Is there videos how to do this? When I do long projects I usually start them very early in the morning until I finish. However I would like to be able to run it in the evening until I get tired and start over the next day where it left of from.
Or any info on how to do this, would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you for your assistance!
Are you using CM, or another GCode sender? What design software are you using?
Will your computer reliably stay awake if left alone for a long time? If not, your only real option is to stop the project, turn off everything for the night, then restart from the toolpath you were on in the morning. In this case, your best bet is to stop the process just as it finishes a toolpath.
If your computer will stay awake, then another option is to just āPauseā the cut, make sure the spindle has turned off, then just leave it. In the morning, hit āRunā and pick up where you left off.
Two different things to look out for:
I am using Vetric Aspire, I have read that doing that puts a lot of stress on the stepper motors.
I leave the machine on and idle for a few hours at a time. I heard that the steppers would generate heat while on āholdā.
I used a HF infrared temperature gauge and only saw a 2-3 degree increase relative to ambient temperature. I am not sure if that is a valid test, but I have had no issues.
I monitor the power my SPRO uses & Iāve never seen any indication the steppers draw more power at standstill - the opposite in fact. I too have never had issue with leaving my machine in āPauseā while I needed to go take care of something else.
Only problem I have encountered is a communications time-out error when sitting idle too long. I use a Rpi5 to connect to my Shapeoko & run Carbide Motion - not entirely sure if recent OS updates have caused this or if it always did it.
Using CM there is no way to start a file over except from the beginning. However there are a few workarounds. The easiest is to simply pause after a tool path has completed. Stop the Shapeoko. Go in and edit and disable completed tool paths. That works if you have multiple tool paths. However if the single tool path that wont work. The only other way is to output gcode and edit where you stop. CM displays the line number. You would back up to the last rapid move and copy all that and paste into a new file. Then add the preamble. That is cumbersome but is possible.
You could leave the machine in pause but as you stated that is the most stress on your stepper motors just sitting powered on and not moving. Occasionally doing that would not really effect you much but the accumulated effect will lead to premature failure of the stepper motors.
Another alternative is to break up single tool paths in multiple tool paths as recommended earlier when a tool path completes pause and stop and then simply disable previously completed tool paths. That may be possible but not likely with 3d carving.
I use gSender. When you press stop partway through during a carve, it displays the line number it stopped at and stores that line number. When you restart, there is a small button that will restart from the last place stopped. It appears to work whether you rehome the Z axis carriage or not. It is an easy solution where the carve will be long and you want to provide a break so that the machinery can be switched off, without creating any issues.
Do you know if it backs to a rapid move. Seems if it was in a cut that could be dangerous to start there. Or do you wait until a retract to stop?
I use gSender in one of two ways. If I want to take a temporary break, I just press the stop button within the software. It knows the line number where it has stopped and providing I do not close the software, the place it will start from is the line number that it was halted at. The only difference is that instead of using the Load File button and the Start Job command, I just use the command, Resume job at line
If I close the software and the machine, on restarting the machine and the software, it will not know where it was halted but providing the same workpiece is in situ and at the same position, with the XYZ position of the Z axis carriage measured from the same starting point, one can enter the line number for the software to start from and it will start exactly from the point it was stopped. gSender also has a pause button that one can use if only for a short rest for any purpose. I prefer to use the more formal stop because if the power is cut, I can still return without having lost anything whereas the pause relies on the power to the machine and the software being open.
As an asideā¦ I always note the XYZ position of the process at the start and at the finish, especially where more work is to be done. The sofware behaves in a way that is always the same. In the worst case I can always enter all of the parameters manually. The homing process of my SO3 leaves the Z axis carriage at a distance of -3.00 from the end stops in XY and Z directions. I have found gSender very useful when carving very intricate 3D models which may generate long processing times.
Is Gsender a separate software?
I tend to create my code in manageable chunks to avoid this issue. For example, my latest job takes about 13 hours of milling overall. I do the coarsest bit as one file, the medium bit as another and break the fine bit milling into an additional five files. I donāt know if itās different for a Shapoko, Iām on a Nomad, but I can turn the machine off of the night and it will re-initialize close enough that Iāve never seen any registration issues.
And, yes, my steppers get hot just holding position for an hour. I havenāt measured them quantitatively but itās uncomfortable to keep fingers on one.
Thank you all, for your wisdom!
Iām going to look at this G messenger thing!!
Long 3D reliefs are tiring and would like to be able to split the jobs!
I mean G sender!
Thanks once again for your responses!