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Messages - Chris the Carpenter

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1
General Mach Discussion / Re: Bit diving when doing tabs
« on: March 06, 2012, 01:36:14 PM »
Well, this is a little bitter-sweet. Your system worked...   ...but I don't know why...

It is looking like this is an issue with "order of operations" when changing things in LazyCam. Alas, after doing it your way (step-by-step) I can't seem to remember how I had been doing it in the past. As a matter of fact, now I can't seem to replicate what I did in the first place nor can I seem to replicate the results (the incorrect results, the "dive"). I suppose that is a good thing and I should not look a gift horse in the mouth, but man --It is always nice when you have problems like this to be able to "toggle" between the wrong way and the right way to confirm and/or pinpoint the exact issue. I just can't seem to do this.

To cut to the chase, it does seem that something somewhere needs to be done in a specific order. Your system does this.  I think I will go with it.  :)

Once again, I appreciate the hell outta your help here. Thank you. I am going to spend the afternoon with some scrap MDF and see if I can isolate this guy a bit more. I will post anything I find here --I'm sure I am not the only one that has run into this.

-Chris

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Bit diving when doing tabs
« on: March 05, 2012, 10:48:49 PM »
Thanks Rich,

I gotta tell ya, I am a bit of a "RTFM snob" myself and it drives me nuts when someone asks a question that is easily found or googleable. I think I did my homework in the google category and I studied all the manual had to tell me, but I gotta tell you, I had the darn'dest time trying to do any searching here. The search engine for this forum seems to be as tricky as LazyCam --depending on my search terms, I got either A)nothing or B) a fire hose of a stuff that didn't pertain to this issue. I suppose it does not help that the particular word I am working with is "tab" --I can tell you how to toggle the jog window on and off, though!  :)

At any rate, I would love to take a look at your tutorial. --And I appreciate, in advance, any other thoughts you may have on the subject.

As for the strip/reload you got going on there... I wish you the best of luck, no, best of patience on that one. I personally strip my machines down to a bare drive with just the system about once a year. It is amazing how much there is to put back on. It is also amazing how many weeks go by of you noticing you still have something else to re-install. I don't envy you and I am thinking happy thoughts.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Bit diving when doing tabs
« on: March 05, 2012, 10:04:25 PM »
Sir,
You are a gentleman and a scholar, I thank you. I appreciate your help thus far and will wait patiently to see if your buddy can turn anything up. --And yes, I have found that LC DOES do some funky stuff from time to time. --I guess I am getting used to it.  :)

Thanks again,
Chris

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Bit diving when doing tabs
« on: March 05, 2012, 09:51:31 PM »
Oh, and yes --I do a clean right after the DXF import.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Bit diving when doing tabs
« on: March 05, 2012, 09:50:45 PM »
Gotta be coming from LazyCam. The original DXF is via InkScape and is designed as if it were 2D --Like you were going to run it through a laser cutter. All depths, pockets (if there were any), passes and tabs are all done in Lazy. I can post the DXF if you like, but there is nothing special there at all. I can draw a square with a circle in the middle and replicate this issue each time. Oh, and yes, the bit information is spot-on --Depth per pass, feed rate etc. all are correct during the normal milling process. This "dive" is at a depth greater than the "max cut" I have set for the bit.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Bit diving when doing tabs
« on: March 05, 2012, 09:28:11 PM »
Yes, the tab is indeed being left, but the material above it must be removed. The issue is that this material (all of it, down to the top of the tab) is being removed during the first pass resulting in the "dive". Enclosed is the tool path that will explain a lot, I think.

--I am just getting used to the in's and out's of this forum. The photo is hopefully attached properly, if not a direct link appears below.

https://picasaweb.google.com/101426164395172997809/March52012#5716604927190850690


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General Mach Discussion / Re: Bit diving when doing tabs
« on: March 05, 2012, 08:35:15 PM »
Alas, it is not the speed at which the "dive" happens that is the problem. It is the fact that the machine is not waiting until it gets down to the level of the tabs before milling them. The tabs should be milled during the last pass of the cut --During the pass that, when finished, will release the part from the stock.

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General Mach Discussion / Bit diving when doing tabs
« on: March 05, 2012, 07:50:25 PM »
Hello folks,
I am having an issue whilst adding tabs to a job. A "standard" scenario would be simply cutting out say, a 2" circle out of 3/4 MDF. I add the tabs via LazyCam, usually 4 of them at .4" wide and .125" high. With a 1/4" bit, the tabs are left just a bit wider than 1/8" (.15) which seems to be about right. In a "just chunk it out" cut, I would be doing the cut as (3) 1/4" deep passes.

The issue is that, during the first pass at cutting the hole out (first pass, at 1/4" deep) the machine "dives" down to cut the tab. After passing the tab, the bit is raised back to the 1/4" depth and the cut of the circle continues. As the next tab is reached, the cycle repeats. So far, in MDF and with a fairly slow feed rate, the bit and router have handled this sudden 5/8" deep cut. I would like to remedy the issue however.

My machine and build updates can be found here:
https://sites.google.com/a/rocketbrandstudios.com/rocket-brand-studios/cnc-project

I appreciate, in advance, your time.

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