New HD4 user. need help

[Shanes.Woodworking]

I've watched the tutorial videos on VCarve 9 desktop. saved the toolpaths (with the datum position in the correct places) (middle when designing, lower left when doing toolpaths), and when i load it onto a USB drive and try and run it on the Shark, it doesn't follow the toolpaths. it followed the black arrow the first time. found out i was saving it as the "CNC shark USB 3d contour", i resaved it as the "Shark USB ARCS" per NextWaves email. tried to re-run it, and the next 2 attempts, it followed the white arrow, gouging the clamp/ hold down. I had input the "z gap" as .25" whereas the clamps are only .20"

and i zeroed out the x,y- axis and used the touch plate to zero the z

ive enclosed photo of router paths and the crv file.

thank you so much in advance.

I'm hoping its a simple setting.

edit: realized one of my problems was i designed the piece in software facing the wrong orientation
thank you nextwave

[sharkcutup]

1.) Rotate design so that y-axis is the longest (22.125)
a.) Group all vectors
b.) Rotate 90 degrees
c.) Re-size material dimensions x=7.25, y=22.125
d.) Center vector group to material
e.) Un-group Vectors
f.) Re-calculate toolpaths

2.) Be sure to align your x, y datums the same both in the design and the actual machine setup. If you use lower left in design be sure to setup up the same datum on your cnc machine. the majority of the time I use the center of material for design so I setup cnc machine the same way. The only time I use the lower left corner is when I use a pocket toolpath that carves out the majority of material away along with the original start x,y, specifically the z (leaves no place for touch plate when setting z for remaining toolpaths).

3.) I would also recommend cutting/carving using a spoilboard under your project material board to avoid damaging the original table bed!

4.) Be sure to save your toolpaths using the correct post-processor for your machine. For my machine (Shark HD3 Pro Plus Extended Bed) I mostly use the 'CNCShark-USB Arcs (inch) (*.tap)' post processor. On some projects when doing 3D Modeling carvings I use the 'CNCShark-USB 3D Contour (inch) (*.tap)' post-processor.

Sharkcutup

[Kayvon]

Good advice. A couple more tips:

Practice cutting air before you cut wood. Remove the workpiece, turn the router off, and watch the travel of the CNC to see if it aligns with what you expect.

The only difference between "CNC shark USB 3d contour" and "Shark USB ARCS" is how accurate the cuts are, especially at corners/curves. The 3d file allows looser tolerances and the arcs file. The cut will be (nearly) identical.