I will readily admit that I am a newbie with using VCarve Pro with my Shapeoko 5.1 Pro. I’ve been told that one of the drawbacks with using VCarve and Shapeoko 5.1 is the lack of tool changing support. In CC, you can create a single output for the toolpaths and I would like that same option in VCarve. Right now in VCarve, for example, if I use 5 different bits then I have to export as 5 different files and perform a “change tool” in carbide motion with each new file.
Looking at other posts, it appears that there is a post processor that will support toolchanging. The one I saw mentioned from 2025 is "Shapeoko (inch) TOOLCHANGE(*.gcode). However, I cannot seem to find that option. I’ll apologize up front what may be incredibly obvious, but where do I find this option?
Scroll to Shapeoko. If you don’t see the file you can download it from my drive here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n5FoekeYuMX6a-07X1Yx6pqVBGbJ9Xrj/view?usp=sharing
At the very bottom left side is a file folder. That’s where you want to place the file.
C:\ProgramData\Vectric\Aspire\V12.5\My_PostP Your directory will look different because I have Aspire and an older machine.
I think that’s all there is to it. There are also other Post Processors that you may find useful… mm instead of inch…laser support…
The issue you might be running into with VCarve is the tool “#”. Its just a guess as that is what prevented me from saving all tool paths as one file. If you go into each tool at the bottom is a “#” which defaults always to “1”. If you have already created your design and assigned the tooling you can use the “Edit” tool and change the assigned numbers so that none of them are the same EXCEPT if the tool is actually the same, you will need to reprocess the tool path in order for the change to take. When each tool has a different assigned number VCarve will allow you to save the G-Code file as one file which includes all the tooling.
If you want to prevent taking this “Edit” tool step every project you can open the tool database and assign each tool a different “#”.
I have the SO 5.1 and run VCarve pro with Carbide Motion as my CAM.
Lots of confusion around VCarve (And Aspire) Post-Processors for Carbide Motion.
These Vectric provided post-processors provide basic tool change support to save multi-toolpath files.
Issue #1: No Shapeoko has an ATC Automatic Tool Changer. Labeling it that way confuses people. This one supports the Manual Tool Change Prompt in a limited way. It displays only the tool # from the database in the popup. The PP can be edit to add the name to status field.
Issue #2. The description says the file extension is .nc but its written to save as .gcode More unnecessary easily fixable confusion.
Issue #3: Vectric also still includes this way out of date one with no tool change support.
I don’t have any included with VCarve Pro with TOOLCHANGE in the title?
I never had the issue with duplicate tool numbers. I might have renumbered mine before I saved files. I save multi-tool files all the time.
If you haven’t already read through this post when time allows. It has a set of post-processors now maintained by @Allen44 with many enhancements which is a great service to the community. I use my own hombrew PP from what I learned in that thread
I think Vectric adopted Neil Ferreri’s brilliant original PPs long ago but they don’t run Shapeoko machines at Vectric so the ATC label is just an assumption on their part. No harm done. If that troubles a user they can change the file name without hurting the contents. I still use the old PPs 5 years and counting with my bitsetter and haven’t noticed a problem, and I rarely run a job without tool changes. I memorized my tool numbers long ago but I can see why names might be important to new users. (I also don’t care about time remaining…but that’s another discussion) The PPs names might have changed a bit during the Vectric upgrade last year…but it was seamless to me except I remember having to reset my post processer files… They still work the same which I have to say is excellent.
