Problems, with 1st attempt at carving.

[nlalston]

Just this evening, very energetically, entered into my shop to set about doing my very FIRST cutting, on my Iconic 8.  I thought I was going to emerge from that action as a happy camper, but not so.  Of course (as I am a newbie) it might - quite possibly - be attributed to 'user error'.  But I would love to get feedback on the matter.

Attached, is a file that I'd pulled down off of the internet - of a dinosaur that I'd wished to do for my Grandson.  After giving that file to the pendant, I attempted setting up the machine.  I had the project piece about centered on the CNC's bed, with the origin set at middle position.  I touched off the bit, on the puck, and then called myself zeroing the 'Z'axis to that mid-origin spot, on the piece to be carved.  Instead of carving, though, the machine gave an 'Out of limits/Soft limit' notification.  And it kept presenting that to me on each subsequent attempt to get it right.  No other recourse did I have but to give up on it, for the day.  

I've seen a number of youtube videos, where the CNC'ers  were setting up their work pieces at various locations on their machine's beds, and had figured that it would be easy enough for even ME to do.  

Any help, here, would be appreciated.

God Bless,
Nathan

Attachments:

DINOSR.mmg (402.16 KB)

[nlalston]

Well, I just re-viewed a video by Russ Tyndall, Jr (Blue Line Wood Flags) that just may hold the answer to my problem. I am almost confident that when I get back on my machine, tomorrow, there'll be a much different song to sing. Well see .

[gerry]

NEVER run a gcode file you get from ANYWHERE. Unless you are prepared to go through the file for bits, depths, etc. If you do that, you had better be DAMN GOOD.

CAD your file in Vcarve, then generate your own, specific code file.

[nlalston]

@ gerry.

Thanks for responding. There were two versions of the same file, that I'd attempted to work with, and (not being at my system right now) I don't remember which one I had on my pendant, at the time. Both were line art files of the same dinosaur. The one that I think I had attached, in my previous post, was saved as a jpg, opened in VCP and traced. The toolpathing was generated from the traced results, and I thought that I'd be good to go. Spatter
Apparently, though, I either did something that I should not have done, or didn't do something such should have been done.

[gerry]

Post the VCP .crv file here, or put it on Google Drive, etc. if it is too large. Then post a sharable link. It's easier to debug the source file than guessing.

[nlalston]

Nov 15, 2020 16:20:43 GMT -5 gerry said:

Post the VCP .crv file here, or put it on Google Drive, etc. if it is too large. Then post a sharable link. It's easier to debug the source file than guessing.

Hi again, Gerry.

Attached, you will find the .CRV file which was requested.  As it turned out, thought, I was able to carve the file out.  Today, at the first time I tried to carve again, my machine just totally went unresponsive.  There was NO feedback to ANY of my button presses, on the pendant.  Consequently, I had to shut the power off, to my controller, and power it up again.  Then, I found that the 'Y- axis was OUT OF SOFT LIMITS'.  I had 'homed' my machine, on starting it back up, at the HOME ALL position, and figure that that's where the problem emanated from - regarding the current project (which was positioned in the middle of my machine's workspace.  I, then, re-homed all positions to the mid point of my project; ran the file, and VOILA!!  The only issue I had was within the carving depth (which was a bit too shallow), and, possibly, the bit that I used - which was a 60 degree V-bit.  My project measured 10"x5-1/2", and with a thickness of .772".  I had selected a depth of .2" (I think), and, again, the carved lines were a bit too shallow.  But I'll get there. 

Attachments:

Dino File.crv (1.23 MB)

[gerry]

I just looked at you crv file. It should carve OK. It looks great in the Vcarve preview. Your piece zooms to full size (F key), so there are no stray vectors. You shouldn't need a flat depth for the carve. Unchecking that gives you a max depth of 0.1712". your board is 5.5"Wx 10.0"H with the piece being 5.15"Wx 5.8"H, so no problems there.

The Y Out of Soft Limits means you are trying to cut outside the range of the Y Axis. 

This is for the AR8 Pro+ with the B18 Controller.

1. Place your workpiece onto the waste board. Keep it away from the edges.
2. Clamp it down.
3. Home your spindle to 0,0. (REF/OK on Controller)
4. Center spindle over the center of your workpiece. That's what you told Vcarve with the XY Datum Position. Set ORIGIN with XY>0 key. Use your puck and set bit height to top of workpiece. (TOOLSET) You also told Vcarve Z Zero Position is Material Surface.
5. You're ready to RUN from the controller.

OK?

[nlalston]

Thanks, Gerry.

Your provided information will certainly be a keeper, for me. Regarding the 'Flat bottom choice, I (not knowing better) thought it was what I HAD to do. With that Start point set at 0.0 I thought that a Flat bottom setting had to be put in, because NOT doing so would have translated to (if I remember correctly) a defaulted 0.0 position. To my mind that meant that no carving would have taken place - just a sweeping at the surface of the work piece. I gather now, by virtue of a portion of your reply, that I stand in error about that. Now, it is about my finding out how to address that. I need to gain a real understanding as to how to determine the depths of cuts, as well as the speeds and feeds (that I will surely need to know about).

[gerry]

Nov 16, 2020 2:30:39 GMT -5 nlalston said:

I need to gain a real understanding as to how to determine the depths of cuts, as well as the speeds and feeds (that I will surely need to know about).

If you hover the mouse over the toolpath, a note will popup giving the particulars of the toolpath.

[nlalston]

Nov 16, 2020 3:29:59 GMT -5 gerry said:

Nov 16, 2020 2:30:39 GMT -5 nlalston said:

I need to gain a real understanding as to how to determine the depths of cuts, as well as the speeds and feeds (that I will surely need to know about).

If you hover the mouse over the toolpath, a note will popup giving the particulars of the toolpath.

Thank you. I will do that, the very next time I'm on the computer (replying via my phone, right now). Much appreciated.