Crap and more crap.. cut order

Easel
1

I do pretty basic work with easel and my xcarve… mostly OD/ID circles or “donuts” I thought I had everything sorted to make sure the ID was cut first and then the OD. I had to go through a lot of different trials and errors to get this thing to do that, but finally found a reliable way. Basically it had to do with how the DXF was created. make inside line first then outside… made over 100 different parts that way with no problems, even though if cutting multiple parts the machine randomly decides what order to cut things in, it was always ID first on each part. Sometimes ID on 3 parts then OD on 3… sometimes ID on all and then all OD… Today, I create a new file, import DXF. Copy & Paste to make 2 of the same part… Machine Cuts the ID of the first part and then proceeds to cut the OD of the 2nd part, then goes on to cut the ID of the first part. What gives? The way these parts are cut, they HAVE to be cut ID first. The reason this is such an issue is I do not use tabs on the ID cutout, and due to the unreliability of the machine and software itself, sometimes tabs on the OD are over cut and don’t securely hold while the ID is being cut resulting in a scrap part. anyone have any ideas?

2
  1. Put some double sided carpet or duct tape under the circles, cut them all, and then pry them up.
  2. Learn and understand what the gcode is doing. Then you can cut and paste them in a text editor like notepad in the order you want them.
  3. I’m sure some software will allow you to identify the cut order of the parts.

I use cambam some times and this question addresses your problem:

3

If you want to avoid dealing with the gcode, you could just create 2 separate Workpieces in your Easel design. One that cuts only the IDs and one for the ODs.

3 Likes
4

yeah, that literally never works… the use last zero is never accurate, and I need tolerances of about .025 thanks tho…

5

the carpet tape is a no go… 1. I’m cutting friction materail and just about nothing sticks to it, and 2, My work never touches the wasteboard… My work is always elevated on .125" shims to keep the wasteboard parallel. wasteoard is not parallel from factory, so I programmed a cut pattern to machine the entire wasteboard parallel/square to the cutterhead. Again… everything was fine… Easel changed something… now it is not.

6

Hi David,

Could you provide an example Easel project link and DXF file where you are seeing an incorrect carve ordering?

Thanks,
Jeff