[echesak]

Hi Folks,

I'm fairly new to CNC and SprutCAM. I'm also brand new to CNC zone. Looks like a great place to learn and hopefully post what I've learned.

I've been working with SC for a couple months. I've machined a few parts, some with edge chamfers. I've had a couple parts that have chamfered perfectly. Here's one:



But it seems recently that the parts fail to chamfer properly on the mill, even though the simulation looks good. Sometimes the bit will just miss the edge to be chamfered, other times, it will miss it by a an amount the same/similar to the radius. I've tried adjusting the contact point of the chamfer tool (using the engraver tool definition, as outlined in the Tormach videos), but nothing seems to work.

I've also gone through the G-code of the parts that have successfully chamfered and don't see any difference in tool definition and such.

Anyone else have this issue, or have any suggestions to where to look?

Thanks,

Eric

[LRF]

Welcome Eric, lots of good info here.
With out the code and a description its hard to say. Can you post your project? There has to be something there causing you issues and you will kind of just need to look at it. Or I said post your project if you can and someone will help.

[echesak]

Roger that... I attached the STC and TAP files. This is the latest project that failed to chamfer properly. It's a simple plate with 15 holes to hold some TTS tooling. The holes milled fine, and it traced the path for the chamfer, but missed the edge be about a tool bit radius.

Thanks for the input. I should'a thought to post the files immediately...

Eric

[David C. Allen]

Eric
I loaded the STC file and I did not see the chamfer geometry on the part.
I always build the part in CAD the way I expect it to be made on the machine.
So I added the chamfer to the model and it runs correctly.

Attachment 255564

Attachment 255566

I am sure there are SprutCAM folks here who can tell you how to adjust the parameters section "Top Level" and "Bottom Level" to make the chamfer you want without the chamfer geometry.

Attachment 255560

I did play with the parameters section "Top Level" and "Bottom Level" and was able to add the chamfer's to the part.
But without the geometry SprutCam may think you have gouged the part.

Attachment 255562

David

[echesak]

Ah, Interesting. I did get a gouge warning. But frankly, I get gouge warnings on nearly every part I program. When I spoke to Tormach about this, mentioned that many times a gouge warning is generated, and there's not much you can do about them.

With this part above, I ran the part in SprutCAM and it performed the chamfer correctly (even without having it in the model). But on the actual machine (cutting metal), it did not. This particular time, it missed the chamfer by about the radius of the bit.

I think your plan to have the chamfer in the model is better. As I recall, the successful chamfer project, had the chamfer in the model. I'm not sure it really matters with the programming, but it is much easier to visualize what dimensions are needed on the chamfer parameters.

Over the next couple days, I'll set-up another quick model and run it in SC and then run it on the machine. I'll post the results.

Thanks for taking the time to look at this.

Eric

[mountaindew]

Nice turners cube! btw
I did a 6 sided millers cube a while back "2" ball in a cage" fun stuff
On subject above..
I try draw all details and rely on gouge to detect problems. I find it to be a good habit to consider and develop.
Its ok to do it freestyle and turn gouge off .if your working incomplete models or 2d type operation builds.
I have done some complex multisided parts that all check out with gouge detection ON.
The last operation in all my programs is remove finished part and if they don't all check out in cam then it does not happen at mill in my experience wysiwyg
oh and you end up here asking questions or reading and looking at posts.
md

[David C. Allen]

Ah, Interesting. I did get a gouge warning. But frankly, I get gouge warnings on nearly every part I program. When I spoke to Tormach about this, mentioned that many times a gouge warning is generated, and there's not much you can do about them.

I too have received a gouge warning from time to time, but have found it better to understand why, and try to cure the interference. :drowning:

If you want to post one of the files that gives a gouge warning, but generates the proper part on the machine, I would like to look at it, call it a learning experience :idea:


David

[echesak]

Hi David,

I dug through my files and found one project that has a gouging issue. Its the program that ran the cube, in the photo that I posted below. I too am more interested in trying to solve the problems that are creating the errors. But at this point, I don't have the expertise on the error solving or SprutCAM. Tormach has been a great help, but I believe that my support has ended. The feedback I received from them seemed to imply that these errors happen often and may not be necessarily worth tracking down. I've also been going through the manuals, but the russian-english makes for pretty time-consuming reading. Leaving these errors unsolved is highly contrary to what how I'm used to handling errors.

If you happen to solve the problem or can provide some feedback on how to track these down, please post them here. I'm sure it would be helpful to others. I'm looking to gain expertise on SprutCAM and Mach3. I still feel fairly lost in SprutCAM. I felt similarly lost when I took-up Deep Sky astrophotography. The software & image processing learning curve was huge. I'm highly mechanical, highly technical, but a little software slow :-(

On the topic of my chamfers, I did a little experiment. I had some time after dinner and made a couple holes, one chamfered in the model and one not. I then worked on my parameters for both. Interestingly, As I mentioned before, the chamfer done in the solid model, allows you to pick the edge that performs a proper chamfer. The other one (without the chamfer in the solid model), ended-up chamfering too deeply. But both contacted the material.

I also found a second problem. I'm a little embarrassed to mention this... I had the wrong bit diameter in the tool in SC. I had previously use a 3/8" chamfer mill on a project, but this one was a 1/4" with a 3/8" shank. I only caught this mistake tonight. So I think I had 2 problems, and I think both were solved tonight.

Thanks for the info...

Eric

[mountaindew]

Eric,
I takes time and experience with this program to both id errors and to avoid them. You will find this gets more complicated as your projects become more complex.
I found this program to be a very open architecture. this both helps it to be powerful and useful and also prone to strange results and mistakes.
My advise is to build templates with many of your most used operations preset and ready to go. That way you don't have to edit so many settings for a simple waterline "example" or other operation like drilling
Save this and then when you start a new part, load this first and import the igs file and start job assignments. No need to choose tools and hundreds of other settings each time you set one up.
This alone saves huge amount of time and reduces errors to almost 0 if you have good operations setup in template "I refine these over time" they are like whine and get better with age
Example: I can take a turners cube like above load iges file into a template and setup all operations for all six sides all in one program with fixtures in a matter of an hour or so. maybe less! "good templates "
Anyway its decent software and worthy of learning how to use.
md


ps: Some of these templates are big and complicated, still its very easy to delete operations not needed then to add ones and set all the parameters.

[echesak]

Thanks for the info, Mountaindew. I've been looking for ways to make short cuts. One area is the tool selection. It would be really nice if the tools could be saved with speeds and feeds attached, since I nearly always use the same too for the same material. There must be a way, as some of my tools pop-up with the RPM already attached, but other do not. I just can't seem to repeat this. Setting up the tools takes a lot of time to get right also. But I'm making progress.

As for your templates, let me see if I understand this. So you start with an empty project, add some operations like pocketing, waterline, drilling and such. Then import the project and assign the curves and such. I think that's brilliant! I used to do the same thing with early version of autoCAD, when I was doing 2D mechanical design. I had a template with nuts, bolts, counterbores, countersinks, etc, that I could just grab and add to the drawing. It was a huge time saver.

I'm going to start working on some templates ASAP. This an excellent idea, and exactly why I joined here. I know there are short cuts, I just need to find them.

Thanks for the input...

Eric

[David C. Allen]

Eric
So I downloaded Turners cube-091714, and the problem with the gouging issue, is there are no chamfers in the model geometry.

David

[echesak]

That's interesting. You're right. I could have sworn that these were chamfered in the model. Well now I understand the gouging error, but am a little surprised that it chamfered correctly. I can see that my initial thoughts of doing some of the operations in SC are probably not a good idea. I'll work on getting all the details in the model, and not counting on SC to do them.

I've learned a ton, with this little thread...

Thanks for taking a look...

Eric

[TurboStep]

One area is the tool selection. It would be really nice if the tools could be saved with speeds and feeds attached, since I nearly always use the same too for the same material.

Hi Eric
Once you've set the speeds and feeds go back to the tool selection tab and just click once on the tool in the library list to select it. The Replace button will then become enabled. If you now replace the tool the feed and speed values will be saved with the tool parameters.
Step

[echesak]

Oh yea, that's awesome. I just did a quick test. That now explains how some of these have the right values and other don't.

So all these little tricks... Are they in the SprutCAM manual, or are these things that you folks have just learned over time. I'm reading the SC manual, but it's not an easy read.

Thanks for all the tidbits and assistance,

Eric