Public Service Announcement - Make More in Less Time via Tuning

[Brady Watson]

No problem Scott - 2 heads are better than one most days

Yep...that .1 setting means that the tool will start moving from a dead stop @ .1 IPS. It makes the acceleration ramp longer than it needs to be for the kind of cutting that you are doing. On some setups it can cause COM problems because of timing between the Windows clock and the on-board SB processor if it is too low. This is why there is a step divider option for those who understand what it can do...

-B

[barrowj]

Thanks Scott,

I am using SB3 3.6.46 and have not made any modifications to the defaults. I used the default settings for my machine (2005 PRT Alpha) so I'm sure some tweaking is in order.

Joe

[Brady Watson]

Make your VR look like the attached pic.

-B

[barrowj]

Thanks again Brady, I'll make the changes and try tomorrow and let you know the results.

[PNast]

Thanks Brady! This thread is worth bumping up to the top! I do production signs and just changed my settings, what a difference in completion time with absolutely no loss in detail!

[Davo]

Is the pic Brady posted up there with his settings the ones that shave off time?

Safe for me to plug in those numbers?

What will happen if I vcarve and profile cut with this?

[Brady Watson]

Is the pic Brady posted up there with his settings the ones that shave off time?

No. The VR setting fill-in sheet I posted are my baseline numbers. Through hours of testing, I have found these to be good everyday settings that make the tool perform well. They are less aggressive than stock. They will make any SB run a little better overall, in the name of quality and machine smoothness.

Safe for me to plug in those numbers?

Yes. You will not hurt anything & can go back to stock settings by clicking the Reset link on the VR fill-in sheet.

What will happen if I vcarve and profile cut with this?

Your tool will run a bit smoother, although there are additional tweaks that can be made for small delicate carvings to minimize vibration at the tip of the V.

The whole idea of posting this thread is to make operators aware that in a production setting, you can gain more throughput by making small adjustments. It is imperative that you read my VR article on the main SB site in order to gain a proper understanding of what each setting does, as well as the logic behind it. Without knowing what you are doing, it would be like randomly turning screws on a carburator without knowing what each does.

It is possible to make the tool perform faster/more aggressively or slower and smoother depending on your needs. There is no one-size fits all because there are different adjustments in each situation - including the shape of the part being cut. If in production it would behoove you to test parts at various VR settings (using the methods described in my article) to see how much quality, speed or both you can gain by tuning. Otherwise, my settings listed above will work fine for general use.

-B

[Davo]

Thanks for the information, looking fwd to testing it out

Currently I spend about 1-1.5 hrs doing a 12" 3D piece with 2.5ips as the speed, and that's with 10% step over

Seems long to me

[Brady Watson]

It depends on the level of detail and diameter of bit being used. 1.5hrs is wicked fast for a relief with a lot of detail requiring a 1/16 or 1/32" ball. It is all relative...and when all is said and done, the machine will go as fast as the material and design will permit.

-B

[Davo]

I use 1/8th tapered ball nose

I can only image the time it would take with a 1/16

1/32 is hard for me to imagine no snapping in a split second