Carbide Create Pro- What do you want to see?

I’m using the current unstable build.

It’s okay, but to make it something you’d want to buy (okay, something I’d want to buy), I’d like to see some improvement in the workflow, and also the UI - particularly with buttons and menu options.

I’m used to writing CR’s/Jiras so sorry if this feedback feels somewhat terse :slight_smile: :

  • I would like CC to remember my toolpath zero. It forgets.
  • I would also like it to associate tools and materials with cutting parameters. So I want to tell it that this Tool should default to these figures for this material. I can’t figure out where it pulls the defaults from for new tool I add.
  • The Design tab has three sections that have titles - “Create Vector”, “Import” and “Boolean” and one that is unlabelled… The title for that box should be “Transform” I think.
  • The Job Setup page’s Units section does not need the extra Units: label. It’s entry field is left justified, but the other items on that page are… well, all over the place.
  • When performing an operation such as rotation, there’s an Apply button and a Done button. Apply does the operation and quits the operation - it’s actually “Done”. If it was Apply, it would apply the changes and not close the operation dialog (like very other app’s Apply button). Done cancels the ‘dialog’ (it’s actually Cancel or Close).
  • The “Cutting Depth” picture has an S and a D on it, but the two figures you edit are labelled Start Depth and Max Depth. The picture should have S and M or the labels should change.
  • When you click on a button underneath Create Toolpath for any reason, you have to create the toolpath and then delete it if you didn’t want it. There should be a “Cancel” option.
  • The “I’m finished” button on the toolpath editors is called “Ok” (not “Done” like elsewhere).
  • The aesthetics are poor so some cleanup would be appreciated (buttons are sometimes centered, sometimes right justified, figures pull to the right or the left depending on nothing in particular, spacing is a mess on large screens)
  • There’s a disabled scrollbar on the Toolpath editor that need not be there
  • When selecting a vector, it should highlight the toolpaths that use that vector if there are any.

On a side note, for Carbide Motion, where the flow of operations is fixed but the UI keeps all menu items enabled at all times, you have to “click and not see a change” to know it’s disabled. It should disable items that can’t be clicked. Also, the tutorials also use a version of Carbine Motion that looks nothing at all like the version you download.

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So, Carbide Create has a bug. Maybe you can fix this in Pro.

When adding tabs to a part, the plunge at the end of the tab is done at the feedrate, not the plungerate.

This is an easy fix. I just did it the hard way by modifying the G-Code for an aluminum sheet that I am profiling. Worked perfectly.

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A warning that the retract height is set to zero when exporting your gcode. This just happened to me and I didn’t catch it until the drag bit put a nice unwanted diagonal scratch across half a 12"x12" acrylic sheet. I have caught this happening in previous versions of CC prior to cutting. I have not ever set the retract height to zero. I am not quite sure what steps causes CC to set the height to zero once in a blue moon, I just know it happens.

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Is there a way to add MacBook Pro Touch Bar keys?
Would love to be able to use it for “Command X” and undo and anything else others can think of.

Forgive me if this has already been addressed, but it would be awesome to have a better way to program in custom bits, specifically for v-carving. After a ton of varying v-carving attempts it seems the ONLY bits that you can avoid constant trouble with(after ensuring both the stock and waste board are dead flat) are true “Zero-Point” bits. The ability to adjust flat tip diameter on a v-bit or have CC actually respond to “angle per side” under the flat end mill creation tab would do the job.

It seems most (all?) cam software assume a true point. Here’s a post with a link to a simple spreadsheet calculator to set the Z offset. The part there’s no cheap/easy way around is knowing the diameter of the flat (unless it’s published).

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Good points, haha. Thanks for the link!

Another good way to set the Z-offset is to use a set of feeler gauges instead of the paper method to set your Z. You can have a specific gauge for each V-bit. I will set my Z with a .003 gauge like the paper method, then bring up my Z by .01mm at a time until I can barely slide the gauge I want under the V-bit.

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Check out 421 at https://carbide3d.com/carbidecreate/unstable/

  • (NEW) Node edit and Handle edit are merged.
  • (NEW) Selected curve now rendered thicker.
  • (NEW) Cursor change when hovering on curve node.
  • (NEW) No more unselecting other nodes when shift is held down and the background is clicked (toggle mode).
  • (NEW) In node edit mode, “S” key will toggle smooth/sharp for all selected nodes.
  • (NEW) In node edit mode, “D” key will delete all selected nodes.
  • (NEW) More optimizations on internal curve calculations.
  • (FIX) Rare crash opening files with curves.
  • (FIX) Fixup a few files where curves loaded without editable end-nodes. (John S.)
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some random feature requests, likely some are simple

  • put a comment in the GCode on tool change with the description of the tool from the tool library. Ideally carbide motion then shows this in the tool change dialog instead of just “tool 18”
  • put a comment in the GCode at the start of each toolpath with the name of the tool path. Ideally CM can then showing a "Currently processing toolpath "
  • in the toolpath section, on the line that shows how long a toolpath takes, can it show the tool number there in the same tiny font… makes it much easier to see which paths to enable/disable when exporting per-tool gcode
  • in the toolpath view, sometimes the view of all the paths makes it extremely hard to select drawing elements; a toggle to hide/show them would be highly welcome

more complicated would be

  • a tool that “smoothes out” curves to make them ready for inlay. Today by hand I would do “create an outer curve at 0.125”. delete original. use outer curve to make an inner curve at 0.25". delete first outer curve. Use curve to get back to normal by doing an outer curve at 0.125" and delete the previous".
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Will you update the keyboard shortcut file or publish a comprehensive list soon?

Once we get it more fleshed out, yes. Right now it’s:

CTRL-Z Undo
CTRL-C Duplicate
CTRL-X Cut/Delete

Cursor: nudge

In Node Edit:

S = Toggle smooth/sharp
D = Delete selected nodes

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@robgrz
Using CC 421 - Crtl-C no longer copies highlighted vector - it just de-selects. So no way of making a copy till this is fixed. Or is it just me?

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I can duplicate the problem- let me look into it here.

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Ok good – thanks,
Can we have CTRL-V to paste? or perhaps a right click on the highlighted vector to copy?

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422 up at https://carbide3d.com/carbidecreate/unstable/

  • (FIX) Crashing DXF file. (Andy G.)
  • (FIX) Copy vectors bug, the optimizations in 421 got us. (Andy G.)
  • (FIX) Changed edit menu slightly.

PS- Your Involute Gear file should work now.

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So a few issues working on a file for someone that only has CC.

First there was the highlighted vector not applying v carve toolpath properly.

Then there was an issue with the v carve tool path being added to un-selected vectors.

Hopefully the issue with CC connecting properly to CM417 (hdz update) is being looked into. It doesnt send to any info to machine. Id like to be able to use HDZ just as I would a stock spindle by sending code directly to machine without saving.

Please send such problem files in to support@carbide3d.com and we’ll try to fix things.

Works for Ray on his Version
Doesn’t for me on CC 420 Pro
What gives or am I just a complete idiot this morning?

Ray

Me

I ended up with this workaround. But not Ideal

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Locks up my machine — hang on, filing a bug report.

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