Messages

1

LazyCam (Beta) / creating contoured z paths

« on: October 11, 2011, 03:39:26 PM »

I've been using lazycam and mach3 for the past 2 years or so for milling with a router but I'm trying to develop a new approach and don't know how to achieve it with LC, or if it's even possible.

I don't know the correct verbiage to describe this, but I'd like create a "scoop" out of wood; curved z contours. Instead of just plunging the router in to a depth and dragging through the wood, I'd like it to slowly ramp down in z value and then ramp back up as it moves x and y. Basically an arc in the z direction.

Does LC have the capability to do this?  If not, what does?

Thanks much

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: lazy cam to mach 3 - loss of drawing integrity

« on: September 12, 2010, 08:25:54 PM »

It was my tolerance setting in lazy cam.  Set it to .001 and all is well. Thanks for the help.

While I'm here, I've set my motor steps per unit to get a 1:1 ratio on the table. However my x is spot on while my y is off by about a half inch. I cannot figure out why. X and y motors have the same settings an I don't have any scaling applied to the y axis. Any thoughts?

3

General Mach Discussion / lazy cam to mach 3 - loss of drawing integrity

« on: September 09, 2010, 04:17:24 PM »

First time poster on this forum.  Apologies if this question has been addressed.  I looked in the FAQ's and poked around a bit.

I'm starting my mill file in Autocad, importing to Lazycam and then opening the g-code in mach 3.

My file in Lazycam looks great.  It looks exactly as I drafted it in CAD.  However, when I open the g-code in Mach 3 I lose a lot of the integrity of the original drawing.  For example, some arcs will become giant circles, or if I have two lines ending close to each other Mach 3 will connect them, much to my dismay.  I've had to do all these work-arounds, actually changing my CAD file through trial and error to get Mach 3 to perform as I originally intended it to with my CAD drawing.

Is there a setting or tolerance I need to adjust in either Lazy cam or mach 3?  Is there a thread about something similar someone can point me to?  I have a pretty good feeling this is all user error, but I'd like to learn how to fix it.

Thank you.