weeke Z axis

[whitey]

We are running a Weeke vantage 33 flat table, and Aspire. When we set up a project to run, the side view shows the cutter will enter the spoil board. I have looked for a way to move the toolpath into the actual work piece, not the spoil board, but not having too much sucess. I have tried simply cutting a circle, and loading a project of the month, but both are missing that way of positioning the toolpath in the material.

Thanks, White

[4240harold]

make sure in the job set up z zero is set to bottom
Harold

[whitey]

Thanks Harold for the response. I tried to set the Z to the bottom on several different projects, but without sucess. As you likely realize from operating a Weeke, mirroring in the X or Y axis is simple: what I appear to need is to mirror in the Z axis. When you load a project into assignment on your machine, do you ever have this problem? Does your toolpath defalt to the top of the material? (assuming that the Z is set to the bottom of the wood )

Thanks for your help, White.

[4240harold]

Hello White
I never have had the problem you described, but I had a problem when I zeroed from top.
Are You exporting mpr and ply files individually and pasting in to mp4 and ml4 files on machine
I have previously being onto Aspire to get a better post processor , but unfortunately although they had said they would look at it , nothing has happened yet-------- (maybe someone will see this )
Harold
Ps if it is any help you can give me a ring

[whitey]

Hi Harold,
Yes we are importing the 2 files and loading them. I am going to look at some new possibilities tomorrow, and I am determined to solve the mystery. I believe we are one setting away, we just need to find it!

We have some smart computer people here, and other CNC machines, so this shouldn't be uncharted waters for us. I do believe that Weeke has excellent control softwarwe, and it is designed to protect the machine from crashes, but we really need to know it throughly to get the most out of it. One setting prevents the correct results for us.

Thanks for the offer of a phone call. I am on the other side of the ocean, so time zones count here. If I cannot solve this, I will be in contact, but will share the answer one way or the other.

Thanks for your input, White.

[smart-interiors]

Hi White, I think we had the same problem but to resolve we have been setting the tool depth in woodwop (assuming using the same post processor) as minus the material thickness. So make your program as you would like it to finish in Aspire then when the ml4 is in woodwop assign a tool then if say the material is 18mm in Aspire then in woodwop set the tool as -18.

Maybe talking about different things but sounded similar to a problem we had.

[Woodworker27]

Hello Whitey
Did you ever find a solution to your problem? We are having the exact same difficulties. I feel like I have tried everything but nothing seems to run properly.

[zeeway]

Where to set z=0 is an interesting discussion, and you will hear many opinions. I have had the best results setting z=0 at the top of the material (shown in the material view, or under "edit job size and position", right?). The only time I have had serious issues was when I set z=0 in the software to the top of the material, but on my machine, set z=0 to the table top. That resulted in a few unwanted divots in the table top.

So, my advice, make sure that z=0 is set the same in the software and on the actual material. Check that safe z will clear the material. And make sure your machine knows which way is z+ and which was is z-.

By the way, in the software, z=0 position will default to whatever you used the last time you had the program open, as I recall.

And for the first couple of runs, set z=0 way above the table and do some trial run air cuts to check everything.

Angie