New owner that finished assembly the CNC the first of this week.
I have spent the last few weeks learning Carbdide create in preparation for creating projects and using the CNC and watching videos on YouTube and Carbide 3D’s site.
I have a background in using Inkscape, LaserGRBL, etc as well as doing 3D printing over the last couple of years.
In preparation downloaded a number of the projects from Cut Rocket that looked fun and I tried to make use of a couple of them without any luck over the last couple of days.
The Issue has always been the same, the CNC would immediately carve way too deep on everything I tried to do. I picked a project that was a multiple pass but should have been a shallow project called the “Fancy-bee-charcuterie-board”. The following is what I did to modify it for my use.
In the project I changed the “machine” from Shapeoko 3 to the Shapeoko Pro.
I changed the “units” from mm to Inches.
I changed the “Width, Height, and Stock Thickness” to match my actual stock.
I did not change the retract height.
On the “Tool Paths” I modified the “Contour Toolpath 3” to reflect the new “Max Depth” on the stock.
I saved the “Toolpaths” to a new file name since I had now modified it.
When I ran the “Simulation” I could see that no “Tabs” were showing up even though under the “Contour Toolpath” there are entries for both width and height under “Tabs”.
I then went back under “Design” and added tabs back to the project.
Returned to the “Contour Toolpath”, updated it, resaved the Toolpath to the new file I had created and then re-ran the simulation and my new Tabs were there. I also verified that the simulation shows a shallow pocket, the second Advanced VCarve Toolpath shows a shallow carving of the Bee.
I then took the copy of the file on my SD card to my Fusion5 tablet and loaded it into Carbide motion.
I initialized my machine using the Bitsetter and I already had my Vbit installed and ready to go.
I have a Bitzero and I used it to set my X,Y,Z ,I then ran the file.
Instead of carving a shallow pocket it carved at least an 1/2 inch deep pocket. Towards what should have been the end of the pocket carve it suddenly plunged all the way through the stock and into my table and shot off on an angle about four inches cutting all the way through the stock and into the table before I could kill it.
I finally bagged trying to use any pre-made projects and designed one of my own.
I brought an image into Carbide create (7), Traced it, I setup the stock sizes, the Pro, Inches, kept the other defaults. On Toolpaths I selected my #302 vee 60 degree bit, accepted the defaults, once again checked the simulation and it showed a shallow carve once again. I saved the pathways and the file for the project name and once again took it to my Fusion5 tablet, brought it into Carbide motion went through initializing, Bitzero, etc. and ran the file and it immediately plunged at least half an inch into the stock. I killed it and came to my regular laptop to capture all of the screens of the file and to type this plea for help.
Question, Did you select your machine in CM?
@Zman’s question is a good lead.
To verify, manually jog by one inch from the jog menu in CM: does the Z actually travel exactly one inch? (and not more). Different Shapeokos have different Z parameters, so if you accidentally chose the wrong type of machine/Z axis, you may end up in a situation where every Z move overtravels.
Not related to your Z issue, but your description makes it sound like you used the V bit to set your zero with the BitZero. If you have the V2 you should be using the pin.
I have a V1 and bought some 1/4” stainless pins to use every time rather than any particular bit.
I appreciate the feedback it was really helpful. I am not to vain to admit ignorance when it comes to something new I am learning I honestly did not know what the pins were for that came with the BitZero. It makes sense to me now and I used the 1/4" pin to set my zero and I had a successful first carve. I believe I had possibly not committed the selection of which machine I had in CM was the biggest issue.
It looks like I did but I have to admit there is every possibility I did not hit okay and commit the selection and actually configure the machine. I have found there is no shame in admitting you screwed up if it helps getting you to the right place in the end. I went through and my machine was selected and I made sure to click okay and I honestly don’t remember seeing it configure and transmit like it did this time.
I had my first successful carve and I am hyped. It was only a test carve and I will re-do it on the stock piece I want the final project to be on now. Thank you so much for your input.
Thanks for your reply. I had already been checking the jogging but I hadn’t honestly thought to measure the travel distance. I have misplace my caliber and will keep looking for it. It appears that even though I had selected my particular machine in CM, I had not actually committed that selection and configured for it. I appreciate your feedback and assistance and will also check the travel distance to ensure it is accurate as well.
The measurement does not have to be very precise, so you could just use any tape measure you have on hand. It will either read one inch movement or something significantly different if the machine is misconfigured
Glad it is working.
Have fun. Make chips not dust.
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