Handheld device reading thumb drive

[donofthf]

Just got my AR8 a couple of weeks ago, started it up, and works great!  I was going to learn CNC and my machine's capabilities but I got my first commission from a customer just 24 hours after I first switched it on and flattened the spoil board so it is already working as hard as my table saw.  Now that I am starting to get jobs for it, I wanted to start organizing the toolpaths by directories for each job.  I soon discovered that if you run a larger toolpath from a directory on the thumb drive the machine stops halfway through the job and returns to the home position.  If I run the toolpath without being a directory it completes and everything is fine.  Is this an anomaly with the RichAuto controller or does it just not execute files from a directory path on the thumb drive?

[johnb]

It's ALWAYS best to copy the file to the controller. Sometimes, there may be an error in the file (such as when you don't "eject" the thumb drive from the computer). If the file won't load to the controller, then it's not going to run properly from the thumb drive either. Better to find out before you start than 1/2 way through the job

[stevem]

The other thing to consider is the USB stick itself!
For some reason, these machines don't like sticks over 4 gig.
I have several usb sticks I use that are the only 4 meg and they work just great.
To date, the largest file I have is less than 1 meg and the project takes 7 hours to cut.

johnb is correct in saying it's best to copy the mmg file to the controller. That will always give you the best results and not have to worry if the machine stops half way thru a job.

[redwood]

In 4 years, I have never had to run any toolpath from anything other then the USB drive. I've had no known issues doing it this way. My thumbdrives are USB 2.0 and 16Gb or less.

[gerry]

Mar 4, 2020 18:05:39 GMT -5 redwood said:

In 4 years, I have never had to run any toolpath from anything other then the USB drive. I've had no known issues doing it this way. My thumbdrives are USB 2.0 and 16Gb or less.

+1. Same here. I think all my drives are 4-8GB. No problems. Lots of runs are 4-8 hours.

[donofthf]

Okay, thanks all for your inputs. I have 8gig memory sticks so maybe the stick is the problem. This problem only happens occasionally, but transfering to memory definitely works.

[savannahdan]

I have a handful of give-away USBs that I got from a trade show. I find they work inconsistently with the pendant and sometimes they have even shown corrupted files after using them on the cnc. I do not pull the USB stick out while the controller is on. I only use name brand sticks at this time. I haven't transferred files due to most of mine being on the smaller size.

[redwood]

I just ran a 13 hour finish tool path, directly off the USB drive. It also included a break point, where I stopped in the evening and continued in the morning until completion.