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Topics - castleworks

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1
General Mach Discussion / Charging for CNC Time
« on: October 14, 2010, 04:07:41 PM »
Hi All,

I have recently added CNC router capabilities to my business, and one thing I struggle with is how to price time on the machine.

My SW has the ability to calculate the cut time, so I have a good grasp on that, and of course my material costs.

I am looking for general guidelines and better understand what other shops out there are doing.

I appreciate any feedback you may have.

Thanks!

2
Share Your GCode / Looking for Ferrari Emblem G code or DXF file
« on: October 11, 2010, 06:29:54 PM »
Hi All,

I am looking for either a DXF file or G code of the Ferrari prancing horse logo.

Any other super cars would be great too....Lamborghini, Porsche etc

Thanks!

Castle Works

3
G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Importing EPS files to Autocad??
« on: October 07, 2010, 11:20:39 AM »

I am finding most files I wish to cut are in EPS or AI format. Short of purchasing a full CAM program, does anyone know if EPS files can be imported to Autocad, so I can then save them as a DXF file for LazyCAM to use?

I have been avoiding spending the $$ on a CAM program and get by using LazyCAM to gain more experience on my table.

Any suggestions??

Thanks

4
Just jumping in cutting out my first pieces on my CNC router.

When I load a file into Mach 3, the image appears correct in the proper orientation, but when it gets cut out on the table, it is the mirror image of what is shown in Mach (or my original DXF file for that matter.

Any thoughts on what I have set wrong?

By mirror image I mean if I were cutting out a horse that was facing left, the image faces left, but when cut out it faces right.

5
LazyCam (Beta) / Missing parts from DXF import
« on: September 27, 2010, 02:20:48 PM »
I have created a DXF file in AutoCad, and imported it into LazyCAM successfully and all components of the drawing show up in LC.

However once I generate the G code and load it into Mach 3 only portions of the picture are present.

I cannot see a correlation between the parts that show up and those that do not. The only difference I see when importing the file are that some entities show up as a green line an others as a blue line.

I am new to LC and not sure what the different colors represent.

I have made sure the original DWG file has good connections and no unterminated lines.

Any suggestion on what is happening?

I have tried this on two different files, in both cases the DWG file was created from a scanned image using Raster to vector conversion, then cleaned up in Autocad and saved as a DXF file. I have made certain all lines inthe DWG file were on the same layer, and same line type.

Thanks

Kevin

6
LazyCam (Beta) / Setting depth in Lazy Cam
« on: September 26, 2010, 03:34:32 PM »
I have never used Lazy Cam before, so please bear with me.

I have imported a DXF file into LC and would like to do a simple 2D outline cut of my image  (a line drawing), all lines the same depth and width.

However I am not sure about the process of going about this in LC. Is there a way I can specify all lines in my project to be the same depth and width.

I am really wanting to try this simple exercise first in an effort to learn more about LC.

Thanks

Kevin

7
General Mach Discussion / Running my first program
« on: September 26, 2010, 11:33:57 AM »
Hi All,

I am ready to run my first test program on my CNC Router and am looking for a little guidance.

I have the table proved in manually, it is auto zeroing, and ready to run an automated test.

I loaded the "roadrunner" file that comes with Mach3 and ran it without any tool (cutting air so to speak) and all seemed to work fine.

My primary question is how to set my tool diameter or what it should be??  When running some of the programs shared here on the forum, do they generally contain tool information, so I know what to run??

Thanks

Kevin


8
General Mach Discussion / Setting Z axis height
« on: July 06, 2010, 09:21:53 PM »
I am in the infancy of starting up my CNC router and have another basic question.


How do I tell Mach where the top edge of my piece to cut is located? Is there an offset you enter first before running one of the example G code files (such as the Road Runner?

Thanks

Castle Works


9
General Mach Discussion / Initial Test Run for CNC Router
« on: July 01, 2010, 09:18:50 PM »
Hi All,

Well I have all my home switches working, table seem functional.....so my next question. Where to go from here?

Should I load a test program and see what happens from there?  Are there some real simple test programs available to prove in the table and verify operation?

Thanks

Kevin

10
General Mach Discussion / Setting machine Coordinates
« on: June 23, 2010, 01:26:32 PM »
Hi Ail,

I am having some difficulty with homing and machine coordinates.

When I jog the table so that all home switches are active and in their respective homes, how do I tell Mach that the current position is "HOME"  Currently the machine coordinates show it to be in another arbitrary place and I cannot seem to set the current position to zero.  I want to be able to test out the homing of the table and insure all axis go home properly and position properly.

Any suggestions?

A second question is, when my table moves the DRO's indicate the table has moved twice the actual movement of the table. Is this set up in the motor tuning section?

Thanks

Kevin

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