I cut my first larger project today on my Longmill MK2 after two years of just puttering around with it. Time to get to work.
I created a graphic in Illustrator, imported the SVG into Aspire, and created all the toolpaths. Everything looks fine in the file, there’s no stray vector lines or points anywhere, nor do they show up in gSender in the preview window. But this is what happened:
There is a path that the tool cut between the two pockets, and that path doesn’t exist in the gcode or the vector in Aspire. There is a second toolpath later that is used to cut out the panels when all of the inner cuts are completed, but even it doesn’t go where the erroneous path cut, shown here, with the oddball in red:
Have you verified that the dimensions on the cuts are the same as your drawing? My first instinct looking at that is missed-steps while moving along that axis causing things to overlap. I had that problem once while lasering with rapid movements.
Mostly happened to me with front to back movements (y-axis?? The one driven by two motors).
@KnightcraftCustom Welcome to the group, Dave.
As I don’t have Aspire, I couldn’t look at the crv3d file if I wanted to. If you want to upload the svg file, I bring it into VCarvePro to see if anything jumps out.
Did you have the profile pass set to be done last? If so there could have been lost steps on the bottom pass in the opposite direction?
Check the opposite corner to see if the profile is jagged from the clearing pass or smooth from having the profile pass go around. That will determine if steps were missed or not.
@KnightcraftCustom There is no svg file in that zip,Dave. There are two xml files, but that’s it.
Looking at the pic again, what have you set your safe z to in Aspire?
Also, the file shows that you are running a Mac. Since Aspire does not run in Mac, I figure you are running parallels or something. Have you had any issues with this in the past?
My safe Z was set to 70mm due to my clamps. And I run Aspire on a Windows 10 machine, but all my design work for SVG is done with Illustrator, typically on a Mac.
Profile pass was done after the clearing pass, yes. I don’t see any strange parts anywhere else on the cut pieces other than where that oddball path went.
@KnightcraftCustom I have the svg imported into vcarvepro 12. It’s not clear to me what you want the outcome to be. In the pic, the paw looks to be vcarved outline, but in the pic showing the problem, the material is being pocketed out. Can you explain a bit what you are shooting for.
While it might not affect the outcome, the vector validator shows 220 intersections and 7 overlaps.
I set the material thickness to 3/4". I didn’t know yours and it’s not critical.
I pocketed out the individual shapes with a 1/16" end mill. Even then, the legs on the small dog aren’t cut well.
I pocketed out the inner panels to 1/4" using a 1/4" DC end mill. Again, just chose an arbitrary depth.
I profile cut the panel vectors using a 1/4" DC end mill outside the line.
I didn’t take the time to clean up the overlaps and intersections. I don’t really think they are the root of your problem, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to clean them up.
I’m running the latest update of v12.
Grbl (mm) is the post processor selected based on my Longmill MK2 48x30.
I found the vector validator. I had removed a lot of the intersections after importing, there were lots of little pieces and whatnot, I show 5 overlaps and 8 intersections in my Aspire file.
I exported the file as a .CRV if you want to take a look at what I was working with directly.
I believe it did end correctly, but I will give it another dry run pass a little closer to the bed so I can watch what it does and see if it does it again.
If all else fails, I’ll try the Vectric forum as suggested.
