Too many points in my G Code

[Craig]

I am Using V Carve and in my drawings there are not many points showing in the arcs. But when I save the file in V Carve and load the G code into Mach 3 it puts a tremendous Number of points in there. Not sure why. All of those points make my machine run slower that the feed rate programmed in V Carve. Not a good quality cut in my machine plus the machine runs so slow. Looking at the g code, it puts points .002 apart. looks more linear than arcs. Any ideas?

[ger21]

Probably because what you think are arcs are probably Bezier curves, which are broken into short G1 moves in the g-code.

[Craig]

Actually, I am creating the files in my other design program - we own a sign company and have a program that we use for design work. Some are of course curves, but very few points. We run plotters, and other
equipment as well and are used to making sure that we reduce points. The code definitely has too many lines. We have an engineer with a cnc milling machine in
our shop - who has a cnc router as well. He looked at the code and said it was way too many. He is not familiar with V Carve, so he had no more insight. Anyway, I
certainly am not familiar enough with V Carve yet and certainly not Mach 3 - not sure if the Mach 3 could be the culprit either. Thanks and I will take any more thoughts that
you may have as well.

[martin54]

What program are you using to design & how are you exporting from it ?
What post processor are you using to save the g-code for mach3 & how have you got your CV settings in mach3 ?

[LittleGreyMan]

I always check imported vectors and clean them if necessary.

In the "Edit Objects" icon group, select "Node Editing" to perform that.

You can minimize the node number using "Fit curves to selected vectors" and choosing the allowance. It will dramatically reduce the node number.

See the manual for full description.

HTH

[Mikehell]

Some post processors save ARCs, some don't, and convert curves into a gazillion lines of code.

Try this: save with a Mach3 post processor without ARC in the name, then save with one that does have ARC in the name and compare the results. If the one saved with ARCS post processor is significantly smaller, the problem is in your post processor.