I’m looking for sort of an overview of what’s needed when setting up machine toolpaths in Fusion to be cut by a Shapeoko 5 (pro).
So far, I’ve modeled everything in fusion, and I’ve created a roughing and a parallel finishing pass. this is of course for a 3D milling operation.
I want to know three things:
I see the term “post processor.” I’m guessing this is the program that converts those toolpaths into gcode. Am I correct?
Once I have my toolpaths, do I 1) process to Gcode, and 2) use Carbide Motion to run the cuts? (or is carbide motion replaced by Fusion?)
When looking at a finished 3D cut, what information is needed by Fusion360 when creating a new machine profile inside the software?
I’m doing something similar with 3D printing right now, adding a new printer profile to slicer software… knowing I need a slicer to prep the g-code, and an onboard computer to process and send that G-code to the motors to execute the print. If parallels could be made to that, that might help to clear things up!
I think once things are cleared up, I’ll know what I need to input when creating a new machine profile in fusion.
This depends on the architecture of the CAM tool — in some, yes, it is a stand-alone program which does the conversion, in others, it is a list of parameters/instructions for a program/module/component which directs how the G-code should be structured as it is exported
Save to G-code, load that in Carbide Motion, verify the preview of the G-code and the file extents in Carbide Motion, then send to the machine if all okay
This has been discussed quite a bit, but the consensus has been that it’s a lot of bother for not much return
1 - Yes. Just select the Carbide 3D post processor. It exports the language that the Shapeoko needs to operate.
2 - Carbide Motion is still used. Fusion spits out the gcode, but the machine still needs to run it. The exported gcode from F360 is ran from Carbide Motion on a computer.
3 - I have been using F360 with a Shapeoko for years and never made a machine profile. I looked into it, but it seemed unnecessary unless you’re maybe running a production environment.
The 3D printer to Shapeoko comparison is pretty valid. F360/Carbide Create/Vectric VCarve are like the slicer. But the sliced file still needs to be sent to the printer. In this case the Control system on the Shapeoko is a computer with Carbide Motion on it instead of a control board with Marlin or Klipper.
For whatever reason, I constantly forget that the summary dialog box has more information than just that first tab. I’ll load it up and see what it looks like here soon.
Ok, so I’m running my first program from fusion. I’ve got various docs below to provide context.
Good news: It’s carving in 3D, so that’s neat!
So far, I’m seeing these problems:
When starting the program, it asked “please insert tool #1.” but did not include the specific tool. I assume this comes down to which field is used to define that message to the user.
It doesn’t seem to be following the path chosen by fusion 360. It almost seems like it went straight to the ball nose path? (The end shape is a hexagon, and it did not rough out the entire shape before moving on to what appears to be the ball nose operation.)
It did not pause for the swap to the ball nose bit, but “status” in Carbide Motion shows “Finishing 18 ball” (I had named that operation in F360 “Finishing - 1/8 ball”, so I guess it took out the special characters.) I don’t recall what it showed when I started, but I think it was “roughing - 1/4 flat”
Here’s the .nc file that’s running right now. Smaller 3D Test.nc (199.5 KB)
With the personal license in Fusion, you can only export toolpaths for one tool. Your gcode is only the finish path.
Can you upload the f3d file (you’ll have to create a zip file)?
What tool number do you have assigned to the 1/8" ball?
I think the ball is labeled as tool 1. I found another post on the forum here where someone had uploaded a tool database, so I used that to add the tools I needed to the database. I’d be happy to delete those if someone had a more accurate one. this didn’t have feeds and speeds programmed. Here’s a screen shot of the tool database.
