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Author Topic: Bugs in version 2.74 surfacing wizard  (Read 8212 times)

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Bugs in version 2.74 surfacing wizard
« on: May 20, 2007, 05:02:36 PM »
Ron, as you probably remember I reported this bug quite a while ago and thought it had been fixed, but if it was fixed it creeped back in again. In the 2.74 version of the surfacing wizard, I have the Mist Coolant button selected on, but as the following generated code shows there is no M8 command to turn it on, only a M9 to turn it off at the end. Note that this "no coolant" problem had occurred in several of the other wizards also, so it would be a good idea to check to see if it got back in other ones also.

(Code by Newfangled Wizard, 5/20/2007)
(Program Posted for Aluminum )
G0 G49 G40.1 G17
G80 G50 G90 G98 
G20 (Inch)
(***** Material Surfacing *****)
M03 S1082.3
G00 Z0.1
G00 Z0.1
G00 X-1.7 Y3.25
G01 Z-0.01 F20
G01 X8
G01 Y1
G01 X0
G01 Y-1.25
G01 X8
G0 Z0.1
G0 X0Y4
M5 M9
M30

The toolpath that is generated to do the surfacing also has a problem. This workpiece is 4" wide, 8" long and the zero point is at the lower left hand corner and is selected for this in the wizard. The cutting tool is a 3" diameter face mill and the wizard is set for feed stepover. The first pass makes sense, its at a centerline of Y3.25" which gives the expected 75% overlap of the cutter with the top of the workpiece. The second pass then occurs at a centerline of Y1, which makes sense as the cutter is moved over for another 75% overlap with the uncut part of the workpiece. Since the cutter is 3" in diameter, this means the cutter overhangs the bottom of the workpiece by .25", so after the pass the surface cut is complete.

However for some reason, an additional cut is made with a centerline of Y-1.25, making a .25" overlap cut on the bottom of the workpiece which is unnecessary since this part has been cut already.

Thanks,

Paul Titchener
Re: Bugs in version 2.74 surfacing wizard
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2007, 09:20:29 PM »
When I run it it does generate the Mist, but its M7 , not M8. I tried all the combinations of mist and flood, on and off, and all seem to work. Does yours do a flood if you select it?

I see the extra pass, but so far I have not figured out why its doing it.

I also see your code has x -1.7, which looks like you have a .2 setting for approach amt, but it only does that for the first X move. I would think it should do it for each pass.

I will fix this,

ron ginger
Re: Bugs in version 2.74 surfacing wizard
« Reply #2 on: May 22, 2007, 04:13:35 PM »
Strange, if I turn on both the Flood and Mist I still don't get an M7 or an M8 in the code, I just did it again and  here's what pops out:

(Code by Newfangled Wizard, 5/22/2007)
(Program Posted for Aluminum )
G0 G49 G40.1 G17
G80 G50 G90 G98 
G20 (Inch)
(***** Material Surfacing *****)
M03 S1082.3
G00 Z0.1
G00 Z0.1
G00 X-1.7 Y3.25
G01 Z-0.01 F20
G01 X8
G01 Y1
G01 X0
G01 Y-1.25
G01 X8
G0 Z0.1
G0 X0Y4
M5 M9
M30

This is with Mach3 version 0.065 and its displays version 2.74 for the Conversational wizards. Its doing this same thing on 2 PC's, both my "design" PC and my "machine" PC. Its it possible that although its displaying version 2.74 that somehow an older version of the wizards is getting installed?

Thanks for looking into it-

Paul T.
Re: Bugs in version 2.74 surfacing wizard
« Reply #3 on: May 22, 2007, 04:16:49 PM »
Regarding the approach amount, since I had selected Feed Stepover option I thinks its correct that you only see the approach implemented on the first engagement with the workpiece, after that everything is a feed stepover, correct?
Re: Bugs in version 2.74 surfacing wizard
« Reply #4 on: May 23, 2007, 12:10:14 PM »
Ok, I see the problem.

The wizard tests the tool selected to see if it is the same tool last used by a wizard. If it is the same it does NOT add a tool change, nor does it turn on the coolant. This was part of the plan for wizards to be useful to build a big program by running several wizards in sequence. As the demo video shows you could do something like cut a circle, then drill a bolt circle around it, then return to mach and run the one big program. If you did that you wouldn't want a tool change and the coolant going on and off between features of the part.

Will you run a test using a different tool number and see if that adds the coolant words?

Clearly this is a bad plan, so I will fix the wizard, but I have to think about how to do this without the fix rippling through all the other wizards. 

« Last Edit: May 23, 2007, 12:12:34 PM by Ron Ginger »
Re: Bugs in version 2.74 surfacing wizard
« Reply #5 on: May 23, 2007, 01:12:50 PM »
Hi Ron-

Ok, if I use a different tool number than the last one used in the wizard, I do now get both the tool change and the mist and coolant being turned on, but I'm still seeing a couple of problems.

If you turn on both mist and flood the wizard puts both commands on the same line, which causes an error in Mach.

If you try to use tool zero as the "new" tool number, the wizard never puts the tool change or the flood/mist commands in, even though tool zero is a legal tool number in Mach. I use it often when I'm going to be making any tool changes, one thing special about tool zero is it doesn't have an offset, so you don't have to worry about the offset being set correctly.

As far as trying to eliminate "extra" tool change and coolant calls in the generated wizard code, I think that's asking for trouble. Just because the tool specified the last time the wizards were used is the same as the one specified in a new wizard run doesn't mean that the tool is still in the machine, so if you don't specifiy the tool change you could cause a bad crash when the machine runs with a tool number that has a different offset than the tool that is actually in the machine.

This is something better handled on the Mach level anyway- I modified my tool change macros in Mach so that if it realizes that the tool being requested in a tool change is the same one thats in the machine already it doesn't stop for that tool change.

Paul T.
Re: Bugs in version 2.74 surfacing wizard
« Reply #6 on: May 23, 2007, 02:56:20 PM »
I agree it is better to make an extra tool change than to miss one!

I will correct the wizard to always put the tool change and coolant choices in the code. Ill also put M7 and M8 on separate lines- I did not know Mach objected to that.

I suspect this problem occurs with other wizards as well- they all have some similar code to minimize tool changes.

Im still looking at the extra pass problem.  Ill post a fixed zip file in a day or two.

thanks for your help in finding this problem.
Re: Bugs in version 2.74 surfacing wizard
« Reply #7 on: May 30, 2007, 01:52:18 AM »
Has the extra pass been fixed yet.  If so, where does one find it?  I have had this problem a couple of times also.  I would like too say tha I am enjoying the ease of use of these wizards.  I have just started trying them.  I am a BobCad user and find these are really nice to use for routine cutting.  Very user friendly.  Thanks for making them available.

Marty
Re: Bugs in version 2.74 surfacing wizard
« Reply #8 on: May 30, 2007, 08:42:16 AM »
Sorry, I have not found why it makes an extra pass yet. I will find it. When I have a fix I will post a file on this forum.
Re: Bugs in version 2.74 surfacing wizard
« Reply #9 on: July 11, 2007, 01:37:13 PM »
Ron, any luck in fixing the "extra pass" problem described above? The Surfacing Wizard is a very fundamental one and its important that it functions correctly.

Thanks,

Paul T.