First cut - am I using the correct post processor

Community Discussion đź“„ General
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my first cut on Altmill, could not find the post processor for the Sienci labs Altmill 4X4. I use Vectric V-carve Pro, and Altmill is not listed in post processors. I have not surfaced my spoilboard yet I did a sample cut for installing T-nuts on a scrap board, set cut depth to .053 “, turned out it cut only .024

I have an openbuilds 1010 which I have been using for 5 years, the Z zero was set correctly, I had used the openbuilds inches post processor since I could not find “GRBL inches” in the Vcarve listing.

Is my Altmill machine not calibrated correctly or am I using the incorrect post processor ?

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@31fordtruck Welcome to the group. Vectric includes both a grbl inch and a grbl mm post processors in their list. Either will work with the Altmill.

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I did use the grbl inch post processor which did not give me the proper depth of cut. In vcarve pro I set the depth to .053” and ended up with a depth of .024 only. After my message I sent I calibrated the Z axis for a 2 inch which actually measured 2 inch.

Where do I go from here ? the firmware I’m using is 1.5.3 for my Altmill

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@31fordtruck What toolpath were you running - pocket, vcarve, profile, etc?

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I was using the pocket toolpath

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@31fordtruck I think that best way for anyone here to be able to help is for you to upload your gcode file.
In vcarve, did you set your Z0 position to the top of the material or the top of the spoilboard?
How did you set Z0 in gSender - touchplate, auto zero touchplate, paper??

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In Vcarve I set the Z”0” to top of workpiece, in gsender I set the Z”0” by paper.

Am I correct in assuming you are located in Ottawa ? I’m in Cumberland, close by you

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I will try to upload the gcode in a few minutes

1 Like
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@31fordtruck I’m in beautiful downtown Kanata. :grinning_face:

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outer.25dc.GCODE (8.2 KB)

outer.25dc.crv (184 KB)

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another lesson learned , always secure your workpiece. On my new setup I have two pieces of 3/4” MDF 48x48 size and I was using a third smaller piece as my workpiece to determine hole depths and diameter to install T-nuts. problem is I neglected to fasten down the third smaller piece of MDF . I did notice I could see a very small gap between the top of the second and third piece of MDF, enough to make all the difference. so when properly screwed down the depth of hole worked out according to my original measurement. hopefully some other makers will also learn from this

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Neeeaaaah we al have been there. My first clamping mistake blew my brand new router to kingdome come. It’s something we need to go trough on our path to become a fully fledged cncer. You can check off bad clamping force.

Let me be the first to congratulate you. Next up is bad clamping position.