Perplexing Gerber Sabre problem

[Dropout]

Good afternoon all.

While using the 3D engrave function on my Gerber Sabre 408 I noticed that there are random holes in the finished piece. I have run the part 4 times. One worked fine, the other 3 has spots where the Z axis went too far into the material.

Same material, same file, same machining setup, different results.

Any ideas?

And, while on the subject, is it ususal for the roughing out portion of the flat groove engraving to take so long? For most of the time it seems like it's cutting air.

Thanks.

 

[Tony Teveris]

The AutoCarve module is very sensitive to "dirty" data. Meaning lots of points, weird bezier curves, etc. The data is also position sensitive. many people when designing their job do not design it about the (0,0) position thus the X/Y data points are very large and cause problems.

I've wanted to rewrite the 3D module for years but routers are lower then dirt around here on the list of things to do. What version of GA/Omega and ArtPAth are you using and if you send me the job (RTP file) I'll look at it.

I do not have a router handy so I might take a while to look at.

 

[Dropout]

Hi Tony

Are you suggesting that I keep the job as close to 0,0 on the table as possible? I'm running Omega 2.1 and the related ArtPath.

I'm not sure there's anything in the RTP file that matters since it has run successfully once and the errors are random.

Thanks.

 

[Tony Teveris]

No, when I say close to (0,0) I mean the original design. In your case where you had it placed in Composer. A lot of people when they design a job have no reference they just design it in "space". The lower left of the job may be out at (30, 25)

Your not regenerating the tool paths every time? just routing the same RTP file, correct?

With the newer ArtPath (Omega versions) within Artpath you are able to save your job as a spool file just like GspPlot, I do not think you can do this in 2.1.
So we really can't go on testing something I had in mind. If you had a spool file all the commands for the router are in it and you should be able to play it over and over again and get the same result.



I'll ask the TechSupport people what they think and get back to you.

 

[Dropout]

Hi Tony

This particular file was created in Adobe Illustrator by the client, imported into Corel and then exported as a CMX file so ArtPath could read it.

What should I be doing to make sure that the final design is as clean as possible? Have the original file saved as an early AI file?

Is there any advantage to bringing the file into Omega and saving it as a .plt rather than just importing the .cmx into ArtPath?

Dropout

 

[Dropout]

Hi Tony

Just to clarify, yes I am regenerating the toolpath every time. In the instance that worked the ArtPath file had two of the cravings to do. One worked and one didn't.

Dropout

 

[Tony Teveris]

May I ask why you are regenerating the tool paths. Are you changing parameters?

Once a tool path is generated (created) there is no need to recreate each time you want to output.

Once your job is setup and all the tool paths are generated you can just save the file (RTP) and when you want to output just open the RTP file in Artpath and rout it, no recreation.

 

[Tony Teveris]

Missed the first question, In Corel or AI insure that the lower left of the design is (0,0) that should be fine. No advantage bringing it into Omega (Composer) unless you want to do some editting (node) or see how "clean" the data is (via detail edit). Current Omega version are far superior in the detail edit then 2.1

 

[Dropout]

May I ask why you are regenerating the tool paths. Are you changing parameters?

Once a tool path is generated (created) there is no need to recreate each time you want to output.

Once your job is setup and all the tool paths are generated you can just save the file (RTP) and when you want to output just open the RTP file in Artpath and rout it, no recreation.

Hi Tony

The part in question was part of a larger job and was nested with other panels. As the parts didn't work, I added them to later panels and had to set them up again.

Dropout

 

[Dropout]

Missed the first question, In Corel or AI insure that the lower left of the design is (0,0) that should be fine. No advantage bringing it into Omega (Composer) unless you want to do some editting (node) or see how "clean" the data is (via detail edit). Current Omega version are far superior in the detail edit then 2.1

Thanks, I'll try that. I did notice that in my file the lower left was negative for both X and Y.

Dropout

 

[Dropout]

Solved

OK, the lower left corner was -174,-355 or thereabouts. That's inches, not mm. I changed it to 0,0 and the part ran just fine.

Thanks Tony. :U Rock:

 

[Tony Teveris]

Those are BIG inches.

The reason I say all of this is that the AutoCarve module is old 16 bit code and has limits on a lot of variables. If you have any future problems let me know.