First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

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AzDusty
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First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

Post by AzDusty »

Hello, I finally (thought) I had my shop sign ready to go. I put the work surface dimensions in 16x10x.75. Fired up the brand new Piranha FX and let it work. I checked on it and all I saw was about 1/2 of the board thickness being ground away and nothing from the sign being cut. I know it is near impossible for you to help troubleshoot this without the files but I will upload them when I get home from work tonight. I got a feeling it is in the cut setup that I messed up on but who knows.

Thanks in advance,
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ger21
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Re: First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

Post by ger21 »

Pictures are also helpful...
Gerry - http://www.thecncwoodworker.com

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Re: First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

Post by MarkJohnston »

I know it can be frustrating when your new but also when you've been doing it a long time and things don't go as planed.

Be patient and by all means post pictures and files or portions of files for us to look at as long as they don't contain copyright info.

The main thing to look at is how the files are displayed on the preview screen. I have never seen a problem with that unless there is a hardware problem or a setup problem.

Mark

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Xxray
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Re: First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

Post by Xxray »

Seems to me the most likely scenario is either you set the Z wrong, or the machine was set to cut too deep.

Mechanical issues are not rare but usually are not the culprit, these machines follow orders to the letter, and operator error is most often at fault.
Doug

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AzDusty
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Re: First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

Post by AzDusty »

Hello again, real life has crept up and slapped me silly I apologize for the long delay posting pictures and files.
Attachments
sign.dxf
(601.06 KiB) Downloaded 113 times
mysign.png
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Re: First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

Post by mtylerfl »

Hi Dusty.

Please post your actual VCarve file (delete any copyright models first, but leave your toolpaths intact). Also, instead of a screenshot of the Toolpath preview, maybe you can post a photo of the actual carve so we can see what you saw.
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AzDusty
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Re: First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

Post by AzDusty »

Michael, I tried to upload the .crv but it exceeded the maximum size allowed can I zip the file first? As for a picture you mean of the failure I can do that for sure.
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Re: First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

Post by Rcnewcomb »

If the file is too large you can try Zipping it and uploading it. If the Zip file is still too large you can post it on something like Drive.Google.Com or DropBox.com and then post the link to the file.
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Re: First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

Post by redwood »

Check the thickness of your models (ducks). Based on the preview, your carve is going to remove all material around the ducks, leaving just the ducks. They your VCarved text will come into play.
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Re: First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

Post by redwood »

here is a different look for your sign.
Dusty's.jpg
Mark
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AzDusty
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Re: First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

Post by AzDusty »

Redwood, that is an awesome sign. Wish I had the talent to be that creative.
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AzDusty
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Re: First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

Post by AzDusty »

Again, sorry for the lack of response on my part, my wife is going through some serious health issues and I am pretty scatter-brained worrying about her, trying to focus at my day job and it has caused serious lack of focus. I want to thank everyone for their support and suggestions as I try to do the one thing that helps me keep life under control.

Enough about me here is the CRV? file for the failed sign.

https://db.tt/P9mTlfWbax
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Adrian
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Re: First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

Post by Adrian »

It's doing what you're telling it do but whether the final result is what you're imagining it be I don't know. The preview will show you exactly what you're going to get.

The reason why all you saw was the material being machine away and nothing else is because you have the birds in relief so the all the material lower than the birds has to be removed. If you run the preview on each toolpath in turn you can see what is going on.

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AzDusty
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Re: First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

Post by AzDusty »

Ok so, Adrian, how can I have it remove less material overall? Please understand I am way less experienced than a newbie and any help is greatly appreciated. My desire is to use 3/4 inch and have the finished sign be around 1/2 inch thick.

All, you are a great group of mentors and I want to thank you all for your willingness to support.
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Adrian
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Re: First Attempt, First Epic Fail!

Post by Adrian »

It's the thickness of the component (the bird) that dictates the amount of material removed. At the moment it should be removing less than a 1/4" (actually nearer to an 1/8) as the birds are less thick than that.

If the finishing pass is removing more than that amount of material then you have a different issue with the way you're setting the z zero or the setup of your machine. With the area of material being removed you should really have a roughing toolpath as well as the finishing toolpath as it will speed things up greatly.

This is a bit of an advanced project for your first job. It would be better to start with simple profile cuts, VCarve cuts and then a single relief model to understand how they all work and before trying to do it all in one go. At the moment there are so many potential problem areas it's hard to know what to suggest.

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