Delving Into the CNC Milling

[madman]

Hi I bought a small Taig cnc Mill, Made some T Nuts (actually quite a bunch since the sub plate I made uses 15 of them alone) I have a old Laptop with Mach 2 in it, Now my friend made me some programs with his Mastercam x 6 or x 8 from his shop (he lives Far away fro myself) My question is since Im not overly computer gifted is how do I get this all to work? Ha Ha hows that one? I know how to set up the cnc Mill as I did it as a career years ago. But this Mach 2 and Taigs different. It has no home switches as you set zero where yo uwish. Just the program into the machine stumps me? Any hints ? I know this sounds dumb but Im forging ahead with it. Never too old to learn new things i say Thanx Guys Mike
(Waterloo Ontario)

[trapper]

Why not ask any one with same machine for the manual surely it would tell you everything you need in there-or if you dont get a response l think you could download the manual as you can most as long as the machine was made in last 100yrs-Good luck

[Brass_Machine]

Hi Mike,

You have the G-code?

I am not familiar with Mach2, I use Mach3.

Typically, I throw the code on a USB thumbdrive. Plug it in the laptop I am running Mach3 on. Open Mach3, go to file and open Gcode. I browse to the USB drive and open it from there.

Is that what you mean?

Eric

[awerby]

Mach2 was the predecessor to Mach3. The same license should work, though. Just copy the license to someplace safe, then download Mach3 from Machsupport.com, install it,  and put the license file in the main Mach3 folder.

If you're getting someone else to write G-code for you, make sure they use a post-processor that's compatible with Mach3. It's Fanuc-based, so if there's no Mach3 post, try a Fanuc one. You also should have them tell you where the origin is; it's possible to zero the Xand Y axes in the middle of the part or off in a corner; the Z can be zeroed to the top of your stock or to the bed of the mill, but it's important to know this stuff before running the program.

There isn't really a Taig manual as such, although there's extensive documentation for Mach3 and instructions for setting up the Taig mills. But I've got a fair amount of experience with them, so if you have any questions about these mills, feel free to ask.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com