Wincnc tweaking for v-carving

[Eric Mims]

So, I have been noticing my v-carving wasn't 'smooth' enough.. it would have steps, or what look like chatter marks. But I could hear the machine stepping so I know it wasn't chatter.

My G09 is at 6, which I found to be the highest I could go without losing Z steps over the course of running a file (found this during all the testing we did a couple months ago with the drives/new drives).

But I found that each drive had it's own setting axismode s=5. If I raised this up to 10 or 15, the v-carving went much smoother. But I am wondering if the accuracy is still there... can I leave it there to cut all sorts of cuts, or just v-carve?

What are you guys using as settings to get smooth v-carve and/or curves in general?

thanks

Eric

[Eric Mims]

also, Jim, maybe you could email me a simple vcarve file, small vcarve for 120 degree bit zero'd to the top of material. If you have one that you have cut and know produces perfectly smooth cut with no stepping/chatter. if you get a chance to do that, also tell me what feed/speeds and wincnc.ini settings you use to get the smooth results.

thanks

[Eric Mims]

nothing? nobody? surely someone out there is getting v-carving with smooth edges that can tell me settings.

[james mcgrew]

sorry eric i wasn't watchin

back in the am

jim

[GJMATHEWS]

nothing? nobody? surely someone out there is getting v-carving with smooth edges that can tell me settings.

Eric,

I just did a sign yesterday V carving on MDF. V-carving toolpath was generated using Visual Mill 5.0. Initial Cut Feed was 250 IPM. It cut like crud!

Slowed the same program Cut Feed to 80 IPM with XYZ all at a set speed. Not Rapid. Cut beautiful! I am on my way to the shop now. 10 AM Saturday morning. I will copy my settings and let you know where I am.

Keep in mind, just because a machine can move at 1,000 IPM, doesn't always mean it should.

I have cut a lot of different things in the last 3 years and I am still tweaking and adjusting all the time.

Even our 10 spindle machine which cost over a 250K cuts like crap at high speeds. You get a nice product, but quality takes time and speed is not a valid substitute. We get an excellent product when we slow the cutfeed and sync the axis movements.

Keep the faith brother, we will get you there!

Guy

[GJMATHEWS]

Eric, I ran this sign yesterday with a friend at work. It was his first Engraving Project. I am teaching him how to trace contour in Photoshop and convert it into a DWG file for toolpathing. The Ski Patrol Logo was a photo. I had him trace contour to find edges. Exported the bitmap to Rhino and cleaned up the rough edges for the DWG. No fancy software, just the old school way of getting things done. It took him about 15 minutes with me coaching him to produce the tool paths for this proof job.

As I said previously, we ran it at high speed first and it came out choppy. When we slowed the cut feed down, we got a real nice result. On Monday, he is going to cut the Walnut sign for the ski lodge.

I hope my .ini files give you some insight. Remember what I said about cut feed. Fast is not always the best way to do something, unless it is dinner with your in-laws! [lol]