I have read articles about the cutter on my shark pro cutting (moving) above the wood when a person tries to cut so I tried to fix mine by looking at the possible repairs. When I try to cut a sign with raised letters, the cutter moved happily around about 3/4 of an inch above my wood. I checked to make sure my xyz.. axis were set to zero after I placed the cutter close to the wood, and still the same thing happens. I checked the wires going into the control boxes and and they seemed ok. The cutter works fine when I do a V carve of the letters. What am I missing? I would attach my tap file(s) but this thing doesn't allow my to do that.
Wayne
cutting above work
Moderators: ddw, al wolford, sbk, Bob, Kayvon
Re: cutting above work
Hi Wayne,
If you want, please zip up your VCarve project and email it to kbfarms_wood@kbfarms.com. I'd be glad to look and send feedback.
If you don't know how to zip (compress) a file, save a copy of it, delete the extension of of the copy (delete the .crv) - hit ok. Then add that as your attachment to the email and send it.
If you want, please zip up your VCarve project and email it to kbfarms_wood@kbfarms.com. I'd be glad to look and send feedback.
If you don't know how to zip (compress) a file, save a copy of it, delete the extension of of the copy (delete the .crv) - hit ok. Then add that as your attachment to the email and send it.
Re: cutting above work
I was able to look at Wayne's VCarve project file. After poking a little bit and also looking at the tap file output, I was able to figure this out.
Somewhere along the line in using VCarve, Wayne got the Z Zero for the material set to the bottom of the work piece. From the VCarve help document, the Z Zero indicates whether the tip of the tool is set off the surface of the material or off the bed/table of the machine for z = 0.0.
I think most/all of us set the tool tip z0 to the top of the material. So, this is where the floating comes into play.
Here's how I found it in this project file:
Because the tool tip z0 is set to the top of the work piece, this needs to be changed in the Job Setup to be at the top of the material as well.
This dialogue is the first thing you run into when starting a new project. However, if you need to check this with an existing project, go to Edit (from the main tool bar along the top left of the screen), Job Size and Position.
You can also run into this setting on the Toolpaths window.
When you place your mouse over this button, you'll see "Setup Material and Rapid Gaps." If you open this you'll see the Material part of the Job Setup tool window.
Changing this in either tool window sets it globally. You don't need to go to both tool windows and set it to the "same" value (top or bottom).
I have a few more pictures for this story, so going to submit this and start next reply (3 picture limit).
Somewhere along the line in using VCarve, Wayne got the Z Zero for the material set to the bottom of the work piece. From the VCarve help document, the Z Zero indicates whether the tip of the tool is set off the surface of the material or off the bed/table of the machine for z = 0.0.
I think most/all of us set the tool tip z0 to the top of the material. So, this is where the floating comes into play.
Here's how I found it in this project file:
- Material Z Zero Setting in Original Project File - Set to Bottom of Material
- Material Z Zero Settings - Now Set to Top of Material
You can also run into this setting on the Toolpaths window.
- Setup Material and Rapid Gaps Tool Selector
Changing this in either tool window sets it globally. You don't need to go to both tool windows and set it to the "same" value (top or bottom).
I have a few more pictures for this story, so going to submit this and start next reply (3 picture limit).
Re: cutting above work
Continuing the previous post...
If you're working with an existing project, and change this setting, you're going to see this warning:
Don't panic, just hit ok. Now, go to the any toolpaths you've already setup. Open each of them, one at a time, and select calculate. The toolpaths will be recalculated based on this "new" starting tool z0 location.
So, what was happening? When the tool z0 location was set as the bottom of the work piece in VCarve, but then the cutter tip and Shark Basic panel z0 were set at the top of the work piece, 2 errors were introduced.
In this case, the VCarve depth of cut to 0.25. With VCarve thinking the tip of the cutter is starting out at the base of the work piece, and the work piece being 0.6" thick, to make the cut, it raised the cutter in z 0.35". In this case, a cut depth of 0.25", the material is 0.6" thick gets a formula -- 0.6 - 0.25 = 0.35". When Wayne ran this on the Shark, he set the tool tip z0 at the top of the work piece. So, the cutter ran through the air at 0.35" above the work piece.
When I set the Material z0 to the top of the work piece, and recalculated the toolpaths, the resulting tap file has the z cutting depth at -0.25" (negative 0.25). Now what is going to happen when this is run, with the tool tip z0 set at the top of the workpiece, is that the Shark is going to cut "down" into the work piece to a depth of 0.25".
I looked at the tap files to be sure. Here is the tap file based on your original project with the tool z0 being set at the bottom of the work piece.
And here is the tap file after setting the z0 in VCarve at the top of the material / work piece and recalculating the toolpaths.
I hadn't seen this before. The really interesting thing to note is that when you preview the toolpaths using either tool tip z0 point (top or bottom of material), the outcome "looks as desired" on the screen. There is no murphy's law catch by the software of the operator setting the software for one tool tip location (top or bottom of the material), and actually setting it in the opposing setting on the actual CNC machine. So, I guess the simple lesson in the end is if you're cutting air, you may want to check this setting in VCarve first!
Even worse, would be setting this z0 to material top in VCarve, but setting the tool tip z0 on the machine's metal table, and running that (as it attempts to jam itself deep into the metal table).
It is a really good example of something that you wouldn't really think of - and can happen to anyone (I've seen some other posts about cutting air. I tend to go down the hardware, cables, etc path if I can't imagine a way to get this undesirable behavior in the software. There's generally no conclusion posted, but I bet you are not the first to run into this and ask for help.) Thanks for sharing your project file to help trouble shoot this.
If you're working with an existing project, and change this setting, you're going to see this warning:
- Material Setup Values Changed...
So, what was happening? When the tool z0 location was set as the bottom of the work piece in VCarve, but then the cutter tip and Shark Basic panel z0 were set at the top of the work piece, 2 errors were introduced.
In this case, the VCarve depth of cut to 0.25. With VCarve thinking the tip of the cutter is starting out at the base of the work piece, and the work piece being 0.6" thick, to make the cut, it raised the cutter in z 0.35". In this case, a cut depth of 0.25", the material is 0.6" thick gets a formula -- 0.6 - 0.25 = 0.35". When Wayne ran this on the Shark, he set the tool tip z0 at the top of the work piece. So, the cutter ran through the air at 0.35" above the work piece.
When I set the Material z0 to the top of the work piece, and recalculated the toolpaths, the resulting tap file has the z cutting depth at -0.25" (negative 0.25). Now what is going to happen when this is run, with the tool tip z0 set at the top of the workpiece, is that the Shark is going to cut "down" into the work piece to a depth of 0.25".
I looked at the tap files to be sure. Here is the tap file based on your original project with the tool z0 being set at the bottom of the work piece.
- Original Tap File - Material z0 at Bottom, Tool z0 at Top of Material
- Tap File After Setting Material z0 at Top, and Tool z0 at Top of Material
Even worse, would be setting this z0 to material top in VCarve, but setting the tool tip z0 on the machine's metal table, and running that (as it attempts to jam itself deep into the metal table).
It is a really good example of something that you wouldn't really think of - and can happen to anyone (I've seen some other posts about cutting air. I tend to go down the hardware, cables, etc path if I can't imagine a way to get this undesirable behavior in the software. There's generally no conclusion posted, but I bet you are not the first to run into this and ask for help.) Thanks for sharing your project file to help trouble shoot this.