Vapor lock

[chunkstyle]

Hi all,

I just finished running a small 3 sht job for some miscl. parts and a cabinet.
First sheet had 8 disks 5" in diameter. Sheet also had a counter top that needed a 2" diameter hole and a rectangular hole with a 1/16" rabbet on the outside edge for a wiring grommet and ventilation grill respectively.

Onion skin on the 5" diameter disks were not cut thru. Left all the disks with onion skin. Disks were also getting cut where there was a momentary pause at 4 points equally spaced around the circumference. 12,3,6,9 o-clock. Is this normal? Had some lomg parts with semicircle ends and the machine did the same pauses at the beginning and end of the circumference's.

Grommet hole was cut out by plunging the bit (.25" MC) into the center and moving out to the circumference and going all the way around. Did this for both passes so it seemed o.k. Didn't leave an onion skin, though. Just cut it out with two passes at the max depth of cut (.375").

Finally the vent grill hole with recess for the vent grill's flange.
Machine cut out the hole in two passes just like the grommet hole. It then made a series of tool paths to hog out the meat. Exciting few seconds trying to get the meat that was now freed from the previous tool paths, away from the bit that was knocking it around inside the hole.

Lastly, on the second sheet that was run, we had straight forward cabinet parts. A left and right side with hinge plate holes, some stretchers and a display panel. Everything was going fine and the onion skins were all cut from all the parts untill the display panel. It was the last part and the bit was just getting into the cut when the machine stopped functioning. I hit the space bar and nothing happened. Bit screaming away in the hole and a big angry STOP in the tool location panel. Finally just killed power to the machine and did a hard reboot on the computer. Started everything up again and pulled the spindle up and out of the hole. Toasted.

Same settings as I was using from an earlier run. Needed to get these two sheets milled to complete the job. First ten sheets had similiar odd shaped parts but went off without a hitch (well...more like different hitch's).

Any one experiencing this kind of erratic machining?

Thanks
Tim

[Brady Watson]

Restart & Check your PC. Make sure that nothing is running in the background - Typically a program looking for an update. This includes Windows Update. Turn all that stuff off. Also goto Add/Remove Programs and try to 'trim the fat' removing any program that is not essential to the PC and the ShopBot.

The Task Manager can help you to see what is running & help point you towards the culprit.

-B

[chunkstyle]

Thanks Brady,

I'll do that first thing in the morning and see if that solves it.

[Gary Campbell]

Tim...
Lets see if I can point you to where to check these items, as if your settings are as I guess, then you experienced normal cutting.

Part editor cuts, especially imported, dont use the cut thru setting, watch the postion on the console, it may go down only to zero. Did you import the vectors AND were they 4 90 degree arcs that make a circle. That start and stop is usually a CAD import.

The grommet hole looks like an interpolation. What is your max interpolation for that bit set at? 2.8 times the bit diameter should be the max. Make sure your skin settings are larger than those part sizes. parts smaller than the settings will have the skin left on.

The vent hole being turned to dust is the result of the pocket area (thru cuts) being set too large. set it smaller. All of this is explained in the video you just ordered!

As far as the wierd behavior goes, I too have experienced an almost identical occurance. Had to hit the breaker to kill the spindle. Burned a 1.5" black spot in the spoilboard before I got it all shut down.

Its getting scary with some of these newer "nuances". back "in the ol days" you just hit the spacebar and it all stopped. Most of the time the spindle even lifted. It always turned off. You usually lost position on the Z/A. Not any more. It seems you never know whats going to happen. You ALWAYS lose position. Seldom lifts the spindle. Occasionally doesnt stop spindle.

Maybe after one of the newbies get hurt they will believe that wierd stuff is happening. They dont believe me.

[chunkstyle]

Thanks Gary,

I'll check my settings as you suggested and see if that doesn't help.
The part editor cuts were done by importing dxf drawings into part editor and I did use the cut thru. The circles were created as a circle in cad. The long pieces that had the semi circles on the ends were circles that had been bisected.
Although I have always specified a cut thru depth in the past I did use the simple cut thru option. I will go back to what you are recommending.
There's a lot about this concept of e-cabs and SB's running together that doesn't feel ready for prime time. Anyone have parts where only 2/3's of the onion skin has been removed? I have and sent TWD the pictures to prove it. I've also got pictures of blind dado tenon cuts that did not get the shoulder cut on one of the four sides for drawer box bottoms. E-cab drawings were done with blind dado construction on all four sides of the box bottoms. I took pictures of the parts before I corrected them on the router table. These problems don't seem as though they could have been caused by incorrect settings. I will admit to using part editor quite heavily. No more than past cabinet files which would run off smoothly with a Thermwood.
I'd hate to think what would have happened if I had my back turned on the machine and the 'sit and spin' incident had occurred. All that vacuum air and a bit getting real hot real fast.....
Thankfully I have not trusted the machine, link or myself to work correctly and was still gawking while it was cutting.

Thanks for the help, it's always appreciated.

Tim

[Gary Campbell]

Tim...
I am not sure about your CAD program, but there may be an option to join all the segments prior to export. Maybe some of the more learned can chime in.

There does seem to be a few more "bugs" using the Link with V6 cabs. I had not noticed this until lately as I had a big job in FL that I designed in V5 and havent cut a much till the last couple weeks. I am trying to get these repeatable so I can report them.

Gawk at the console and look at the cut depth (Z) instead of the machine. Lots of info there. After a while you will get so you can spot problems before you remove the parts

[mike_greschuk]

Hello Tim,
If you made these in ecab and used the contour editor to make your circles or 3 point arcs i had some real problems with weird behavior and cut throughs. it showed in the code and so I sent it off to thermwood and they said it is a bug and might be corrected in the next link build
Mike

[ken_rychlik]

Tim,

On the skin not being cut off.... What is your cut through setting and does it happen all the time or just in the afternoon?

Gary,

I can somewhat understand sb not wanting to listen much to people using custom files, but when you have other people downloading the latest software and there machine blows past the proxy's banging the hard stops, there are "issues" with it.

[chunkstyle]

Good question Kenneth,

Why would the time of day matter? You thinking that it's a scheduled task on the computer maybe? Weird stuff happened last night at around 6 p.m.
I've had the machine cut oddly almost any time, though.
I've attached pictures of an earlier cutting session where I had some of the described onion skin hijinks going on. They were sent to TWD a few weeks back and I haven't heard anything about it from them since.

Thanks for the ideas, it's appreciated.

Tim

[ken_rychlik]

Tim, I sometimes have to increase my cut through depth in the afternoon as my spoilboard "shrinks" a little after running it all day. i don't think that is your ussue.

Based on your picture where it is pulling up and cutting shallower, it has to be something with the part editor cuts. You do have tabs turned off right? Thats a very large tab.

When I have parts like that to cut, I use V-carve. It is just faster than going through the trouble of trying to get a dxf into a part editor and make it work.

I draw them and cut them in the same place and before you have your dxf drawn and try to import it, I would be cutting.

If you have not heard back from thermwood, I would call them.

If you send me your dxf that you used, I will look at it. i am wondering what the nodes look like. Sometimes ecabs is picky about what it likes in the dxf. Thats the main reason I go back to v carve.

So Gary, In your "opinion" what was the latest stable version of sb3?