11 months and happy

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bphillip2
Posts: 26
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2018 3:22 pm
Acorn CNC Controller: Yes
Allin1DC CNC Controller: No
Oak CNC controller: No
CNC Control System Serial Number: c8fd19c8198d-0522180927
DC3IOB: No
CNC12: Yes
CNC11: Yes
CPU10 or CPU7: No
Contact:

11 months and happy

Post by bphillip2 »

Hello Acorn nuts. I wanted to share my experience with the conversion from mach3 to Centroid.

My first CNC router in 2012 was made from an old work table, steppers, plywood and chains. It was operated with mach3. It was a "trynbuildyourcnc" machine. Eventually it became such a useful tool in our hovercraft manufacturing operations I invested in a CNCrouterparts brand machine, 6x10 Pro, 12 inch z. We use it to cut wood for making new composite molds, cutting foam cores for composite parts, creating full-size patterns, and cutting coated fabrics for the hovercraft skirts with a drag knife.

Despite three different computers, updates of 6.5 years and two control systems mach3 consistently had issues. The most noticeable was the rare but consistent slow death plunge in Z, that would leave you with a smoking hole in the table. This would happen typically after a tool change or feed hold. These problems were never caused by G-Code, as the programs have been used many times. One of the other modes that would cause this problem were slight power fluctuations on the grid. I eliminated this by adding an UPS on the controller/pc. The other significant issue is we are cutting large parts with soft material, so rapid feed rates of 400ipm would be ideal. However mach3 simply couldn't do feed rates over 60 to a 100 without shaking our machine terribly, at all the different lines of G-Code or turns. I played with stepper setting for days. I had made enquiries about mach4 about a year ago, but was told it just wasn't ready. My CNCrouterparts machine was operated with a smooth stepper and was never smooth.

So about 10 months ago I decided to make the change to acorn centroid controller. I bought a little bit of support time which was very worthwhile. The change over went pretty smoothly and we were back to work. The one exception was Auto Gantry squaring, which we were previously accustomed to. In our case we made some blocks and held the machine against these as we powered up, locking in the alignment. My machine presented some challenges with normally open non-contact switches and two opposed steppers on the gantry. The immediate improvements I noticed with the centroid software were no crashes. I could finally take a step away from the machine and let it do its work. I've also really been enjoying the wireless pendant. My old machine had problems with its wired unit, eventually gave up on it. The other key improvement with the centroid controller is the smoothing routine. We are able to set the programs at 400 ipm and let the smoothing routine slow the machine down for all the corners. While it might be nice to have some Clear Path servos, we're just running with typical 800 oz/in nema 34 steppers. While it took a little while to get the auto Gantry squaring working, Keith and his team were always there to help. I greatly appreciated their efforts. I think they've had it working for quite some time, though I was just occupied.

Next up is digitizing a car windshield for making a compatible molded frame.
Bryan
Attachments
cnc router 6x10 Amphibious Marine (3).jpg
cnc router 6x10 Amphibious Marine (2).jpg
cnc router 6x10 Amphibious Marine (1).jpg
wood wonder
wood wonder
Bryan
cnckeith
Posts: 7166
Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2010 4:23 pm
Acorn CNC Controller: Yes
Allin1DC CNC Controller: Yes
Oak CNC controller: Yes
CNC Control System Serial Number: none
DC3IOB: Yes
CNC11: Yes
CPU10 or CPU7: Yes
Contact:

Re: 11 months and happy

Post by cnckeith »

Bryan,
Hello. thanks for taking the time to post photos and share your Acorn story.. -k

check out the cool stuff Bryan and his company make here..https://www.amphibiousmarine.com/
Need support? READ THIS POST first. http://centroidcncforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=1043
All Acorn Documentation is located here: viewtopic.php?f=60&t=3397
Answers to common questions: viewforum.php?f=63
and here viewforum.php?f=61
Gear we use but don't sell. https://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_di ... _gear.html
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