After using my Shapeoko 5 for a few weeks now, I can see some shortcomings in the Motion software that hopefully will be addressed in future updates.
VFD spindle: Insert a warning + chk box during tool changes to verify the spindle has been re-enabled! I have broken 2 expensive cutters and ruined a piece of wood because I did not re-enable spindle and the machine drove a non-rotating cutter into the wood. Or have software verify the spindle is up to RPM prior to moving Z axis. For now, I recommend folks hang or tape a paper sign to your laptop as a reminder. If you haven’t broke a cutter from this issue yet, you will.
Ability to restart a program at any given operation or tool change
After machine initialization, have the JOG available
Do not send the spindle to Bitsetter immediately after initialization, most of the time, the tool hasn’t been installed yet, annoying. Again, not having jog available after initializing makes getting the tool installed a pain.
The ability to start at give lines is coming. There are posts on this that will do better at explaining it.
In CM with the bit setter feature, the first thing the machine must do is set up an initial reference point for the bit height. If you go into jog mode you may change bits or set work Z and if you don’t have that reference for the Bit Setter yet, bad thing can happen, hence the machine disallows this and goes straight to initializing the Bit Setter. then you can play It is trying to keep you out of trouble.
CM is pretty good for keeping you on a good cautionary workflow. Some may say too good and they would like more freedom. At that point you can try other G-senders that are available on the net. CM does not assume your skill level.
As for a bit, it does prompts you for a bit as it requires one to set up the Bit Setter. You can use the the probe bit, and then when it is done you can simple head to the Bit Zero to set up the Work Zero location Or you can just put in your first tool for the up coming job and do the Set Zero manually.
At the start of the job it will prompt you for the first bit of the job which you may have already used to set up the Bit Setter, on the other hand you may have had the probe bit in and now to have changed it to the first tool and measure it.
When going into jog mode it warns you again about changing a bit without probing. That will mess you up. The bit Setter is awesome but you have to let it do its job. If you make a change and it does not know. bad things happen.
Unless CM knows what tool is in spindle, the length is irrelevant. I would be fine with it if we inputted the tool ID and then send it to the Bitsetter for length ref. As you mentioned, one may need the probe for use with Bitzero. In that case, sending the probe to the Bitsetter is a waste of time, length of the probe means nothing.
The length is relative to the last measured length. It doesn’t need to know the tool or how long it is projecting from the collet.
It measures the a point in Z to know how far the end of the but from the machine Z zero. Then you set job zero and any time you change the bit CM uses Bitsetter to call the relative shift in Z from the previous bit. At least that’s the way I understand it.
As Collen said, which tool is in the spindle is irrelevant. The use of the bitsetter after initialization is a reference point for length of the bit for the machine to use on subsequent tool changes. This way you don’t need to reset the Z zero after each tool change. If you are using only one bit, then you my find the use of CM sending it to the bitsetter. Thus the better option would be to have the ability to skip the bitsetter (as opposed to disabling it in the settings).
I want the pause button to also pause the spindle. As of now, it pauses x,y but the bit keeps spinning. Ideally, I think pausing x,y and raising the bit up a couple of inches would be ideal. As as long as we’re here, a “Broken Bit” button that would pause the job, and return to home, prompt for bit replacement, bit setter, then resume where it left off.
If I were making a lot of the same things over and over, my design/programming skills would be good enough to not need this. But I often catch myself needed an extra feature.
There are times where a multi-step process underway and I realize that one of the later steps needs to be changed. I’d like to be able to HALT the program without having to re-Initialize the machine. Screen options could read something like:
[press HALT]
Do you wish to continue from this point?
[yes]: continues on
[no]: spindle moves to center front
Load New File
As it is, Pause enables us to pause the program but it only continues from that point. STOP brings everything to a halt and requires a full re-Intialization, etc. Something in between would prove helpful.
Start Dialog : This is a stupid easy one-- I use Lightburn frequently and it has the option to pop up a dialog box when you start a burn which just lets you put text in there as a last moment reminder.
Mine reads:
Focus?
Air Assist?
Exhaust?
and while I am often on point, that moment to think about it has caught me skipping a step…
I could see:
Got the right bit?
Sure you’re Zero’d?
Dust Collection?
Initialization : From above, agree with others the Bitsetter at initialization is weird. Usually I have nothing loaded so I end up just tap-tapping it. But to disable it, which is a dialog box in, then to re-enable it, which is a dialog box in, is just a UX friction. “On initialization use bit setter?” would be better.
Overrides : As someone who rides speed to chatter then draws back, cncjs resets your speed after a tool change. Could be another option but often I don’t want the same amount of speed override tool change to tool change and if you don’t remember to reset it, whoa be you. heh!
I hear you. I already have descended a spinning cutter into my Bitsetter button due to confusion on how the software works. I’ve got it sorted out now, but yeah. Jog should be available immediately, not simply after a job is loaded.
Jog is available after the machine is initialized. Before the machine is initialized, it’s impossible to know the bounds of the machine to keep from crashing into an end stop, and it’s not possible to set a zero, which is the primary purpose of jogging.
@Mustang
Wow you got a good thread of responses going, Nice.
The code you send the machine is all relative to the work home position. You need a bit or the probe bit of some sort to set up the work home location that the code is referenced to. On a bit change, the bit you changed is going to be some random different length from the previous one. The code is now not set up for this new length. There are several ways to deal with this. Most ways are very manual.
The bit setter is an awesome tool to automate this process by measuring the bit after each change and comparing it to the original reference. It then calculates an offset. The code call for Z movement is then modified by this offset which now keeps everything in line.
That said it is imperative that we set an original bit reference point for the bit setter that all other bit changes are referenced to and an offset is calculated from. C3D picked a workflow for this that would work for most and take most things into consideration.
When setting the Work Zero you can use a Probe Bit. Basically just a straight rod. it is not a tool, it has no tool ID and is not in the G-code. It is used with the Bit Zero to find the top left front corner. I use a bit that comes to a sharp point to set work Zero. Obviously in these cases these need to be changed to the cutting tool when you start the code. Others may just use the first cutting bit. your choice.
C3D’s workflow allows all these options to take place. For some it might seem unnecessary as your setup might not use these. But for others …
So if you look at all combinations it is a method that works for most situations.
Sending the Bit zero bit to the bit setter is absolutely necessary. You just told the machine where work zero is which your G-code file needs, then you changed the bit to the first cutting tool. if it did not measure this then it can not calculate the offset for the new bit and your z reference point that you just set up is lost.
Glad you covered the Probe Bit. In my need for accuracy on projects the Probe is a must. Flutes might not line up to give an accurate reading when you probe. I use one 90 - 95 percent of the time. It becomes habit.
Because they are high carbon steel they rust quickly. I keep the pins in a ziplock bag with a smear of machine oil in it. Have to clean them periodically as dust and dirt can hinder the connectivity when probing and I don’t want oil on the collet.
Well, i beg to differ. After initialization, my jog function is NOT available, only available after inserting a tool and a trip to Bitsetter will it become available. Many folks posting on this may feel I don’t understand the functionality of the Bitsetter; I fully understand it. My issue is that many times I don’t want the first tool in the spindle. Using the Bitzero is a prime example. Installing the probe to set x,y has no use going to Bitsetter, since it is obviously not a cutter. I understand CB3d being conservative with the use of Bitsetter but at least give advanced users an option to jog machine without sending the machine on a wild goose chase. I feel for anyone with a 4x4 machine, that’s a lot of wear and tear on the machine screws and motors.
While running a job, I’d like to see: Time Remaining on Current Tool
I run the machine through the day while doing my “real” job. I know that Carbide Create has time estimates per tool but once it’s in Motion, it only shows the total job time. I like to set my phone alarm a few minutes short of the estimate so I can come check on it and change tools.
It would be really cool to get a realtime estimate of time remaining before the next tool change!
My apologies if someone already said this. I skimmed the thread but didn’t read in detail.
That is the initialization sequence. The full process is to home each axis and then to measure whatever is currently in the spindle.
You can insert a dowel pin or it can be a tool. There’s no need for it to be the first tool of your program.
The Z length of the probe pin, assuming you use that, is used to determine the Z location of your material when probing or touching off. That length can only be determined by the BitSetter, and without knowing the length, you cannot set a Z zero.
An extra 4 feet of motion, even before every job, is not going to damage anything. These machines are meant to run full time, even doing 3D raster toolpaths that go back and forth for hours at a time.
We’ve got a few machines that likely run more than any customer machine doing production work and we’ve never worn out a linear rail, a ballscrew, or a motor.
It is trying to keep you out of trouble.