I’m assuming that you mean when using a probing pin to set Z zero before switching to the first tool in a toolpath? Otherwise, if there’s a single cutter to be used, and it’s used to set Z zero, I don’t see that the bitsetter is making any difference.
I’ve noticed that when the machine descends to the Bitsetter button it is not quite centered on the button. Is there a way to reset the default location of the Bitsetter button?
If the BitSetter is enabled, it needs to know the length of the cutter when cutting, and the length of the pin/tool used to set the original Z zero. Even if you have a one tool job, and set the zero with that tool, all of the math and process is still necessary because you might use that same zero again in the future with a different tool, or with the tool sticking out of the collet a different length.
If you have the BitSetter disabled then none of that matters at all and the code path is very different.
You can redo the setup wizard in CM6 to change the position or fine tune it, but it should not have an affect on how jobs run.
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You will need to do the initial machine setup over in Carbide Motion. Thats where you position the spindle to Bitsetter
I would love a way to support surfacing, and without having to do it from CC, I would like to have it as an option inside CM, because sometimes I want to just throw something on the CNC, surface it, and get back to work. My computer is in the house, I have a tablet that I use to run the CNC.
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The pause situation you’re describing is specific to the SO5Pro. If you have an older SO4 the pause actually does turn off the spindle and retract from the surface. From what I’ve understood from previous forum posts is that this functionality had to be removed because there was no more memory on the onboard controller because they had to make room for the additional Y homing or something like that.
I would agree that it’s frustrating that the pause functions the way it does on the 5. So much that it has me debating if it’s even worth upgrading at any point because I make heavy use of the current pause functionality on my 4 to walk away from a job if I need to.
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If you put this feature in be sure to add a button, perhaps in the Bitrunner setup page, that permits you to turn this feature off. I use Bitrunner to run my dust collector through a timer relay (3 seconds later) and if I pause the run for a moment I don’t necessarily want the dust collector shutting down. Just make the feature user selective.
This doesn’t really help solve your actual problem but I’m throwing it out there as an idea:
I keep my files in a dropbox account so I can do heavy editing on my computer in my office and then it syncs automatically on my little tablet hooked up to the machine so I’m not ferrying USB sticks around and worrying about file versions.
I have a couple of files set up for quick jobs. One is for surfacing, one for juice grooves in cutting boards, and things like that. I can pop those files open, change the dimensions of the material and the one surfacing vector, the depth on the tool path, and have the machine surfacing within minutes. I installed Carbide Create on the cheapo Win10 tablet I have hooked to the machine. It has no problem doing quick edits to simple files.
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A repeat job would be an awesome for surfacing options in Carbide Motion… Basically when I surface stock, I want the option to reset zero, or go to the new zero should be after surfacing and just repeat the job, rather than having to go through the whole sequence again. I have a batch of files for the stock that I use for incremental and repeat items (surfacing, juice grooves are the two big ones) so I just repeat them until I get to where I want to be.
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100% on your comment. I have had issues on 3d carving that did not allow for a bit change which required a full restart
I would love to have a button to reload the current job. Often I need to make changes to a file in CarbideCreate, and save over that file, and in order to be absolutely certain those changes come into CarbideMotion, I will hit “Load new file”, load a different file, then load the one that was originally open (with the changes). I have been bitten twice by a load of the same file not picking up the changes. It feels to my software engineer brain as though the file has been cached in CM, and the updated file isn’t considered new enough to bust that cache.
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I just always rename the new/updated file — that way I’m sure that:
- I actually wrote out a new file
- the new file was actually loaded
and as a bonus, I have the version with the error to stow away in a “backups” folder for later reference.
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^^This! Irritating it goes through the initialization process again.
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I"ve had the same concern. But after loading/reloading the same named file with alterations to it each time over a period of 20+ reloads, I’m pretty confident CM loads the file as it is saved on the HDD/SDD/memory stick - at least on the Raspberry Pi version. No idea if it loads the whole thing into memory or not as I was not brave enough to try over-writing the file mid-job-cutting.
However, I did notice that the last loaded file name automatically shows up in the ‘Open’ dialog for readily re-loading the same file.
This is no longer correct. In the latest Carbide Motion, after you stop program execution, you are not forced to re-initialize.
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What’s odd is that I’ve seen mine do it or not do it…seemingly randomly. Or perhaps, it’s not an actual initialization as it is just going back to ‘Home’ in on the limit switches. But perhaps that was more of a thing in the previous 5.xx version of CM. And maybe I’m totally wrong cause whenever I hit ‘Stop’ I’m more concerned about how I’ve wrecked a piece vs. what the behavior of the machine is!
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Wait what? What version? I’m running 618 I could swear I stopped a cut due to bowl bit plunge the other day and it forced me to re-initialize. It stopped went alllllllllllllllll the way back to far right then went to front etc.
“Pause”, “Stop” or both? I recall pausing the program, and then stopping and not being required to re initialize, but if I hit stop while running a program, then I would have to reinitialize the machine.
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For your first point, the control pad on the VFD should come out, and be a regular ethernet connector behind. I have my VFD behind the cnc, and a long ethernet cord from it to a surface mount box with a dummy plate on it, so my VFD control is at the front right corner of my machine. I can run, stop and see the rpm of the spindle at all times. Good for disabling the spindle before bit changes too.
Not sure if someone has covered this but time remaining on current operation would be very helpful. That way you can set a timer and know when to return for a tool chg.
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