Hello there! This is my first post regarding Mach 3 and its capabilities, so please bear with me. I am a high school Metal Shop teacher trying to get some CNC going for the class.
I have a few EMCO compact 5 pc lathes I am trying to get running. They have not run since the late 90's but do turn on and the spindle turns with the key and switch. I have modified the U3 board by removing the chip with the octal latch and jumped the wires as per the instructions in the "digital machinist, 2007" write up. I have the lathe hooked up to a 25 pin serial port connector to a USB connector, and into a fairly new IBM thinkpad laptop running window XP.?
I downloaded mach 3 in the demo mode to see if i could get something to happen, before I spring for the full version of Mach3.
My first question: Will the "demo" mode actually move the stepper motors if connected correctly??
Second question: Will Mach 3 run off a laptop? I have seen conflicting information regarding this... ? ?
third question: Is the serial cable connector going from the lathe to the computer something special? I just bought one for a printer to usb so I can connect it to my laptop computer. I'm not 100% sure its the right one, hence nothing happening with the lathe.
It would be a big help getting started if I can get these 3 things figured out. Then i can start configuring mach 3 and see if there is any movement.
Right now I have mach 3 running in demo mode, but it doesn't have any affect on the lathe. I have all the settings set as the article in the digital machinist says.?
So? what should I do??
Thanks in advance,?
Matt.
