Vcarve 2d G-Code

[phatjap]

Hello there

I'm having some trouble with my machine and not too sure where it might be coming from - possibly g-code created by v-carve?

I run a small 3 axis cnc machine and Mach 3 and Vcarve. When I jog with the Mach3 flyout and using the keyboard, it all runs nice and smoothly, however, when I run a program created by vcarve, or go to home, it all gets a bit crunchy and the motors are no longer smooth.

I've done some basic tests using MDI and X10.Y10.0 and it seems to be fine, and running a test code given to me by the makers of my machine, all seems well enough.

Does any one have any ideas?

kind regards,

Neil.

[metalworkz]

Hi Neil,
From your brief description it kind of sounds like you may need to do some motor tuning in Mach3. Have you done any motor tuning or calibration with Mach? When you jog the axis with Mach you say it seems fine but when running a program it seems to glitch? Maybe the motors are stalling when trying to do the rapid moves in the program? Have you tried using the MPG flyout and setting the speeds to something closer to what the rapids are in the generated toolptaths? Jogging the axis at varying speeds may give you a better indication of their performance and help you see if the problem could be related to motor tuning? I think the problem lies with the way your machine is set up to respond to the toolpaths more than a problem with the CAM software. You could try some very simple toolpaths with your Z axis zeroed well above the table and see if and where the problem is encountered.
I hope something here helps you, but there is a lot of valuable support information on the Mach support forum also.
Let us know how you progress with this situation and more detailed information may help someone here to provide more/better answers.

[phatjap]

Hi Wes

Thanks for your reply.

I've taken your advice and done some tinkering and reduced the steps and it seems to have fixed it, soft of More tinkering to do.

Thanks for your help so far in pointing out it might be tuning. I thought that part was done!

Many thanks,

Neil.

[dealguy11]

You might also check to see whether Constant Velocity mode is set on in the General Config screen in Mach. If it is turned off (i.e. the machine is in "exact stop" mode) then you may get jerky movements when cutting curves generated by v-carve, especially if you used bezier curves to generate the toolpaths. In addition to turning Constant Velocity on, it is worthwhile to convert all the bezier curves to arcs (using the "Fit Curves to Selected Vectors" function in V-Carve with a tolerance of .005 or less), before you generate your toolpaths.

[phatjap]

Thanks for the advice, all worth looking at.

Regards.