Problems with cutting

[FORBRI40]

Good morning all,

I need help please,
I recently built a 5' x 8' cnc wood router. It is driven by rack and pinions on x and y axis. The z is a ballscrew. I am using clearpath servo motors on all axis's. Since we built the machine it has run beautifully. Just about a week ago we were trying to cut something and the machine would miss cutting sections of the program. It has been getting worse and worse. A few nights ago i drew five rectangles in Vectric aspire. I previewed the toolpath and created a g code and all was good but when i sent it to mach 3. It did not cut the rectangles correctly. It left off part of the ends and put in cuts that were not correct. When you look at the preview toolpath everything looks great but it does not put that to the wood.
I am using a c23 board and a smooth stepper with ethernet connection.
I run Vectric aspire and windows 7 pro and mach3. As i said, it has ran for a couple months beautifully but now is messing up constantly.

Also is there a great motion control board that everyone uses when using mach 3, i was told that my c23 board is long outdated and there are much better ones out there huhhuh?

[FORBRI40]

I did not mention that I did check all set screws and mounts for the motors and the ballscrew. The racks and pinions are all tight. I did take a program last night that I used to run alot and it ran perfectly. It was about a two hour program and never missed a beat. Now Im thinking it may be something in aspire but I just dont know where to look.

[IslaWW]

I would first eliminate static as a cause of the errors. Next I would verify that there is no physical or mechanical binds.

Does the error happen on one or more axes? Swap motors to see if problem moves with one or the other.

Next, replace cables, then components.

Since you are using ClearPath motors you might think about upgrading to a more modern controller. WinCNC, UCCNC and Centroid Acorn are proving to be much more stable and compatible with modern computers than Mach.

[FORBRI40]

What is stumping me is that I can run an older 2 hour long program and it runs great but I draw a simple rectangle and create a toolpath and it Will Not cut correctly. It wont be to size and it misses areas . Im just assuming that static would be a problem all the time , not just a rectangle.

[Leo]

I wonder if there are a bunch of lines (vectors) that are not correctly joined and the cutter is trying to cut on opposite sides of the lines.

Can you post your aspire file - so we can look at it?

[Leo]

Nah - the preview looks OK - can't be what I said about vectors.

Still want to see the aspire file.

[FORBRI40]

The blue one is the Aspire toolpath screen. As far as Nodes, It has very few. One on each corner and a straight line connecting the corners.

[mtylerfl]

Are you using the correct Post Processor for your newly created files?

Check your older files that are cutting correctly and make sure your new files are using the same PP as your old ones.

[FORBRI40]

Both are using the Mach 3 post processor

[mtylerfl]

I show eight different Mach 3 post processors in my list. You're certain you are using the correct version for your new projects?

[FORBRI40]

I only show 4,,,, Two are metric Two are english. I dont know what the differences are but I always pick the first english one

[mtylerfl]

I only show 4,,,, Two are metric Two are english. I dont know what the differences are but I always pick the first english one

The first one in my list of 8 is Mach2/3 ATC Arcs (inch) (*.txt) (ATC is the abbreviation for Automatic Tool Changer)

IF that's the one you have used for your old files that cut properly, and IF that's the same one you are using for your new projects, then it must not be a post processor choice issue. I just wanted to help you eliminate that as a possible snafu.

We definitely need to see your file example of the rectangle. Please post it here as soon as it's convenient for you. The preview looks wacky and leads me to believe there's "something wrong" in your layout and/or toolpathing. We can tell right away when we view the file ourselves.

[FORBRI40]

The toolpath pic was just something that I snapped a pic of the screen to show that there were square corners. I did not make them the same size of height or width. Then I cut them and it cut them like the second photo. The hook on the left end is put in by something as the last cut of the project. The cutter runs back and forth but not to size for the length. then before it finishes each one it drops in to produce the hook that you see in the pic.

Do you need the Gcode list???OR???

[dealguy11]

Both the gcode and the Aspire file that produced it would be helpful.

[mtylerfl]

Yes! Post the Aspire "rectangle file" you took a screenshot of for sure! Don't just give us a file with a rectangle...Toolpath it just exactly as you normally do (or did for that strange preview you showed us).

Other than posting a file with copyright or trademark items, everyone should ALWAYS post the troublesome file (or at least a DropBox link to it) when asking for help. Yeah - always.