Tool losing com and tool settings changes

[Acmeaviator]

I had a great "first full day" yesterday with my new buddy - seriously some of the best money I have ever spent in my shop! Within a few minutes I was pulling client logos off my usb drive and reproducing them perfectly in mdf practice panels - thanks to all who said to get going on the software before the machine arrived:D I encountered two "odd" things yesterday -
The first was the machine losing com - I know one time I stepped on the usb cable, but two other times the machien lost com and I had to cycle the power on the bot to reconnect. Could this be a bad ground or some other electrical interference?
The second item was a tool parameters change from PW to the ShopBot software - I was cutting letters with a v-bit and they were not deep enough. I went back into PW and changed the text to bold and recalculated the toolpath. I saved the toolpath, opened it in ShopBot, and the bit went to the right spot then plunged through the piece:eek: I opened the file in ShopBot preview and checked the tool parameters and all the settings for my v-bit in my tool library had changed. ???

[Gary Campbell]

Brian...
Lost Comm errors have had many causes, but are usually related to your control computer. Are all nonesential (to running the Bot) services turned off? No anti virus, updates, restore, etc? Was there a thumb drive in the USB port? Do you have a USB2 hub between the computer and control box? Is it a Dell, and if Dell, does it have a USB2.0 PCI card installed? What is your comm rate to the machine?


You say you resaved the toolpaths. That is the most likely culprit for the changes.

[Acmeaviator]

Thanks again Gary - yeah I had my browser open and Pandora playing while running the bot. I've got another computer at the office that I am planning on setting up as my "bot only" computer - impatience has the better of me at the moment:D
As far as re-saving a toolpath - is it better to create a new name for each revision as opposed to over-writing the old one? If I re-set my ShoBot parameters to default will the original tool parameters for my V-bit be reset?

[Gary Campbell]

Brian...
Toolpaths are kept in the toopath dialog in PartWorks. A partsfile, or cutting file is saved to a drive with an "sbp" file extension. Only you can tell if you feel a need to keep both versions.

I dont understand your question about the V bit parameters. No parameters in the SB3 software settings have anything to do with tooling in PartWorks. Unless it has something to do with a previewer. I dont use SB3 preview. I have a machine. Using a preview while at a machine is akin to watching a porn video on an iphone while at a "gentlemens club" :D

[Acmeaviator]

Lol Gary - yes I was looking at the tool parameters in SB3 previewer. I think the primary error was this: The first time I ran the cut file (for a bunch of text) the letters were not deep enough. I went back to PW to make the letters bold but F*d up the text. I re-opened the toolpath in SB3 previewer and tried to figure out if I could make a change there. Then I opened the toolpath and changed the Z-proportion setting which then just buried the bit and stalled the router:o I got it all back to normal yesterday and the piece turned out pretty nice:)

It's like you have posted before - the machine does EXACTLY what you tell it to do...I'm just not always certain what I am telling it:confused:

[cowboy1296]

First off Gary is light years ahead of me and i am still in a learning mode myself. but in some cases if your cut is not deep enough you can enter the command at the bot "va". lets assume that your z is set at 1. click on the z on the yellow sheet and change the value to something greater then 1. say 1.002 to start. the router will not move up but it thinks its at that location. now when you start your file over again the depth will be .002 deeper. now if you change that 1 to a 3 expect your bit to drive right through your table. just do it a little at a time to you get the feel of resetting the z. in these cases it is not necessary to go back to partworks.

i had the same missing com problem.
mine was i was running a file off of a memory chip instead of saving it to the control computer and then running the file.
anything can interfere: internet connection; anti virus updates; anything else on your 20 amp plug circuit, if so cut it off; if on a lap top are you running on battery power or ac (use ac if that is the case) ; any other programs open or running on your control computer; also shopbot updates the control software fairly often, so check to see if updates are available and download them and i am sure that there is more things that can interfere.

Other then my buddy being plugged in to the 20 am circuit I have no other grounds added to it.

[Acmeaviator]

Rick I think you are right about the wiring - I'm going to run a separate line for my Dust Right and see if that improves things.