Wishlist for Carbide Motion Updates

Software Carbide Motion
41

Being able to turn VFD spindle on in jog mode so we can manually drive a cutter if we need to clean up a small area.

3 Likes
42

I also wish for an elapsed time counterā€¦ I never remember to set a timer when I start a job. Would be nice for consistent tracking of how long a job takes.

3 Likes
45

Thatā€™s Carbide Create. This thread is for Carbide Motion.

1 Like
46

Pause CM for a tool change mid program. If you have a 7hr run and the tool breaks or gets dull 70% through, you have no choice but to shut it down and start over with a fresh tool. This REALLY NEEDS TO BE HIGH PRIORITY.

2 Likes
48

What kind of programs do you run that are 7 hours long? Curious if this stems from a real-world incident youā€™ve experienced, and whether or not there are some strategies to mitigate this issue in the short term.

Ex: If youā€™re doing a really long roughing toolpath, it would maybe be a good idea to split up your toolpaths. Do one roughing pass from, say, the top surface, down to a halfway point. And then another roughing toolpath from that depth onward. The ability to restart a program from an arbitrary toolpath in a program is in the roadmap, so that should help address any inconvenience from your particular use case. And otherwise, it would be trivial to export a new version of your program with one or more preceeding toolpaths disabled.

5 Likes
49

I was 3d machining a 12" dia imported jpeg, final pass was a 1/16" dia ball mill with a .007" stepover to get the detail I wanted.

50

When I have a tool path that is over an hour or two I usually break it up into more tool paths with different depths and have tools set up with step numbers added to them just to trigger a tool change. Itā€™s the same tool, just has an added digit to it. Triggers the tool change, plus itā€™s a point I can reference back to if I need to start over for some reason

3 Likes
51

I donā€™t believe you can break up a 3d rough and finish, only regular svg vectors can be segregated.

52

For 3D roughing or finishing in sections just draw in geometry which defines the areas ā€” overlap them by the radius of the tool being used.

3 Likes
53

You could break up the job by using boundary geometry to define sections for it to do in sequence. Not sure how this would turn out for a single piece - may result in tooling artifacts from the various toolpathā€™s overlaps.

54

A curious thing I find about the 3D operations is how boundary geometry defines where the center of the tool goes to, not the edge of the tool like other 2D path generation.
This small difference has messed with my thinking vs resulting product more than a few times!

55

Interesting, i will test the overlap boundary to see how it works, i worry about a noticeable glitch at the transition is almost inevitable. I have issues with overlapping svg images all the time

56

For the 3D roughing it shouldnā€™t be an issue ā€” depending on the nature of the 3D toolpath and where it is, it might be visible, depending on the material.

It should be possible to make vector geometry seamless ā€” post a file youā€™re having this trouble with?

57

3d roughing isnā€™t a problem, that is fast. Itā€™s the 3d finish is the long run time with small cutters

58

Utilizing boundary geometry with 3D finishing works - I have been playing with it a lot recently trying to speed up a carving.

59

After having multiple random disconnects while machining parts the past couple of days, I feel thatā€™s a major cop out on Carbideā€™s response of ā€œYou should split up your fileā€.

Needless to say, my friends and coworkers have heard me sing the praises of the failures of the electronical bits of this machine.

60

Electrical disconnects are a separate issue, see:

If you continue to have difficulties, let us know at support@carbide3d.com and we will do our best to work through them with you.

61

Must a 3d finish be preceeded by a 3d rough or can it stand alone?

62

Regarding grounding, I am definitely a fan of elect grounds. Not only is my Shapeoko 5 grounded but my dust cyclone is grounded top and bottom to the cnc cart and I run 3 separate elect circuits, 1 for cnc control, 1 for vac and 1 for the VFD spindle controller. I have had zero electrical issues.

63

A 3D Roughing pass must precede any 3D finishing passes.

If you do successive 3D finishing passes, itā€™s best to not skip sizes, so something like:

  • 3D Rough w/ 1/4" ball-nose
  • 3D Finish w/ 1/8" ball-nose
  • (second) 3D Finish w/ 1/16" ball-nose