tom_L: did you find your fonts?
06:17 PM Tom_L: silly question if you're centering them :)\
06:17 PM XXCoder: pretty sure he already made gcode, just need to locate
06:18 PM JT-Cave: switched to v carve with true type fonts
06:18 PM JT-Cave: just need to tweak the y offset for each line of engraving
06:21 PM Tom_L: supposed to warm back up around sunday i think
06:28 PM XXCoder: tomorrow for me
06:28 PM roycroft: i'm still thinking pretty seriously about getting vcarve pro when i get my cnc router online
06:30 PM roycroft: i know there's a lot of open source engraving code out there, and i'm pretty sure i can do a lot of that in solidworks (assuming that this upgrade to sw 2018 works out), but the vectric products really are designed specifically for cnc routing, and seem to do a really good job of it
06:30 PM JT-Cave: f-engrave works just fine
06:30 PM roycroft: i've installed a trial version in a vm, and it seems pretty nice
06:30 PM roycroft: if it were just for engraving, it might be fine
06:30 PM roycroft: but i'll be doing a lot of other things with the cnc router
06:31 PM roycroft: and if i decide to use the router with a drag knife to emulate a rose engine, i have no idea what i'll use for that at this point
06:31 PM roycroft: i'll probably have to write some python code to do that
06:31 PM roycroft: maybe openscad would do the trick
06:32 PM Tom_L: ick
06:32 PM roycroft: that kind of engraving is something that a script-based app would excel at
06:39 PM * roycroft ponders making his router 2'x3' instead of 2'x4'
06:40 PM djdelorie: don't
06:40 PM * roycroft also ponders planting a money tree and hoping to harvest enough cash really soon to just buy a new house with a bigger shop
06:40 PM XXCoder: as soon as you make it, you will need that missing foot
06:40 PM roycroft: i'm really concerned about the length of the cabinet if i make it the full footprint
06:41 PM djdelorie: mine has a 25x29 working area, and it's too small
06:41 PM roycroft: it will be much longer than my existing router table
06:41 PM djdelorie: and you can buy 2x4 sheets of plywood at the box store :-)
06:41 PM roycroft: 2'x4' is already a huge compromise
06:41 PM roycroft: if i had the room i'd build a 4'x8'
06:42 PM roycroft: i can also buy 4'x8' sheets of plywood/mdf and cut them into four equal sections
06:42 PM roycroft: which is what i would do
06:42 PM djdelorie: I barely have room for the one I'm working on, which will be 5x10 because I'm tired of not having enough working area...
06:42 PM roycroft: around here, a 2'x4' panel, be it mdf, melamine, plywood, whatever, costs about 2/3 what a 4'x8' sheet costs
06:42 PM roycroft: it makes zero sense to buy the smaller pieces
06:43 PM roycroft: i always buy a 4x8, and cut it down to size
06:43 PM djdelorie: do you ever cut it down to 2'x3' ?
06:43 PM XXCoder: well theres that kinda cheat method, you make holes at edges, and it acts as locating pins as you mnove part down
06:43 PM roycroft: my current design has a single linear rail on each side for the y
06:44 PM roycroft: and a change i'm almost certain to make is to reduce the thickness of the gantry, because it's rather massive right now, and add a second rail on each side
06:44 PM roycroft: if i do that i can probably get away with making the gantry a few inches shorter and still have it be stable
06:45 PM roycroft: xxcoder: since most of what i plan on making will be jigs/templates, i could make them in two pieces and route keys into them, and epoxy the pieces together
06:45 PM XXCoder: indeed
06:46 PM roycroft: which i already planned on doing for jigs/templates that are more than 4' long
06:46 PM XXCoder: nice :)
06:46 PM djdelorie: in my case, one of the projects is arcade cabinets, so you can't just glue up parts...
06:47 PM roycroft: the interesting thing is, when i started doing the calcs on the cost of adding another pair of linear rails vs the savings by making the gantry pieces smaller, it's almost a wash
06:47 PM djdelorie: but this weekend we're doing one of those "shift and re-touch-off" parts since it's way longer than my 29" range
06:47 PM roycroft: yeah, for arcade cabinets you want at least 4'x8'
06:47 PM djdelorie: ... and the store down the street stocks 5x5 sheets of baltic birch :-)
06:48 PM roycroft: i could figure out a way to cut long parts in a double setup
06:48 PM djdelorie: else I might have stopped at a 4x8 table
06:48 PM roycroft: it's easy to route some locating pin holes in and index it that way
06:48 PM roycroft: yes, and i use baltic birch plywood a lot
06:49 PM roycroft: i think i'll redesign it with the gantry/y axis mods, draw the entire machine including the cabinet, take some dimensions, and go out in the shop and measure
06:50 PM roycroft: i have a bunch of cardboard to recycle - perhaps i'll hang on to it for a bit and tape it to my existing router table to mock up the new one
06:50 PM roycroft: i just need a bigger shop
06:50 PM roycroft: that's all there is to it
06:50 PM djdelorie: don't we all :-)
06:51 PM roycroft: i can't afford to move, and i can't afford to add an extension to my current one, if the city would even allow it
06:51 PM roycroft: but when i start generating a steady revenue stream from my work, i should be able to afford to lease some commercial space
06:51 PM roycroft: that's the most likely scenario
06:52 PM djdelorie: I'm building mine for fun, so I only have to convince my wife...
06:52 PM roycroft: and it would actually be good in another way
06:52 PM roycroft: i'd have more room at my home shop for metalworking machines
06:53 PM roycroft: and if i move the wood shop i would keep all the sawdust away from the metalworking machines
06:53 PM roycroft: i hate sharing a shop with metalworking and woodworking machines
06:53 PM roycroft: at least i have an outbuilding that i use as a fabrication shop for grinding, media blasting, welding, and painting
06:54 PM roycroft: but you're convincing me that i should find a way to keep the cutting footprint, and try to do so while reducing the size of the machine
06:54 PM roycroft: and i think i can do that - i'm not concerned about the x axis
06:54 PM roycroft: it's the y that is too long
06:55 PM roycroft: with the dual rail configuration i can probably gain 6" easily
06:55 PM roycroft: and that might be just enough for me to decide it will work
06:56 PM roycroft: my gantry sides are currently 15" long in the design i've been working with
09:20 PM _unreal_: gantry sides?
09:32 PM roycroft: the upright pieces that support the x axis rail