Halftoner Leaving Lines

[GaryD__]

Hi
Being brand new to CNC please forgive me if my query is basic. I am trying to master the Halftoner gadget, i am using 2ft x 2 ft 18mm thick MDF then painting and sanding the surface after the cuts are finished.
I am getting some pretty good results apart from 1 issue, after the machine as cut a row of dots/circles it then retracts upwards and then travels back to the start of the next line, my problem is that when travelling back to
the start of the next line the cutter tip is catching the surface of the MDF and leaving unsightly lines. I do realise that in Aspire in general i would just raise the safe Z height in the settings but in the gadget if i go to edit toolpath
after creating the toolpath there is no setting which will allow me to raise the safe Z and then avoid the horrible lines i am getting at the moment.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
GaryD

[adze_cnc]

Gary,

I thought I'd install the gadget and see how it works. It installed into VCarve just fine but...when run it said it was for Aspire only. Naughty installer.

Looking at the webpage for it I noticed an image showing "Retract Z". So the question that comes to mind is: have you set the "Retract Z" when creating the half-tone? If you have set a "Retract Z" how about setting it to a really large value say 50mm (actually setting it to what already are using + 18mm for that material should be sufficient)?

Steven

[Adrian]

For those without Aspire you can use the halftoner program from Jason Dorie which will work in VCarve - http://jasondorie.com/page_cnc.html - import the created DXF and create a VCarve toolpath on the circles.

Steven is correct regarding the problem.

[GaryD__]

Hi
Thank you both for your replies which are much appreciated after reading your reply i did notice the retract Z option which was so obvious after looking for it, this as now cured my issue.
Next time i will make sure i am wearing my specs when using the computer ......Cheers