Hello All I just bought a used Taig CNC mill and I am having some issues getting it going, I am new to the whole CNC thing but am a licenced Machinist so the machining does not scare me or is not difficult I als know Autocad very well and have played with Mastercam before, right now I just need to get the Mill to jog with Mach 3 and I should be able to figure most of the wrest out, anyone have a xml file or taig set up file they would not mind sharing with someone with the deep groove set up (I know geeko would be better).

Bryan

I think i have my old xml from the deepgroove setup, my mill is setup backwards though so the home corner (if you are standing in front facing the mill) is the back right corner, this is opposite most peoples setups most people have the home corner on the front left corner, I will dig up the file today, and post it in the downloads section of my website (last time i checked the file hosting we use here wasnt working) . I post back here later when i have it posted.

That would be great, thank-you very much I really appreciate it, thanks!

did you get the manage to get the file?

It is the older (sigh) yes controller, please don't tell me I just waisted 1500$ on junk..... I had been told it was a newer controller but I thought that meant the gekko but i guess not, all it says on the front is deepgroove 1 the rest is unlabeled, metal box, with green interrupter button one side and on opposite end of same side is on off switch.

Folks fromCNCZone who got a hold of their 'home-brew' stepper driver had lots of problems and evidently the company wouldn't do beans about it. Shortly afterwords they switched over to the G540 (which is a GREAT product!).

If their controller does not work well for you you might consider upgrading to a G540, it is another $300 but it is rock solid and won't let you down. In fact I was testing some shielded stepper extension cables the other night and one of them caused the G540 to fault out and it also caused the PC to need to be rebooted! Upon inspection I found that I had mistaken the shield braid that I put black heat-shrink tubing on with the black wire of the cable. I had shorted out one coil driver in the G540. The great think was after I rebooted the PC and fixed the cable all was well. Gecko build very stout stuff. As a side note I think I'll pick up some 'BLUE' heat shrink to use for stepper cables from now on.

Thanks everyone you have been great! I now have a machine that at least Jogs in all 4 axis (ok 4th is only a spinning stepper motor at present) both plus and Minus (David it was your xml that got me closest) Now to get a simple program chuck up some foam and see what happens, any one have any simple programs to run? Any recommendations?

Machine is currently set up as:
X+ Moves table in toward Column
X- Moves table out away from Column

Y- Moves table to the Left (Looking at table with column behind table)
y+ Moves table to the right

Z+ Moves Spindle Up
Z- Moves Spindle Down

4+ Runs motor Counter Clock Wise (looking at output shaft face on)
4- Runs Motor Clockwise

SO am I close, What settings, and how do I change what needs changing in Mach 3?

Anyone with a sample program to cut send me a PM for my e-mail, thanks!

Bryan

Glad to be of help to you.

How did the maltese cross program run that Brian gave you? Are the axis setup correctly?

Dave

I think I had one axis bottom out see post other section for photos, but it cut!