3d Carving help

[Nate Sirek]

With regard to tricking the z down and re setting, where might one do that? Is that just in my Shopbot control software?

[scottp55]

Nate, I started in 2013 with VCP7 Shopbot edition, but I THINK your Partworks may be upgradeable by Shopbot to VCP8 and you may want to check it out.
Only seen 3 upgrades, but Version 8 was a Major one and just the 3D model library alone is worth the cost.
I think the choice of wood had a lot to do with your fibers ripping up, but I just did a Lacewood 3D and used a 3/16"upcut, and everything cut fine until it hit the first "Peak" of a mountain...It tore the fibers up so much it looked like a Chia Pet I only had a .02" skin programmed and it blew right through that. Wish I had taken a pic of it.
I swapped to my .25" downcut/ Z'd to my spoilboard like the first time/ Moved to a spot with a hole in it/moved Z to -.01/ and then Zeroed Z axis in Keypad.
That dropped my cut down .01" and cleaned off the tearout. It was the Lacewood fibers that made it so bad I think, but Butternut was the same way, and from what Gert said, Basswood is similar. Denser woods seem to cut cleaner.
There are other ways to trick/nudge Z down, but I like simple when I'm tired.
Just do the same thing with your finishing toolpath Z.
Seeing as you can't specify a Tapered Ball Nosed in PW3D, I like Joe's idea of cutting a relief so your finishing bit won't touch.
May want to decrease your stepover to reduce the ridges unless you like sanding more than I do.
Here's the downcut roughing in Lacewood....it's a World of difference from the upcut 2F disaster.
scott

[Nate Sirek]

I'll give that a try. I roughed out around my carving with an endmill and no more issues with my 77-102 hitting sidewalls. Still made about breaking that damn bit. Feel like I just lit 60 bucks on fire 🙈. At any rate, here is a follow up picture. I changed the feedrate to 1,1,16k and man it's looking nice!image.jpg

[Nate Sirek]

As it turns out I don't have VCP. I set up my bot to carve overnight and about 60% through my file I got a missing comm error. I'm so bummed out. I normally don't have issues with that since I grounded inside my dust tubing. I got back to the shop early this morning and my spindle was still running sitting in one spot and very warm. Maybe I'm just destined to be a 2d part cutter. It's a bit frustrating so I have to walk away from it for a while and go back to this project later this week

[scottp55]

Might be a good time to try this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLY1...de=transparent
Hopefully you had your log file active, or noted on the control panel what line of code you were on.
Bummer, but it could have been a fire, so look on the bright side.
How did the cut area look?
scott

[scottp55]

Nate,
When I first started with VCP7, I think I remember TJ and others saying Partworks and VCP were the same thing, so they decided to call it VCP Shopbot Edition.
I may be wrong with your version, but if your screen looks like these(but with less icons) then you can probably upgrade through Shopbot, and only have to learn the new tools they added that add more options for ease of drawing and 3D.
I had to struggle with PW3D, but 3D's are WAY easier now.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong please.
scott

[Nate Sirek]

I just have to say thanks again everyone for all the input! This forum has been so great over the last few years getting to know my Bot.

At some points I get so frustrated when I get comm errors, or a part doesn't run correctly (usually because I've told it not to). The comm error I know is usually attributed to grounding and I'm baffled, maybe there's something I'm missing. Maybe its a computer issue. I've been playing phone tag with Shopbot as I've got a couple technical questions as well as to inquire about software upgrade availability.

In the mean time, those feed rates worked out really nice.

How fast would any of you guys recommend pushing that ballnose bit while carving? I know it varies depending on the product being cut, but do any of you cut faster than 1,1,16k? Specifically talking, faster feed rates on a PRT Alpha or do you start to run into cut quality issues?

[scottp55]

Just Desktop doing small stuff, but 1,1,16K....1.5,1.5,17K....2,2,18K have worked well for me depending on size and material...remember though I'm using a spade type Onsrud engraving bit with.005-.01 flats for tiny details on the Desktop in Maple,Cherry,Black Walnut,Bloodwood and Lacewood.

[Nate Sirek]

Scott,

So I think I accidentally deleted the information file that told me what line to attempt to run from because I actually had those values set to record.

My file has 1.4 million lines of code so by looking at the amount of carving completed I figured starting somewhere around 795,000 would get me close to where it quit.

I went through his video tutorial and tried to run from line 795,000 and hit "Go to" and it lags for a few seconds, and then gives me a "Run Time Error 9; Subscript out of range". Click okay. Shopbot 3 software closes, spindle turns back off. Strange huh?

[scottp55]

Not sure Nate, as I never had to use that yet luckily.
Does sound odd if you followed all the steps correctly
Log file should be in the same folder as the .sbp folder in the control computer?
I'm computer illiterate, but thought most "Run time" errors were windows/computer related.
Sorry it didn't work, maybe someone who knows computers/SB3 version you're using will chime in?
What SB3 version are you running?
No internet for for a few days...hope it works out for you!
scott