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Post by RetiredAFChief on Jan 14, 2018 8:40:19 GMT -5
I have used my CNC very little since I don't seem to be getting this, so here is the latest. I am trying to cut some simple "L" brackets, so I can mount my center speaker to the wall below my TV. I created the tool paths and used the nesting feature in V carve Pro and even posted on Facebook to have my settings reviewed. Everything seem to be spot on so I hit start. Well the router bit went down 7/16 of an inch on first pass so I let it cut one pattern and turn it off. I called it a night and tried again this morning after reviewing the owners manual on setting up X,Y and Z axis. same thing way too deep on first pass. I have uploaded my .crv, .mmg and a picture of what I am trying to do. |
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Post by RetiredAFChief on Jan 14, 2018 8:44:34 GMT -5
These are the settings in V carve. when I researched a CNC it seemed pretty simple draw a pattern in a program, make a tool path, hit run. But I have had success on about 2 projects and it always takes so many attempts that Home Depot knows me by name for all the trips I make to get wood. So any help you all can give I would appreciate it. Attachments:
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Post by stevem on Jan 14, 2018 9:54:51 GMT -5
You have your Z zero set to the top of the wood piece on you crv file. Are you putting the Z zero puck on top of the work piece and setting your Z height, or putting the puck to the table surface?
With 6 passes on 3/4" plywood everything should work just fine if your Z zero is set to the top of the work piece.
Make sure your your bit is tight in the collet as well.
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Post by chuck26287 on Jan 14, 2018 10:59:55 GMT -5
The tool and tool path setup look good. You're set to cut roughly a depth of 1/2 of your bit diameter.
If your machine setup is correct, and you did a puck Z-height zero with the puck on the surface of the material, you should get a 1/8" cut with each pass. If you did the puck Z-height zero with the puck on the table surface instead of the material surface, the bit should have gone all the way through the material to the top of the table, then another 1/8" into the table top spoil board for the first pass. You first pass only went 7/16" into the material. It sounds to me like your CAD Thickness value for your puck could be off by about 5/16". The value is typically around 25.0mm. I guess another question I should ask first would be is this system cutting too deep like this on everything you run after doing a puck touch-off, or is it just this toolpath? What is your CAD Thickness set to? Remember it's in mm, not inches.
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Post by RetiredAFChief on Jan 14, 2018 11:25:28 GMT -5
You have your Z zero set to the top of the wood piece on you crv file. Are you putting the Z zero puck on top of the work piece and setting your Z height, or putting the puck to the table surface? With 6 passes on 3/4" plywood everything should work just fine if your Z zero is set to the top of the work piece. Make sure your your bit is tight in the collet as well. I am setting Z axis on top of the wood and not on table. I have double checked my collet as well and it is tight. I went ahead and made another .crv file and re-ran tool path and will run in a little bit. Thanks for the reply |
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Post by RetiredAFChief on Jan 14, 2018 11:30:35 GMT -5
The tool and tool path setup look good. You're set to cut roughly a depth of 1/2 of your bit diameter. If your machine setup is correct, and you did a puck Z-height zero with the puck on the surface of the material, you should get a 1/8" cut with each pass. If you did the puck Z-height zero with the puck on the table surface instead of the material surface, the bit should have gone all the way through the material to the top of the table, then another 1/8" into the table top spoil board for the first pass. You first pass only went 7/16" into the material. It sounds to me like your CAD Thickness value for your puck could be off by about 5/16". The value is typically around 25.0mm. I guess another question I should ask first would be is this system cutting too deep like this on everything you run after doing a puck touch-off, or is it just this toolpath? What is your CAD Thickness set to? Remember it's in mm, not inches. I don't use the puck to set the Z axis I use a piece of paper and when I can move it no more I set Z at zero. As far as cutting too deep on other projects I have only had luck with a few and as I mentioned Home Depot knows my name LOL so I don't know. I haven't used it in a long time so I don't recall what issues I have had in past. How do I check CAD thickness? I do use the Axiom post processor when I run tool paths and I have seen a few things where I can change it but not going to attempt that with my luck would screw it up even worse. I have made a new file and when I run it I will use the touch off plate and see if that makes a difference. Thanks for the reply |
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Post by stevem on Jan 14, 2018 11:49:08 GMT -5
Try cutting some small projects so you don't waste wood.
Use the puck to set your Z0 and see if that works. If it does, then there may be something wrong with the way you manually setting Z0.
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Post by RetiredAFChief on Jan 14, 2018 12:13:06 GMT -5
I ran the new files and same thing dropped right down and went all the way thru, I also used the puck for Z axis. I also found where the CAD setting was and it reads 25 mm
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Post by chuck26287 on Jan 14, 2018 12:54:04 GMT -5
Clearly there is a problem with zeroing your Z-axis. It's appears it is not setting zero where you think it is. Zero is basically an offset from HOME. Does your home sensor look right? is it secured well? I'm really reaching here, but a change in where the machine thinks the Z HOME is would be reflected in where it thinks the Z ZERO was.
If it were me, at this point, I would try reloading the current firmware, just to be sure you've removed any possible firmware corruption that could be causing erratic behavior. If you don't have it, or need it faster than Chad could send it to you (probably wouldn't get it from him until sometime Monday after they open), I can forward the email and files he sent me a while back. I have vQ13-698 firmware for the A11 controller. Note that this is not the newer controller offered today.
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Post by RetiredAFChief on Jan 14, 2018 13:17:25 GMT -5
Clearly there is a problem with zeroing your Z-axis. It's appears it is not setting zero where you think it is. Zero is basically an offset from HOME. Does your home sensor look right? is it secured well? I'm really reaching here, but a change in where the machine thinks the Z HOME is would be reflected in where it thinks the Z ZERO was. If it were me, at this point, I would try reloading the current firmware, just to be sure you've removed any possible firmware corruption that could be causing erratic behavior. If you don't have it, or need it faster than Chad could send it to you (probably wouldn't get it from him until sometime Monday after they open), I can forward the email and files he sent me a while back. I have vQ13-698 firmware for the A11 controller. Note that this is not the newer controller offered today. So I pulled the cover off and the first thing I noticed was the wire was pinched on the cover, no bare wires so fixed that. next thing I noticed is a screw sitting on the cover. Turned out it was from the coupling. So I screwed it back and and noticed the coupling seems not to be installed correctly So I will read the owners manual again and see how its supposed to be. Attachment Deleted. |
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Post by stevem on Jan 14, 2018 13:28:11 GMT -5
That coupler doesn't look rite! There should be no gap from the red plastic to the metal.
I would remove the Z axis stepper motor, push down on the coupler re install the the stepper motor and then tighten the set screws on all X, Y and Z axis couplers
Do this with the machine off!
Then turn on the machine and let it home itself to the front left corner.
After that, move the router ti your work piece and set X and Y axis, then use the puck to set Z0 and run your test file.
That is all I can come up with. If that doesn't work, give Chad a call on Monday.
He should be able to assist you in more detail.
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Post by RetiredAFChief on Jan 14, 2018 14:29:42 GMT -5
Will do I slid up the lower one to get rid of the gap but have not ran anything. Will try later today or tomorrow. Thanks for help.
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Post by RetiredAFChief on Jan 14, 2018 16:34:39 GMT -5
That coupler doesn't look rite! There should be no gap from the red plastic to the metal. I would remove the Z axis stepper motor, push down on the coupler re install the the stepper motor and then tighten the set screws on all X, Y and Z axis couplers Do this with the machine off! Then turn on the machine and let it home itself to the front left corner. After that, move the router ti your work piece and set X and Y axis, then use the puck to set Z0 and run your test file. That is all I can come up with. If that doesn't work, give Chad a call on Monday. He should be able to assist you in more detail. That did fix it!!!! Thank you for pointing me in that direction! I would not have even considered it had you not mentioned it. I now have a completed project (cutting of one anyway)  |
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Post by stevem on Jan 14, 2018 17:45:23 GMT -5
It's usually something simple that screws up everything.
Glad it working for you.
Make sure check all the coupler's and tighten them down! You don't want a X or Y problem either.
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Post by traindriver on Jan 14, 2018 21:10:26 GMT -5
Hang in there, Chief! Don't get too discouraged! Find something else to do on your machine and try it. If you have issues, post on here, and we'll do what we can to help. One suggestion for something to try is to find a picture of the logo of one of your commands and use the "Trace Bitmap" tool to create a vector from it, then V-carve it. If the V-carve says it will cut through the material, then check the box for "Flat Depth" in the Vcarve setup. I find that when I trace a picture, I get the best results from a high resolution picture with only a few different colors. When you use the "trace bitmap" tool, it defaults to tracing up to 16 colors, and I dial that back to 2 or 3. It took me a couple of scrap pieces to get it down, but once you do, it opens up a lot of possibilities.
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Post by RetiredAFChief on Jan 15, 2018 9:00:59 GMT -5
Steve will do and Traindriver been looking for a project since last night LOL. thanks for everyone's help
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2018 11:08:28 GMT -5
Some additional features to consider: don't do plunge moves with an endmill (ramp at 10-15 degrees for wood), add a separate last pass of 0.007-0.015" for a cleaner edge, add circular leads in/out of 0.1" on 0.25" radius adjusting the starting point of the vector so they occur were you want, adjust the material setup XYZ start position so they are away from clamps, and pick a good touch off location that you can use for the whole project so all your bits have the same reference. These aren't necessarily requirements but can increase the quality of the result.
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Post by RetiredAFChief on Jan 15, 2018 23:38:44 GMT -5
Some additional features to consider: don't do plunge moves with an endmill (ramp at 10-15 degrees for wood), add a separate last pass of 0.007-0.015" for a cleaner edge, add circular leads in/out of 0.1" on 0.25" radius adjusting the starting point of the vector so they occur were you want, adjust the material setup XYZ start position so they are away from clamps, and pick a good touch off location that you can use for the whole project so all your bits have the same reference. These aren't necessarily requirements but can increase the quality of the result. I did have a plunge cut on the first tool path I ran but 2nd one I screwed up and did not put it in. Thanks for the reminder to put one it. I will have to do some research on this circular leads in/out since I don't understand what that means :-). Did not know I could adjust the starting point will look at this and always thought the tool path picked the best one. I normally use the center of the board to set X, Y and Z is there a better spot? Thank you for your things to consider each time I turn it on I learn something and now that I have a project in the win column I plan on using it more.... |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2018 12:48:02 GMT -5
The lead-in/out means that the tool doesn't plunge or ramp while in contact with the finished surface, it does it in an external path so you don't see lines on the edge of your piece. To adjust the starting point of any vector (closed or open): highlight it, hit N to enter Node mode, the current start point will be green while others are black, hitting P while over a black node will make it the start point. Instead of hitting P you can also right click a node for other options. For symmetric or two-sided designs the center is often convenient but for square objects in an oversized material, I'll use a corner reference to save the extra material.
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Post by RetiredAFChief on Jan 16, 2018 13:22:05 GMT -5
The lead-in/out means that the tool doesn't plunge or ramp while in contact with the finished surface, it does it in an external path so you don't see lines on the edge of your piece. To adjust the starting point of any vector (closed or open): highlight it, hit N to enter Node mode, the current start point will be green while others are black, hitting P while over a black node will make it the start point. Instead of hitting P you can also right click a node for other options. For symmetric or two-sided designs the center is often convenient but for square objects in an oversized material, I'll use a corner reference to save the extra material. interesting thank you for explaining it and I will play with those settings.. |
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