[sstralkowski]

I have a CNC 3020T model and I'm running Aspire 3.5 and Mach 3. I am having an issue with mach3 not progressing past code line 500. I also cannot get the gcode conversion right. the image is shifting significantly away from the origin (home) and the Z axis is way off. Is there a place I can go to check units? I specified mm when I set up the project in Aspire so I'm not entirely sure why it's not working.

[sstralkowski]

To clarify, when I transfer the code over, it displays in such a manner that most of it is hanging over the edge of the material edge. I have the home set to the bottom left corner with the Z-Axis touching the top of the material and I zero before each attempt. I tried using regular G-Code, ATC, and Arc modes respectively. Each one improves the placement of the scanned vector, but it still missed the surface entirely. Also, when I initiate the code, the spindle goes all the way to the top of the Z-Axis and tries to move past the physical stop. Then it pauses and comes back down, burying itself too far into the material. I have to Estop and then start over. I tried starting it above the surface but telling that 0 was on the surface, and it didn't do anything really. I don't know if somehow it thinks I'm telling it inches instead of mm or if I zeroed it wrong. I've been following all the youtube videos I can find that are even close to relevant. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[aarggh]

I'm guessing the Aspire and Mach3 came supplied with the machine? If so, they're likely pirate copies, although that's the first time I've seen Aspire supplied if so. But to answer the questions, Mach3 in demo mode only processes the first 500 lines. So far as your Z axis being off, Aspire has a "Safe Z" setting that affects Z height clearance, in addition to the material location on the design area, and the "Material Setup" screen also has options for setting the Z reference in regard to the material.

And in addition to any 0,0 references in Mach3, Aspire also has a job setup that defines the 0,0 reference, so if your setting your job up in Aspire to be central to the crosslines, but Mach3 has home of 0,0 being front left for example, the job will start machining to the right and back.

cheers, Ian

[sstralkowski]

The programs were supplied. I have no idea as to their legitimacy, but if I have the 500 line problem, I assume I at least have a demo of Mach3. Are demos legit? How would I get around the 500 line issue, etch the graphic in stages? Will that cause issues with starting and stopping? Will it be tough to get the stages to synch?

I'll check my setting sin Aspire for those things. I am pretty sure I set the home to bottom left for X/Y and to the top of the material for Z. Not sure about SafeZ. That I will have to look into. Thanks for the help, Ian. I really appreciate it. I will look into those things tonight and post my results. If I can grab some screenshots, I will.

[sstralkowski]

Here are three screencaps of what I'm running. I found the ZSafe, but can't figure out how to edit it. I converted the vectors to gcode (arc) because that's the one that seems to have the least shifting. If you can't tell, I just went with a simple butterfly design. Thoughts?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-02SxXD1L-d...XY/s1600/1.bmp


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-csR7NR-ltR...fw/s1600/3.bmp

[bhurts]

Post the g-code file that is being output. I think that will be the best way to determine what's happening.

Ben

[aarggh]

I don't know how easy or hard it would be to get around the 500 line limit, it would be do-able, but quite painful as you'd not only need to break up the code into suitable chunks, and accurately position the cutter to suit the start/finish positions, but you also may run into issues as some chunks of code may need lead-ins, ramps, and material removal that could make passes difficult.

I'd actually strongly consider buying Mach3 if you determine it will do fine for you, which I wouldn't think difficult especially seeing as it's pretty much the defacto standard for hobbyists.

With Aspire, if you go to the right hand menu flyout, and go to material setup, you'll see down the bottom " Home / Start Position" which will have the safe Z which is the start/finish retract setting, as well as "Rapid Z Gaps" which tells Aspire how high to retract Z axis above the set material height as it moves around the material machining it.

cheers, Ian

[sstralkowski]

Ian, I found the ZSafe, but I can't figure out how to edit it. Even so, a Z home of 20mm shouldn't make it travel all the way to the upper limit before dropping down to carve. If I can get these codes to work the way they were intended, I will consider buying the full version of Mach3. I found it for $175. Is that a good price?

Ben, it won't let me upload the tap file for some reason. It says it's an invalid file. Any suggestions there? Would you like me to email it to you?

[sstralkowski]

Also, I checked into the Mach3 demo version limitations and it has the "Start from line ####" function disabled so it would be really hard to break the image into pieces of 500. Dang it.

[bhurts]

You can zip the file and that will allow you to post it. Alternatively change the .tap to .txt and I believe that will work as well.

Ben

[blinkenlight]

Also, I checked into the Mach3 demo version limitations and it has the "Start from line ####" function disabled so it would be really hard to break the image into pieces of 500. Dang it.

Look, I'm not here to try pushing any particular product or piece of software, but if you're really not interested in buying Mach3 you might want to try using LinuxCNC instead, it's free. It's perfectly capable of doing the same thing, but you'll have to be prepared for a bit of a learning curve to use it (and to use Ubuntu instead of Windows - but if it's a dedicated PC you use to control the CNC, it won't matter all that much).

[sstralkowski]

Look, I'm not here to try pushing any particular product or piece of software, but if you're really not interested in buying Mach3 you might want to try using LinuxCNC instead, it's free. It's perfectly capable of doing the same thing, but you'll have to be prepared for a bit of a learning curve to use it (and to use Ubuntu instead of Windows - but if it's a dedicated PC you use to control the CNC, it won't matter all that much).

That's another option. Thanks, man. I'll look into it. For now though I really want to get to a spot where I can actually carve something first. I just feel like I've invested a lot of time and money and I want that to result in an accomplishment soon. I hate feeling helpless.

You can zip the file and that will allow you to post it. Alternatively change the .tap to .txt and I believe that will work as well.

Ben

Here you go, man. Thanks again for the help. Any insight you can give me will be much appreciated. I've never looked at gcode before so it might be something simple and stupid.

[bhurts]

The code looks like it should work. I think there's 2 possible problems.

1 Put a G21 at the beginning of your program.

2 Your machine may be configured to move in the wrong direction or orientation in relation to the code.

To determine 2 we need to know where your machine is at when it goes to xyz zero in relation to its frame when there's no user offset active. If you can take a picture of the machine when it's at xyz zero and another at xy max travel that would work.

Ben

[blinkenlight]

The first line of your code is "T1M6" - that's a tool change. If you have your tool change position in Mach3 set up somewhere "in the clouds", it would obviously try to send the machine through the roof. Try removing that line and see what happens.

[sstralkowski]

The first line of your code is "T1M6" - that's a tool change. If you have your tool change position in Mach3 set up somewhere "in the clouds", it would obviously try to send the machine through the roof. Try removing that line and see what happens.

Excellent. I'll try that. Thanks!!

The code looks like it should work. I think there's 2 possible problems.

1 Put a G21 at the beginning of your program.

2 Your machine may be configured to move in the wrong direction or orientation in relation to the code.

To determine 2 we need to know where your machine is at when it goes to xyz zero in relation to its frame when there's no user offset active. If you can take a picture of the machine when it's at xyz zero and another at xy max travel that would work.

Ben

Thanks, Ben. I'll look into the G21 code as well as the suggestion above. I ran the sample roadrunner code properly so I think it's something specific to how I'm converting pics to code rather than my axes being reversed. Hopefully I'll have time to try these two code suggestions tonight and get back to you guys.

[sstralkowski]

I tried both the G21 fix and removing the change tool command. Neither really did anything. I did however go in and change the Z homing to 6 instead of 20. Now when the spindle goes up it doesn't grind against the Zmax. Then when it comes back down to carve, it hits the surface just right. So 1 problem solved. Now the shifting thing. Any more suggestions? I'm totally open to anything.

[blinkenlight]

Could you please elaborate on what you mean by 'shifting'...?

[Torchhead]

Do you happen to have MACH3 setup to run in INCHES mode and you feed it MM or vive versa? it looks like VCarve is set to mm and if MACH is in inches that would make things 25.4 times too big!

You can see if MACH is licensed by using the Help/About menu. It should have either the resellers name and a serial number after it or your name. If it says demo you will not be able to get around the 500 line limit .
Aspire is a prety expensive program and will be licensed to you if it is legit.

[sstralkowski]

Could you please elaborate on what you mean by 'shifting'...?

If you look at the top right screen in the screenshot in the link below, you'll see that the butterfly is shifted to the top right and way off the material. The design has 3 butterflies, and the shifting causes only half of one to show.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-csR7NR-ltR...fw/s1600/3.bmp

Do you happen to have MACH3 setup to run in INCHES mode and you feed it MM or vive versa? it looks like VCarve is set to mm and if MACH is in inches that would make things 25.4 times too big.

Mach3 is set up with mm as the native unit. Unless going into it and X'ing out without hitting ok messes something up, I checked that before since that would make perfect sense with the scaling issue. This is so frustrating. Thank you guys for all the help though. I really do appreciate it.

[blinkenlight]

The design has 3 butterflies, and the shifting causes only half of one to show.

Except that's not shifting at all. It's simply Mach3 showing you only the first 500 line's worth of your G-code - if you cut the file at line 500, that's _exactly_ what's left of it. So Mach3 simply assumes your working area ends there - the software that drives a CNC mill has no idea what your actual material size is (g-code does not define such a thing) nor does it care - it just shows you the area of maximum extent of movement that it finds in the g-code. In this case, the one half butterfly.

That, of course, does not mean that it should miss your material at all - the dimensions in your g-code are perfectly correct for a material of size 15x15mm; wherever Mach3 does actually cut, it should stay within that area while working (or in your case, within the area of the half wing, about 6x6mm). The only thing is, one has to make sure Mach3 thinks it's at X=0 Y=0 exactly when your tool is in the lower left corner of your 15x15 material. If your tool moves somewhere else when you start execution, that means whatever you did to zero XY in the lower left corner of your material didn't actually work / wasn't the right thing to do. Specifically, one should not confuse the act of homing that a CNC machine equipped with homing switches might do with the act of "touching off" before starting to mill - your machine coordinates might have 0,0 in the lower left corner of your table, but you still need to reset your working coordinates to 0,0 relative to your workpiece every time you want to do any actual milling.