The “opt-out” homing at toolchange is a welcome update, as is the “present to front” table at the end of the machining. I’m using the wrench gcode as the test file, and the new build ran it flawlessly. I did not have video issues on my Dell Win7 notebook on the earlier build, so can’t speak to any improvements there.
Randy
Thanks for the feedback. If that’s the case, I’ll try to post a Mac version tomorrow.
-Rob
On the rapid positioning (click and go), I was surprised to see the Nomad using fast jog speed rather than rapid (G0) speed. Is there a reason for that that I’m missing?
Any news on the update for Mac?
I miss 10mm steps.
The arrow keys work about 1/4 of the time.
Thank you for “jump to”.
I tried jogging, setting zero and air cutting a couple of jobs with version 2.0.322. 2015-07-16. I found the following:
M30 brought the table forward just fine.
The option to skip homing after tool change worked fine. Can you expand this option to other modes or make skipping homing “sticky”?
I had no problems with rendering. The graphics looked good and displayed reliably.
Homing and tool length setting seemed faster.
The Nomad ran the jobs with no new issues.
Keyboard input in jog mode seemed more reliable. Slowing down my tap rate while jogging with the keyboard reduced the “double hit” rate to almost nothing.
Jogging with mouse clicks produced double clicks more frequently than when using keyboard input. this persisted even if I waited for motion to stop before my next click. I did a series of 20 clicks in each direction of each axis with the keyboard arrows and mouse. I got 3 double hits using the keyboard and 21 double hits with the mouse. No axis seemed worse than another.
Arrow and page up/down keys would stop controlling jogging after returning from set zero mode if I entered new values for any axis using the keyboard. If I did not use the keyboard set a new value, jogging wold still work with the keyboard.after returning from set zero mode.
I was not able to figure out how to turn the spindle on during jogging. Also how would we set the speed the spindle will run at during jogging?
I ran the installer without uninstalling the last version. I am running Win7 SP1 on a Lenovo T-410 laptop with 4Gb memory. I am using the built in touch pad for mousing. The display is1440x900 resolution in smaller text/icon mode.
Thanks for the update!
Hey @robgrz. Any news on the Mac update?. Would love settings updates on new mills in the store. Let me know if I can do any testing for you guys.
I’m also interested in a new beta for the Mac. I’ve wanted some of the new features for a while.
When “Setting 0 for all”, it would be nice to be able to just manually, by hand, freely move the installed cutter end to the zero point that one wants. Then have it calculate from that point by clicking something like “Zero all from this location”. I don’t know if this makes any sense, or is even remotely possible. Maybe, there are good reasons for not doing this? Possibly this could be done in conjunction with the jog function?
link not working…
@Tem, the Nomad operates open-loop. There is no feedback on the cutter position. The machine depends on homing the three axes at power-up, and keeping track of how many steps each axis has moved after that. The current cutter position is a calculated number based on all the accumulated movement commands the software has issued since power-up.
Any news on the next update?. I’m interested in the Mac version.
Thank you for the explanation. Now I understand a little bit more about how it does what it does. I have had a few solid 1/2 days to get up to speed and get some affordable plastic sheet to work with. The next learning phase for me will be about improving work holding, at least better than carpet tape.
@randy IMHO, it would still be possible to zero the cutter manually then measure the number of x,y and z steps required to home (the feedback would be ensured by the end switches). I.e. The reverse of today’s operation.
Please correct me if I am wrong…
Sounds an interesting idea.
@TotallyFred, I guess that would be theoretically possible.
You would need to start with the machine unpowered, because otherwise the steppers are holding the axes in place and you can’t slide them around manually. The Z axis requires some force to move since it is a leadscrew. Carbide Motion would need to know that you are starting from a desired “zero” position and count steps while it homes the axes, then back-fill for the Program Zero location.
I’ve not encountered a control software that does that, so maybe the Carbide guys can be innovators!
Even when steppers are unpowered, they have natural detents of step position that you can feel when you turn the shaft. So the manually-placed position would be only close as the closest motor detent. When steppers power up they default to a standard configuration of coils powered (I think usually both coils powered +) which might not correspond to the unpowered detent position. So the starting point would only be approximate, which for some workpieces would not be a problem. But it would not be accurate to the resolution of the Carbide Motion microstepping.
when I’m setting the axes, especially Z, I position the cutter to the lowest possible step (.01mm) using a piece of cigarette paper as a feeler gauge. Cigarette paper is typically .001" (.03mm) thick, so when the cutter is pinching the paper against the workpiece/stock I figure the cutter is actually touching the stock. That is the type of accuracy I typically work to. The move-and-power-on would likely be 10x or more worse in position accuracy than that.
I hadn’t thought at all about the stepper intermediate position 
I am impresed by the cigarette paper trick. I had never realized that. Seems like I’m going to give my money to the cigarette makers 
Thanks!
@TotallyFred, noooo! Don’t disassemble cigarettes to salvage the papers. Just buy the papers themselves! 
I get them from a grocery or liquor store. I have not done a quantitative comparison between Rizla and Zig-Zag but I assume they’re equivalent. My current supply is Zig-Zag I think.
Not sure if you were joking but I feel I need to save my reputation if anyone else is to ever answer my future questions 
: I got the idea of the cigarette paper vs the cigarette. Picturing myself sparing the butts as earplugs was halirious
I was merely thinking somehow statistics would count me as an additional smoker for buying such items.
CM REALLY needs the ability to cancel out of a Move cutter selection …