I recently started using Aspire 8.5 for design purposes, but would like to know the proper Post Processor to use. I used the Shapeoko PP for VCarve Pro but it doesn’t allow for tool changes. Any help would really be apprecciated.
Thanks in advance.
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You’ll have to modify the post processor yourself. The Post_Processor_Guide.pdf that came with VCarve Desktop (not sure if it’s the same for Aspire, but check page 31) has a tutorial about adding a tool change section in your file. Basically, it’s adding a section called “TOOLCHANGE” that will be used at that point.
Similarly, I’ve added “M6 T102” to my Shapeoko postprocessor header, to simulate the pause that Carbide Create adds at the beginning of their jobs; that’s hardcoded to that tool but I really am just using it for the pause. Regardless, I think M6 is the right code to use.
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Thank you for your input. I will try that
Have you had any luck with this? I’ve purchased the Vcarve Pro software and would like to solve the tool change issue, so that I don’t have to save multiple files.
Maybe someone more experienced can comment, but is there any reason to use multiple files with one tool per file as opposed to one single file with the tool changes in it?
Furthermore, what about the feeds and speeds that are already loaded in the Vcarve Pro software? Are they reliable or do they need to be changed to work with carbide motion?
I use VCarve Pro. I break up my jobs into multiple files, sometimes even for the same tool, because it makes recovery from inevitable problems far easier. Having a single gcode file with different tools won’t
work on a Shapeoko as far as I know, but in my case I wouldn’t particularly want that. The machine “remembers” zero from job to job, and I also use a third party touch plate.
The feeds and speeds need to be changed to match the tool and material you are actually using. The chart provided by C3D is a good guide:
http://carbide3d.com/shapeoko/feedandspeed/
This is true no matter what machine control software you use: Carbide Motion, Universal Gcode Sender, tons of others.
I also had to modify the Shapeoko post processor for VCarve Pro to eliminate some kind of gcode that grbl (the actual firmware on the machine) doesn’t handle. I don’t recall the details but you can probably find it by searching.
Good luck!
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Note: “inevitable problems” sometimes includes things like “the dog got in a fight with some critter and needs to go to the vet, so I have to pause this job NOW”.
Splitting a job into multiple files is a poor man’s pause-and-resume function. Much less cutting of air when “resume” doesn’t mean “start from the very beginning”.
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It is easier to save different tool paths for the different tools. I create sub folders for VCP files and label them in sequence. 1 job name tool.nc, 2 job name tool.nc, etc, etc.
Another work around is use Intelli-G-Code from Software redefined as your g-code sender. You can compile multiple tool path files into a job and do tool changes in between.
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