AWESOME!!! , hopefully the cut goes well.
it did!!! I want to raise that Z another .001 as you can now see that slight trail on the path it was trying to take earlier with the Z buried down. We did it Jon!!! Omg this is so awesome, you made my week getting this to work with me 
I cannot thank you enough, I will send a pic one sec
Check it out! Do you know if a way to connect those 2 top paths in estlcam when using engrave? Maybe just the only way to do it, as little nip gone but also left sled there paused for a few mins as had to help my daughter who fell outside. The marks in the square are from other stuff not this cut. The left side coming down at slight angle, that is newâŚbut again Z probably just a touch too low. .
I am so excited right now, canât begin to explain! We did it! Houston, we have Maslow takeoff!!
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Glad to see things working well finally. Good job!
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Keep using your paper method for zeroing your Z for now. Itâs simple and effective. You might want to add and additional +.002" - .004" to make sure you are actualy clear of the workpiece but other than that, you are off to the races !!!
Also that controller wipe, absolutely WAS necessary! We needed to get rid of that file, it has to be corrupt. Now for the first time, using same Gcode, that square is exactly 4 inch by 4 inch. Previously, it was 3 7/8 x 3 7/8. I did NOTHING different to that code, so you were right, that webcontrol.json file has to be getting corrupt. Maybe from the groundcontrol.ini load, but somehow it was corrupt as that was the only thing we changed was wiping that file and replacing it with new calibration.
Thank you for all your help!! Without your help, not sure where the heck I would be in this process. Not here with success, that is for sure! Do you add that after you touch paper, just to be safe right? Yes off to the races now. I want to see if can get a side panel cut or maybe control panel area, then will show you what i designed for the first official run
Yes. Touch paper then raise Z another +.002" - .004".
I believe you had multiple problems:
- Improper initial set up and calibration - which explains your dimensional discrepency and the sled not centering to the workarea.
- Corrupted webcontrol.json file - which explains the weird behavior of webcontrol showing inacurate sled location information.
- Router base to body binding - which was causing the router to not fully retract prior to returning home.
Start simple. make multple test cuts. experiment with different bits ⌠Learn about tool changing, it will drasticaly improve the quality of your cuts.
Now that everything is working, back up your webcontrol.json file one more time.
thanks I will do that! Do you suggest a down cut bit as a beginner, or up cut? I do want to try to engrave too, like letters. oh yes, that file!! Can I backup from WebcontrolâŚso this way you load back into Webcontrol? I know you can load. I will checkâŚ
Down Cut or Up Cut depends on several things but think about which one to use as if they were hand saws. Some woods you want to cut towars the center of the wood because you are trying ot avoid tear out on the upper surface but you have to worry about tear out on the back surface. Conversly, sometimes you want to cut towards the upper surface because you want to avoid tear out of the back surface.
In CNC you typicaly dont cut all the way throguh the wood at once. So I actualy perform most of my cuts with two seperate tools. I start my cuts with a downcut spiral so that I get a nice clean cut and no tear out. I will cut about a third of the way through using a down cut bit. I will then switch to an upcut bit so that I dont tear out the back side surface but also to help clear the chips out of the kerf. The BIG caution with down cut bits is that you cant plunge them straight in when starting your cuts. They need to be ramped down to their cutting depths. plunging them straight will cause burning or even fires.
If you are just practicing and dont care about upper suface tearout thaten I would use an upcut bit because it more effectively clears chips and prevent your bits from overheating.
What a great explanation, thank you This all makes sense to me now that you state it all this way. I saved this explanation so I always have it in my files. So I think going to change my bit as I want the top of the wood to be clean, and the other side I do not care about as would be the inside or bottom of what I am cutting. At least for now if just use one bit. This is great info
Yes, inthe webcontrol Actions menu, there is an option for âBackup Webcontrolâ. It will backup not only the webcontrol.json file but also your log files and any previously uploaded gcode files too. It compresses them into a zip file. Your web browser will treat them the same way it treats any other internet download file so you may be prompted for where to save them localy or they may go too whereever your default downloads folder is. One thing to remember though is that for some reason the file doesnt have an extension. You just need to add a .zip to the end and it can be treated like any zip file.
ok thanks, saving this now. I will look for the button to save as well.
If you use just the down cut bit then I woould advise following along behind the sled with a vacuum to clear outt the kerf. Otherwise the downcut bit will just keep packing ships into the kerf.
If your parts you are cutting are one sided then you can cut them face down (nice side down). That way you can use an upcut bit and get the chip clearing. You also wouldnt need to ramp your cuts.
So when you have an issue, do you âRestore Webcontrolâ, or manually import in .json file with that button (as I saved the Webcontrol.json") file as well.
Iâve only ever transfered the .json file with an ftp client like filezilla or winSCP. But I believe the âimport webcontrol.json fileâ button does that effectively the same thing.
Thanks, more great info. I have a powerful 2 horse vac system my wife got me for christmas, it looks to be clearing out everything nice, but I will watch for that to follow and clear manually