On Sun, Mar 20, 2022 at 10:29 AM, mike allen wrote:

I think you can also use emery cloth turned inside out.

Good suggestions, thanks. I did some reading/watching just now and well-oiled emery cloth inside-out, with the cloth sliding on the workpiece was one solution. I think a bushing of some kind, clamped to the work -in a non-marring way - might be the solution for delicate workpieces like anodized or blued pieces. Gunsmiths deal with this issue when working on blued rifle barrels.
A lot of the machinist comments online mentioned bearings marring the work because it was easy for metal particles to get rolled on to the workpiece, so that's something to protect against with some sort of shield.,

Googling LCNC doesn't return much.? Are you referring to LinuxCNC otherwise known as EMC2?? I know that's really versatile software like Mach III/IV, but I've just never been a big fan of the graphical interface CNC controls.? I'm sure they're wonderful, but that's not what I want to use.? It doesn't resemble the controls I learned to program on as a young adult and I don't feel a kinship (if you will) with any of those systems.? Besides... I think for me, It's equally as much about the challenge of creating/modifying? the BASIC code.

Jj

Hi!? I know this thread is a bit old, but I wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to the poster that made me aware of an open-sourced CNCZEUS machine control software.? I'm a computer programmer and CNC programmer from WAY back and I've enjoyed making changes to the CNCZEUS software for the past couple of weeks.? It compiles with POWER BASIC for DOS, and PB version 3.5 is now free to obtain from PB's website if you register a free account (<- important step. Must be registered, might need to send a request for the free software also?support@...).? My programming experience is with QBASIC and I still know it well, so PB was an easy transition.?

I've seen other DOS based CNC systems that were hobby-level and open-sourced. Most of them were written in C.? I always thought that one day, I might expand on learning more about C programming and add things to those systems that would make the system behave more like a "REAL" CNC or like FANUC controls I cut my teeth on in my early 20s.? For example, most of these DOS hobby systems (including CNCZEUS) don't support a communication outward to another control process (like a PLC or as FANUC terms it, PMC) to support adding a tool changer. automatic lube pump control, tool builder control panel, etc.. I've already figured out how I'm going to do this in 'ZEUS.

Changes I've made (I started with the mill software):

Added a G04 timer countdown display in the MSG window.
Added the ability to turn BLOCK DELETE on/off using the "/" key on a US keyboard.
Added a wait for M-FIN on a Tn M06 line (n = whatever tool number) and the wait is shown in the MSG window.?
'Esc' key = RESET.? 'Home' key = rewind. I added: pressing Esc two more time to rewind the program to the beginning (Home key still functions as original).

Anyway, I'm having a blast playing around with the code.? I want to get it all working on a real CNC machine, but that's distant future for me.? Here's the computer hardware I want to run it on:



This device is targeting the Arduino programmers, but I've purchased a number of these already for dedicated systems running software I created for DOS using QBASIC and assembly language.? I'll have to change the printer port assignments in CNCZEUS to be something completely different, but looking into the code, that seems like that will be an easy change.

I'm quite excited about this!? I want to share my code changes, but I guess I need to read the license thoroughly first and stay within the legalities regarding such.

Thanks again,
John