Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: fbmstar on April 25, 2015, 05:25:02 PM
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Hi all!
I'm having some difficulty trying to do some 3D cutting with very small line segments. The g code that was produced is just shy of 100K lines. I can start the program, and it runs fine until it hits about the 20K line mark, then I start getting very jerky movement on all 3 axis. I also notice that when I start getting the jerky movement, mach 3 is using a full 50% of the CPU (dual core machine), and when it's running fine, it only uses 28-45% of the CPU.
Just to test it out, I took a segment of code out of the middle, where I was getting very jerky movement (about the 39K-40K), and saved this as a new file that was only about 1k lines long. The machine runs fine with this file, and CPU usage is about 30%.
I've tried disabling the tool path preview to save system resources, but this didn't really help at all. I'm not sure what else to do, except manually edit the G-code into multiple files, which is something I'd really like to not have to do.
computer specs:
HP DC5700 small form factor
Windows 7 32 bit
Intel Pentium 4 (2 CPU's) 3.00GHz
1Gig ram
Is my computer just not up to par? Any suggestions on how to get a little more performance out of it?
thanks in advance for any suggestions, they are truly appreciated!
-Brian
P.S. G-code file is attached for reference
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What is the look ahead set to ?
(;-) TP
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Look ahead was set to 20, changed it to 200, no difference.
Thanks
Brian
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Turn off the toolpath display and it should run fine. This is a known issue with large files.
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Unfortunately, I tried that and it did not work.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks
Brian
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Does your PC have a separate video card?
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It does not, it's a pretty basic machine, I only have Gail tools and mach 3 installed in it.
Thanks
Brian
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Are you using the parallel port?
A separate video card is a requirement for running Mach3 with the parallel port.
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I'm using Ethernet. The controller is a Gail dmc2183. I might have an extra video card to try in the machine, I'll try that one I get home to see if it helps. I appreciate the advice.
Brian
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GUYS we are going to have to start asking what controller they are running first thing. Else we just chase our tales over and over again.
You are probably having Galil buffer problems
Just a thought, (;-)
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First off, I really appreciate the input, thanks much!
I haven't yet tried the video card, but will do so in the morning, if I have one that will fit.
Sorry about not posting the controller specs. There is so much to list to describe a machine, I just tried to keep it simple at first.
I did a quick google search for "galil buffer... problem,limitation,issue". Didn't come across much except for this post:
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=11716.0;wap2
looks like he had an issue with extremely small line segment (in the range of .0003"). I noticed that my g-code has some of those as well....
I'm seeing quite a bit of info in the galil user manual when searching for "buffer", and some of the numbers I'm seeing don't look too promising, although I'm clearly by no means an expert on this stuff. I'll dig into the manual a little more tomorrow. I'll also take a look at the program making the g-cade and see if I can't get these line segments a little bigger. I must say, the parts are coming out really smooth, but the time delay from these pauses is pretty substantial.
thanks again for the input. you guys really gave me some good direction to go in.
-Brian