Hello,

I am new to MACH3 and lazycam, however I am getting the hang of it little by little.
I attempted a a simple 4-letter text test engraving in Lazycam.  Target material was 1/8" thick fiber board.
I created a test 3 X 3 area with the letters "CA50"
I set up a tool (1/8" engraving bit) with .020 cutting depth, and set all layers (copied to)  as .500" over all height, .125" "start cutting depth" and .105" cutting depth.
I saved the file and then opened in Mach3

All letters were a typical "outlined" font in Lazycam (outside / inside lines).

Everything started perfectly, and the first letter "C" was flawless (.020 depth engraving).  When it moved on to the "A" (second character), for some reason the bit plunged all the way down through the material to Z position 0 (home) and then came back up to the correct height and continued engraving the A.  When it moved on to the remaining two character, they seemed to engrave fine (correct height and depth) with the exception of a small engraved line from the inside line of the "0" to the outside line of the "0"...  I will deal with that quirk later...

Why would the bit plunge all the way down when it started the "A", but not on any of the other characters?

What settings should I look at?

Did I miss a procedure on setup in lazycam?

I am having a lot of fun with both MACH3 and Lazycam, and the DXF import seems to work well... so far...

Thanks!

-SP

The attached pic was done per the manual ( pages 63 to 65 ). See attached pic. Note that you must select all of the letters and apply the settings. If you only don't, then machining of the unselected text will be done per LC cut default settings.
RICH

 

Ah...

I think it is going to revolve around my cut-start and cut-depth settings.  I will give it a try tomorrow.

Thanks!

-SP