How to adjust the bit in the collet once a job is started

[bmcdowel (Bryan Mcdowell)]

I have started carving the finish pass on a 3d model and the collet is slightly rubbing the top part of the project when during a portion of the pass. The problem is that the bit is a little bit too deep in the collect and does not allow for clearance when making a deep pass.

I know I can pause the job and lower the bit but I expect this will require me to measure the tool again. Is there a way to do this and resume the carve at the same spot it was in when I paused it?

This is a 4+ hour carve and I really don’t want to have to start it over just to measure the tool.

Thank you in advance.
Bryan M.

[Chaotica (Joel McKenzie)]

Short answer: nope. CM does not have the capability to pause a job, change/adjust/re-measure the bit, & then resume.

If you’re not that far into the carve yet, you can restart it, & then Max-override the feedrate for the portion that has already been cut.

Alternatively, you can re-calc the toolpath using another vector to restrcit the toolpath to only just the area that hasn’t been cut yet.

[mhotchin (Michael Hotchin)]

Are you using a recent version of Carbide Motion? If so, you have the capability to stop the carve, then restart it at whatever line number (of GCode) you are at now.

I don;t have CM open in front of me, so I may not name everything exactly

• Pause the carve
• Look for a status line that says what line you are on now, write that down,
• Stop the carve
• Adjust the bit and re-zero Z.
• Instead of ‘Run’, look for the button ‘Program Restart’
• Hit that, and it should ask you for the line number. Because of certain technical considerations, you should use a value about 20 less than the actual line number.
• Profit!

Carbide Motion 644 Beta- Now with Program Restart

We just uploaded a new build that includes program restart to Carbide Motion Beta Downloads On the Run Program pane, you’ll see a new Restart Program button that lets you start the program on almost any line. Here are a few caveats/details: You cannot restart on a line where the parser does not at least have x/y/z set. (Usually the first 10-20 lines of the program) If you restart on a tool change line, CM doesn’t need to do any repositioning moves, it can just start on the tool change and c…

[bmcdowel (Bryan Mcdowell)]

Thank you all for the responses. I have been wanting to understand how the new “Restart Program” feature worked.

So far the carve is going well without having to make the adjustment. However, I am glad to know that feature is there if I need it. I will definitely test it out on some scrap when I have the chance.

Kind Regards,
Bryan M.

[SirGariff (Gary Clark)]

Depending how many bit changes there are in your design, you could eliminate all the previous bit changes in Carbide Create (or whatever design program you are using), save it, and run the carve. You can even set the start depth deeper for the step you are doing that the collet was hitting the piece.