Part file cycle time estimator for shopbot ??????

[flyboy]

I'm running some looooong files for 3d pattern making and could really use a time estimate for the programs before I start them. I'm using Artcam and Millwizard for programming. The last one was 14 hrs. UUUUUUGH, long day..
And my compaq laptop will go into sleep mode and then error out if I pause for more than 30min or so. I have tried to disable the power management and may have fixed it but will have to test it when I don't care about the program - it usually errors out after going to sleep and shuts down the program. Which leads me to another question. Is there any way to start a program on a certain line of code and skip everything previous to that? It will tell me what line it errored on but I don't see any way to skip ahead when I restart the program... ??

[billp]

Tom, you can use the "FG" command. It's explained in your manual, and is made to let you resume a cut after you've had to stop it for any abrupt reason ( broken bit, power outage, etc.).
Artcam has a time estimator, but you have to do just a little fiddling to get the "time scale factor" correct ( I use 1.8 as a factor for a lot of what I do..).. On 3D files it can vary a bit depending on the number of Z moves, but on 2D stuff it's within minutes of a long file over the course of a few hours....Bill P.

[bill.young]

Hi Tom,

If you've had a crash that completely shut down the ShopBot software, you may have to re-zero your ShopBot and check other values like speed settings before you use the FG command to resume cutting.

When you start the ShopBot software, it reads things like current position and speed setting from the shopbot.ini file, and when it is shut down normally it writes those values to the same file so that you're ready to go next time. That's how it knows where it is between cutting sessions.

If, however, the software is shut down prematurely (in a computer crash or power failure for instance), it doesn't get a chance to write these current values to the shopbot.ini file. When you re-start the ShopBot software, the old shopbot.ini file will load with it's old values, and anything that changed while you were cutting ( like where the tool is!) will be lost.

Bill

[gerald_d]

Somehow, laptops don't inspire enough confidence in me to let them run critical 14 hour tasks. . . . . .

[flyboy]

Well, I also work for a semi-conductor firm so I can say that the procesors for laptops are actually built to higher tolerances than for desktops. They have to take heat better and resist oxide layer growth and delamination better. The designed lifespan of the most popular processors are 5 and 7 years but the degrade can happen before and they will start to lock up and crash. My 7 year lod laptop for the shopbot hqas never crashed... it's just the power saving routine that's a problem. will try the FG command thanks.

[papadaveinwy]

Tom I agree a time estimater would be nice, as far as your 7 year old laptop GREAT I have a 8 or 9 year old 386 still running strong and it has never crashed either runs windows 3.01 ( don't use it though) David in Wyoming [
]

[flyboy]

I found the magic settings and now I can stop the program and restart it hours later. YEEE HAAW. It was a long night and I didn't want to stop it or leave it unattended completely. I'm not sure the insurance company would go for that if something happened. An estimator for sbp files would be great, mabey I will have some time to mess around with a program for that. Would be nice to know ahead of time.

[gerald_d]

Tom, I am probably stating the obvious if I say: Take the area of the pattern, divide by the distance between cut lines, divide by the cut speed setting . . . . . . . . Of course, not valid in many cases, but a good rule of thumb in many others.

(My laptop problems all seem heat related - it gets hot here, and that tiny fan is no match for the cooling systems found in tower PC's. David, if you don't run your laptop, it is not likely to crash is it?
)

[papadaveinwy]

Gerald YOU GOT IT!!!! [
] David in Wyoming P.S. Gerold you can put on a mini "chill" cell on your proccessor this will cool down the ambient air to about 60-70 degrees F less, that will solve all your heat related proublems. I use one on my desktop because I have overclocked mine a huge amount.

[flyboy]

After thinking about it I think the only way would be to have a time calculator embeded in the preview mode. At least for complex 3d models because whenever a complex shape is being cut the ramping speed takes over and then on long flats it can run as full speed. I don't want to disable ramping because then I'd have to run the whole thing slow and would take even longer.. So I feel quilt whenever I wish for just one more thing because I truly am very very happy with my bot. The accuracy and detail of small 3d models is amazing. And I'm not a brown noser, I get yelling on the phone about some other things I've bought but I've always (2 years) been happy with the bot and especially customer service. So they deserve a plug, in my experience anyway. But mabey a time calcultor could be in the futire preview mode software - still seems wrong to ask for more for this price though...

[shimpj@bellsouth.net]

Gerald D
Can you give a simlpe example of you calculator? thanks - Roy Shimp

[gerald_d]

Tom, I don't want to derail your thread, but I think we need to clarify this "ramps take time" story. Ramps will only slow down your calculated speed if you have drastic direction changes at the end/beginning of each step/command. My impression was that your work is aircraft patterns where lines are smoothly flowing and thus the ramps have close to zero effect on the total cutting time. As a test, I ran our SB for 1 meter in the x-direction at 30 mm/sec (ramp 20) and the total time taken was 33 seconds - as expected. Then I ran it back in 1000 steps of 1mm each and the running time was again 33 seconds - proving that the ramps are clever enough to know that they are not required.

However, the PC did stop to do some block data loading and caused a delay - this factor could be tricky for a SB time calculator.

Roy, my rough calculation is only for flatter, gently flowing, surfaces. An an example, if I have an aircraft wing section 80"x30" then the surface area is 2400 square inches. Cutting this in lines that are 0.1" apart at a speed of 2" per second means that the total running distance is approx 2400 divided by 0.1 = 24000 inches. Divide that by the speed (24000/2) and it shows an approx time of 12000 seconds (3.33 hours). This is the absolute minimum time - you must add on for stoppages like block data loading, or if the height is undulating, etc.