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Is this a bug in LazyTurn?
« on: October 31, 2009, 08:54:42 PM »
Hi Rich et al.,

So, I sprung for the $175 and purchased the license to Mach3.  Solved the previous G-code garble problem.

I'm cutting a profile into wood.  I'm using three separate runs:
  1) cut the billet down from square to round,
  2) cut the desired profile into the billet,
  3) make a deep, parting cut.

Now, I used the same AutoCAD file for both run 2 and run 3.  I just made the parting cut deeper for run 3 and moved some surfaces up to the billet diameter so LazyTurn wouldn't waste time cutting the same areas again.  I didn't move any the location of the parting cut.  I just made it deeper for run 3.

I was very careful not to shift ANYTHING in AutoCAD.  Indeed, I can load the two runs alternately in AutoCAD and they perfectly overlay each other.  I also checked the positions of the vertical lines defining the shallow cut and the deep cut and their X values were identical.  Only the length of the lines, i.e. the Y ends, were different, to set the depth of the cut.

When I fire up run 3, it wants to make the parting cut about 2 mm farther out, i.e., about 2mm offset on the Z-axis, and out of position from where the shallow version of the cut was made in run 2.

Am I missing something here?  It looks like a bug in the program to me, but I'm hoping you'll have an explanation that I overlooked.

By the way, everything else is working well.  I'm very pleased with myself because the hardware I scrounged and assembled is performing just as I hoped.  Not a hint of chatter. Plenty of torque in the step motors.  I can re-run phase 2 over and over and it overlays the previous cuts perfectly.  Fun and amazing to watch.

I just can't figure out why LazyTurn is shifting the location of the parting cut.

Any ideas?

Regards,
Dave

Offline RICH

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Re: Is this a bug in LazyTurn?
« Reply #1 on: October 31, 2009, 10:21:08 PM »
Dave,
Been a while since i fooled with LT. Post the DXF. Can you post some screen shots?
RICH
Re: Is this a bug in LazyTurn?
« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2009, 10:45:51 PM »
Rich,

Here are the two .tap files and the corresponding DXFs.

If you'll tell me what screens you want and what program you like for capturing screens, I'll send them.  (I've literally never captured screenshots before.  Just never had to.)

For some reason, I thought you wrote the LazyTurn manual.  Thanks for offering to help.

Dave

Offline RICH

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Re: Is this a bug in LazyTurn?
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2009, 09:21:34 AM »
Dave,
I did write the manual from 400 pages of information and LT is still in development. The manual is not complete and will also change when we get into the finishing pass ( hopefully this fall / very soon ). The manual reflects were we left off in the developement.

So if you ask is this a bug? Maybe.....  during the testing i would would easily try something out against 20 files and see if i could duplicate it. Transparent to others, 2 to 4 hours were spent and who knows what other folks would put into it.

So will need to play around some.

There are free screen capture programs, if you could try a search and you should find a posting which gives you a link,
or maybe someone will post one here for you.

The screens required would be the the tool and it's parameters, and a shot of the generated pathing.

Sorry no imeadiate answer / bear with me, i'll take a look in the next few days.

RICH


 

Offline budman68

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Re: Is this a bug in LazyTurn?
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2009, 10:35:29 AM »
Dave, you don't need a seperate screen capture program. When you have the screen showing on your monitor that you want to capture, just click the "print screen" button on your keyboard. That sends the image to the clipboard and then all you have to do is open up microsoft paint (comes with Windows) and click on Edit then paste and the image should appear. Then you can crop it (or not) and save it as a JPEG file but make sure you name it something odd like "Servolock1234" or it will not upload on this forum as this forum does not allow 2 files of the same name to be uploaded.

Then when you reply to a post, just click on the "Additional Options" link and it will slide open and then you can upload your screenshot using the "Browse" button.

Hope this helps.
Dave
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Dave->    ;)
Re: Is this a bug in LazyTurn?
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2009, 04:43:34 PM »
There's another source of confusion that might relate to my problems.  I can't figure how to put my profiles in AutoCAD's upper left quadrant. 

Apparently it's not enough to simply set the set the UCS origin at the bottom right corner of the profile drawing.  I found out by experimentation that I can have the same profile in two different drawings, both with the UCS origin set to the same place on the drawing, but LT will place the profiles at different places on the billet. 

I started with a drawing that LT would accept, but I didn't like it because the profile was too far away from the chuck.  To reposition the profile closer to the chuck, I had to move the drawing over in AutoCAD.  Then I set the UCS origin to put 0,0 where it belonged again.  It's as though AutoCAD and /or LT have a hidden "machine coordinate system" that I don't know where to find.  The UCS is all relative and LT is ignoring it and using the hidden, absolute coordinates instead of the relative coordinates of the UCS.  Maybe everybody that uses AutoCAD knows about this but me.  Could easily be true; I've never taken a class.   So at this moment, I don't know how to place my drawings in the upper left quadrant because LT doesn't seem to use the UCS origin to define quadrants.

In case it matters, I'm using AutoCAD LT97. 

Thanks for any help.

Dave

Offline RICH

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Re: Is this a bug in LazyTurn?
« Reply #6 on: November 01, 2009, 05:13:09 PM »
Select all on the drawing, then,  do a right click with the mouse and you will get the flyout menu for command selection, follow the "MOVE" commands prompts, you snap to the point on the drawing and move it to coardinate by typing in "0,0,0".
RICH
Re: Is this a bug in LazyTurn?
« Reply #7 on: November 02, 2009, 12:19:50 AM »
Rich,

I think what you just described is equivalent to what I normally do, which is: "Tools,"  "UCS," "Origin," then I snap-to whatever point I want to be 0,0 and left-click it.  That makes the point 0,0 in the UCS, but somehow that's not what LT wants.  Because if I move the profile a little left or right and then fix the origin like I just described, to keep the profile at 0,0 in every case, LT will still move the profile on the on the Z-axis.  As though there's an underlying coordinate system that AutoCAD and LT are using, and LT is ignoring the UCS.

By trial and error I can figure out where LT thinks its origin is.  I just wish I knew what's going on.

Thanks,
Dave

Offline budman68

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Re: Is this a bug in LazyTurn?
« Reply #8 on: November 02, 2009, 05:03:41 AM »
Dave,

I'm at work this morning so I can't really send you any screen shots to help visually but there's yellow a ruler/scale for each the Z and the X in L- Turn.

Are you adjusting those to your liking?

Dave
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Offline RICH

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Re: Is this a bug in LazyTurn?
« Reply #9 on: November 02, 2009, 08:50:17 AM »
Open the OPTIONS MENU>SET PATH OPTIONS and check that there is no Z offset.
(section 5.5 / page 8 in the manual).
Also as Bud posted, see section 6.2.1 page 23 of the manual. But the Z start point should default to 0 idf that is what you have
in the OPTIONS.
Also make sure you installed  the latest version of LT. I believeit can be found in reply #1067 page 107 of he LazyTrun thread.
RICH
« Last Edit: November 02, 2009, 09:00:43 AM by RICH »