I noticed that there is fast motion on flat areas, which has not been a problem so far. However, I am noticing some stepping occurring in my latest carves… could this be a factor in this development? I dont know what is the cause, just attempting to isolate the cause. Is it possible to disable this scurry along flat areas?
do you mind sharing you workspace so I can see how this is happening? there should not be rapid moves touching flat areas. what is the Z Clearance value under the Limits menu?
Z clearance is set at 2.( If my understanding is correct it is the distance above the work area as the spindle travels to an other area to carve.)
https://file.io/QZDWhZTkuUS7
Are you basing this on the animation? Because it’s not a real-time representation of actual cutting speed. The animation slows down over complex terrain (facial features in this case) and is able to run rapidly over the flat spots. The color of the line represents the cutting speed in Preview mode
on the machine as well as in the animation. I can see the spindle move across the wood faster as I watch it carve flat areas
Under the Limits menu, your Z Feed is capped at 300 while the feed rate for contouring is set to 1000. So any time it climbs or plunges, it will interpolate between 300 and 1000 depending on angle. I think I will add a new parameter for plunge max on contouring that can override this.
Thank you so much for your help. Im not sure what is causing these ‘plateaus’, but I appreciate whatever you can do that might lead me to the answer. Tomorrow I intend to disassemble the X gantry to try to find any possible mechanical issue that might be causing this.
is the cut not matching the animation?
original carve
stepped carve
I cant see anything mechanical that is causing this at this point
Is there a default rate?
i didn’t understand what you were describing before. those flat areas are not in the gcode. so it did cut properly once then not again?
Yes, the carve worked the first time, then had errors on the 2nd, so I re-processed the file to produce a slightly less deep carve to test with, the result of which is displayed in the 2nd, closeup image.
[quote=“stewart, post:6, topic:603”]
So any time it climbs or plunges, it will interpolate between 300 and 1000 depending on angle. I think I will add a new parameter for plunge max on contouring that can override this.
[/quote] I wonder if this might be a factor? Im not sure. I am continuing my analysis of the mechanical side of things.
maybe a loose set screw on a keyed shaft. is the total cut height less than the first?
yes the first carve is nearly 2x the depth as the second. I intensified the stepover on that 2nd carve too, from .08 to .05… I have not used a ballmill before so I have been experimenting.
Are you still planning to create a “plunge max” parameter? Your comment about interpolation between the 300 Z axis max and the 1000 feedrate has me wondering
the depth difference and the fact that it worked the first time reinforces my suspicion that this is either a hardware limitation (missing steps) or a calibration problem (slipping stepper connection).
I will be adding the plunge max parameter. but probably not this weekend. regardless, you should double-check the hardware and make sure all the screws and connections are tight.
Thanks so much! I will let you know how it goes.
Thanks for your tip regarding speed limits. That solved the issue.
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