I created the file in Inkscape as recommended by several users online. It doesn’t have any tabs because I’m only running it for a test that isn’t the full depth of the board. It was supposed to be much larger in size and near the center of the board - not sure why that happened. I’ve been looking at Easel and MakerCam, but other users don’t seem especially impressed with those either … Suggestions? If Inkscape is great, I’m happy to continue using it, though I’m not certain why it changed the size and I don’t know how to do tabs in Inkscape…
So there are issues with the file, starting with this:
G20
G00 Z 5.0000
G20 tells the machine to use imperial units (inches). The second line tells the machine to raise the Z-Axis 5 inches. there’s no way it can raise it that high and it will top out on the router… but it will keep trying.
Okay - to be clear, inches is NEVER okay? I understood the Maslow could operate either way …
Second, how could it end up with a 5 inch raise? I never programmed that? Could that be converting from a 5mm default for moving the bit? Also, it already cut this gcode successfully …
Inches is perfectly fine (I use it pretty much exclusively)… the problem is trying to raise the router bit 5 inches.
I’ve never used the inkscape plugin so I can’t really help on that end.
But, you cannot reasonably cut through 3/4 inch plywood in a single pass. You need to make multiple passes. Rule of thumb is to make each path’s depth equal to 1/2 the width of the router bit. So a 1/4 inch bit (0.25 inches), means paths of 1/8 inch deep (0.125 inches). I normally do around 0.15 inches though and it seems fine.
Also, as an fyi, the feed rate of 200 inches per minute is too high (the number following the F) but it won’t actually cause an issue. The machine, I think, is limited to 42 inches per minute and the machine will throttle the commands to that speed. The problem is that going at max speed may result in a sloppy cut. I try to use 30 ipm
Any guess why it’s trying to raise the router 5 inches? This seems bizarre…
Wow - okay - I’ve read that 400 inches per minute was okay but I cut it back to 200 because I wanted it to be more accurate. Cutting at .15 inches depth at 30ipm will take hours to cut a single board with several paths then, won’t it? I’m asking the question to get a grasp on what you’re saying versus what I’ve seen posted elsewhere and trying to gauge how this machine will fit in my business. That changes my perspective of how this fits into my business quite a bit.
Why it’s trying to raise the router 5 inches? Because the gcode commands tell it to. Why the gcode was generated that way is probably something to do with the inkscape plugin.
The ‘400’ value seems more like mm per min and not inches per minute. And yes, some of the cuts will take time to complete at 30 ipm and 0.15 inches per pass. Do you recall where you saw 400 inches per minute?
I’ve seen it several places - it was 400 mm do I don’t know why it converted to inches - I can only find it now in a self-made “how to convert inkscape to G-code using gcodetools” that I got from elsewhere online. I’m guessing teh 5 inches thing was also supposed to be 5 mm.
Okay - well, it sounds like the machine should be working well now as long as it has good gcode, is that correct?
That’s what I hope for. I don’t know why it wasn’t working with a positional error value of 2 but then after you changed it to 2000, 4, and 3, it worked at 2 again. It’s ‘possible’ that there was some bad value in the controller, like 0, but that really shouldn’t happen. When you checked the power cord into the motor controller, did you notice you could put it in any further?
Nope - it was perfectly fine - I checked all of the cords and all of them were fine (Z-axis too).
Well, try using it and let’s hope something you did fixed something somewhere.
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Great - thank you for your help. I’ll continue this thread if my next cut has any troubles like the last ones and I’ll see what I can do to ensure the gcode is all solid before updating.
Best!
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Take a look at a few other cam programs. You might find ones that work better for you.
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One thing I wanted to point out, from experience. Is that when I was having calibration issues, I couldn’t ever get any manual inputs to stick, until I deleted the .ini file in the users directory. THEN it would let me put whatever I wanted in there, and the numbers would stick.
If you want a super cheap, super easy CAM program that works flawlessly for the Maslow, I use Estlcam (I know you guys are probably tired of hearing me say that lol) and it’s easy to learn, and the Maslow really likes the gerbils (GRBL) it spits out.
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Hello - here again. Six weeks. No success in making a single cut all the way through a board. I have been able to engrave stuff that was supposed to be cut all the way through, but haven’t actually made a successful cut other than during the calibration process. Here is the (hopefully) final problem:
I’m cutting 1/2 inch plywood.
I have good g-code from Easel. At least, it was able to engrave something and create g-code that is recognized by Maslow and the machine moves everywhere it’s supposed to move for hours on end and in the same order Easel set the g-code to do. That’s all fine.
The trouble is with the Z-axis. I defined zero. I can raise it up and down. I’ve changed bits. I’ve adjusted the bit. I can tell it to plunge into a board. No problem there. No error codes (well, I had some, but I found the answer in the forum - Maslow’s picky about the USB port on my laptop).
Easel settings are to travel .15" above the surface and to plunge .2" for all cuts. I checked the g-code. That’s what it says to do.
So far, it scratches the board as it moves, raises the bit when it’s time to cut and moves in the pattern without cutting or scratching anything. The last g-code I gave it, it engraved everything at about .15" after three passes despite the Easel setting being set for .2" each pass until it cut all the way through a 3/4" plywood board. I thought: maybe I did one setting wrong. It was just a test and it went pretty well (just not deep enough), so I made my final file to work on a job for a customer, checked everything at least four times to ensure that cuts would be 1/2" deep after three passes of .2" deep per pass, excepting tabs, etc. Everything looked promising but now it isn’t cutting.
Thoughts?
I may or may not have found the solution. Other people have suggested attaching a bungee cord to the router to keep the z-axis snug while cutting. I held the router snug manually for much of the cut and it seems to have worked, excepting that my bit was maybe too deep in the router to extend as far as the z-axis would like. At any rate, juryrigging seems to be the king of woodworking and it seems to have saved the day again - I’ll be installing bungee cords as others have suggested.
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Yes, the bungee cord is a necessity if you use the stock z-axis kit with the rigid router.
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Yep! Had similar issues here in good old Germany until I fixed some bungees … We drilled 4 holes, added some socket head screws, screwed 4 hooks inside to make sure the bungee(s) are keeping the router center … !IMPORTANT!
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