Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / non repeating z moves

« on: November 24, 2015, 02:11:21 AM »

hi

I'm having problems with the z accuracy on my router - its a basic 6040 chinese model but has been pretty useful so far.  Im running mach3 under xp and am using a usb interface

so I zero off the bit on the workpiece and then hit either ref all zero or zero x y and z manually ...

i then jog it up so I can snap my dust hood on -

I then press the goto zero button in mach 3 expecting the bit to go reliably back to the surface position

sometimes this works but sometimes the bit plunges a few mm into the part - eek ..

any idea what might be happening?

regards

keith

2

General Mach Discussion / Problem with tool changes and errors in z heights

« on: October 11, 2015, 07:44:28 AM »

Hi folks

I have a simple chinese 6040 router table and I use small manually interchangeable bits - as I mainly cut small scale wood pieces.  I design the work in Fusion 360 and spit out the code from the CAM section.

Im having a problem with changing tools -  and getting errors in z heights in the cut. 

I typically split my code into per tool blocks. My basic process is as follows:

With the bit back at x-0, y=0, I change the bit manually - and then Set the z height of the bit - using the slipping a sheet of paper under the bit end method ...

I then click ref all home to zero the new z value - and check that z value is 0 as I toggle the machine coords button.  If either isn't I use the zero z button. .. I then region the tool path .. and then I continue the cut ..

Trouble is something is going wrong and Im getting errors of in the overall z value  - sometimes as much as 4-5 mm out.  Whilst I set the dimenesions of my tools in Fusion 360 Im assuming that it thinks every tool gets zeroed before use - i.e. that the error is in how Im using Mach 3 - not the CAM package.

Any ideas what Im doing wrong?  Would much appreciate your assistance.

Cheers

Keith