Super Small Cut w/ no Depth

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mattd
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2011 9:44 am

Super Small Cut w/ no Depth

Post by mattd »

I have searched the forum for an answer to my current hurdle, with no luck. I just purchased a Shark Pro Plus, and cannot get it to cut. I have created a basic file, just a sign with a name on it. Everything is fine in VCarve (so I think). 3 inch by 2 inch template surface. I convert it into a GCode file (pretty sure I am doing that right with the 1 toolpath from the vcarve file), load it up, and essentially nothing. the router jogs about a quarter inch total, with no essentially no depth (I will worry about the depth problem later).

I found a post which referred people to a premade vcarve file with the toolpath already setup, I loaded that (about a 10 inch squared sign) and the router moved about 1 inch total, again no depth. When the line by line code runs on the shark program, i see the coordinates, and they do not match what the main Part coordinates on the left side are doing/saying. So a code line may have the y axis at 2.97 inch, and the left side reads 0.07 inch. I think the router is moving exactly how the left readout is displaying, the problem is the left readout doesn't match the code running on the right side from my gcode file. that is my rookie analysis.

In Vcarve i am creating a gcode (inch) file (template in VCarve is in inches, not mm... that isn't my problem).... I noticed a few gcode types, am I using the wrong one for the Shark Pro Plus? Has anyone encountered this problem? I have watched some video tutorials, read the majority of the manual, everything seems right... hopefully I just forgot one little thing which will fix it. Thanks for the help.

Matt

BobA
Posts: 165
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 10:01 am

Re: Super Small Cut w/ no Depth

Post by BobA »

Matt,

Did you put the control in Jog and Zero your coordinates. You must zero on one of the corners or the center of your material as you specified in your VCarve Pro program.

Good Luck,
Bob

Your depth of cut is controlled by setting your Z zero, the font you are using, the tool, a 60 degree V will cut deeper than a 90 degree V. When I want to go deeper I lower my V tool below the surface off the edge of my material. For example I first zero off the surface of the material and then move the tool off of the material and move the tool down -Z- to -.010 or more minus. Then I rezero at the lower setting. Someone else may have a better way. When cutting pockets deeper You can set the depth deeper in your tool path.

jeb2cav
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Re: Super Small Cut w/ no Depth

Post by jeb2cav »

Hi Matt,

In addition to Bob's recommendations -

After you establish 0,0,0 - go to the jog tab and make some moves. You wouldn't even need to go to a "corner" of a work piece, just somewhere to the lower left side of the work table, and set z0x0y0. If you move it 1" in z and 10" in x and 10" in y, is the router head at 10,10,1? From the description of your problem, I suspect it won't be. Are any of the moves as expected (like z and y seem to behave, but x doesn't)?

I would turn off the control box, remove each of the cables, look at them for bent pins. If you find any, you can use needle nose pliers and carefully re-align them. Reattach the cables and tighten. Power the control box, and try a jog again.

When you connected to the control box from your computer, were you able to successfully run the firmware update? If you haven't tried this yet, I'd do it. If successful, this may clear up this error (or not).

With regard to the output compiler - it sounds like you downloaded the most current compilers from the Next Wave Automation web site and installed them. However, when I did this in VCarve, I did notice that VCarve already had a "CNC Shark..." file - an old one. I moved a copy of these old files to a known place, but outside that directory. Once I knew there were no compilers labeled CNC Shark..., I copied the two recent files to that directory to minimize Murphy's Law when I pick them.

There is of course a chance that the collar nut on one or all of the stepper motors is not snug, so the screw spindle isn't turning. You could easily check that on the x and z axis. You'd have to take some of the t-channel off to do this for the y axis. There are some posts that explain this in a little more detail.

A more detailed set of notes on steps used during setup can be found here - http://www.cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.p ... 1226#p1226. They may or may not give you some new ideas on trouble shooting.

mattd
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2011 9:44 am

Re: Super Small Cut w/ no Depth

Post by mattd »

Thanks for the ideas. I think I have tried them all, with no luck. I bring the shark to the corner of the table, reset to all 0's, and go to the opposite corner - and my x and y are showing the 24+ inches each. No issue there. No bent pins. And i have downloaded the firmware updates, and feel i have current software. I tried the few types of gcode filetypes, and nothing still.

after thinking about this more, I feel like the issue is the following: when the code of the program runs on the right side, running through all the lines, the coordinates of each line are NOT what the shark is doing on the left side, where it says current coordinates. I think I mentioned before, but the shark really is doing exactly what the left box of coordinates, the current positioning, says it is doing. so i don't think i have loose spindles. my issue is that the shark program is not doing what the code says it should.

again, i look at the coordinates at the code, and (for examples) at a certain point in the code it may say x axis 5 inch, y axis 3 inch, and the box on the left has a readout at that same time of x axis 0.15, y axis 0.09.

anyone had this problem before, current line of the code (when the code is running) on the right not matching the current coordinates on the left? I assume they should be matching.

Numbers are way to off to be a mm/inch issue also, I would think. Any ideas?

jeb2cav
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Re: Super Small Cut w/ no Depth

Post by jeb2cav »

Hi Matt,

You can contact Rockler support, they will probably give you phone number(s) for Tim Owens directly. I'm out of troubleshooting ideas - there may be some on the forum with some additional. Please post outcome and hopefully solution when you get it.

BeaverWoodShop
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 8:36 am

Re: Super Small Cut w/ no Depth

Post by BeaverWoodShop »

Be sure in V Carve you are saving the file in " CNC Shark " file NOT JUST G-Code. There is a difference. Look for the file type of CNC Shark in V-Carve.

kghinsr
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2010 10:51 am

Re: Super Small Cut w/ no Depth

Post by kghinsr »

Matt
does your machine require an SDR card
if so did you format it and load your Gcode onto it
this might help
ken
also I was told you need a high speed USB port low speed will not work
CNC Shark Pro, Laser Engraving, and other CNC equipment

mattd
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2011 9:44 am

Re: Super Small Cut w/ no Depth

Post by mattd »

Thanks for the added comments. As i thought/feared, all this time with one little mistake on my end... the file type I was saving to. I was not saving to the CNC Shark file type, I was going right to the G-Code file type. I still don't know where it explains which file type to save to, I just kept seeing "g-code" in the manuals and assumed.... wrong! And didn't even think that a wrong file code type would load in the Shark Program, I would have thought an incorrect file type would have given me an error message when I loaded it. You live, you learn.

Anyways, thanks for everyone's input. Now to have some fun with this machine!

Matt

jeb2cav
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Re: Super Small Cut w/ no Depth

Post by jeb2cav »

Thanks Matt for sharing the solution. This possible confusion (yes, I've experienced it several times early on) is one of the reasons I moved all the other post processor files out of the \PostP folder. Now, I only have a choice between Shark in and Shark mm.

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