xcarve 1000 works great… wanted perfect carve and didnt want to change tool for larger area so decided to do everything with the 1/8th inch ball nose…
10 hour into it , only 33% done… left to work overnight…
next morning, sitting at home position, not complete…
almost like there is a timer that shuts it down after a certain period of time.
now I have 1/2 done project and not sure how to proceed.
shouldn’t it be able to run for a couple days strait or is there a safeguard after so many hours for it to stop??
TIA…
Pete.
there aren’t any safeguards, what stopped? the whole machine or just the router? if it was the whole machine it sounds like your computer went to sleep or the power had clicked off at some point, if it’s the just the router it’s most likely your brushes need to be replaced.
if it went to sleep would the router automatically go back to the home position or just stop where its at?
also, I’m connecting to internet by wifi… if wifi was dropped would it cancel the job in easel and put router back on home position automatically?
what event would trigger it to move back to home?
Thanks.
Connection is only required at Easel start, once running it is no longer dependant on connection.
Without proper precautions in place I would seriously advice you to not let the router run unattended while you sleep etc. It do not take many minutes to make a serious fire should events desire to do so…
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Returning to home position generally means carve completed per Easel. Disconnects don’t return to home from what I recall, neither does going to sleep.
exactly what I was thinking… so why does it stop and go to home position when its only 1/2 done…
Check your design. It may not be doing everything that you think it’ll carve. Use the simulate button and check the depths and paths.
the only issue I have with the sleep mode theory is that it ran for multiple HOURS untouched during the day without issue… I am using an old macbook air as the machine and will recheck the settings tonight…
Just to clarify, you’re saying if it goes to sleep the controller will know enough when the connection is lost to return to home… right?
thanks.
Up until recently i never had a problem with my mac going to sleep affecting the carve but out of no where it started to. Also one weird thing I found with the mac is if I shut the lights off in the room with the xcarve when I returned and turned them back on the motors will reengage like I woke it up without touching anything. Might be a light sensor somewhere who knows. Not very helpful but just thought Id throw some of the weird things my mac does sleep wise out there. At the recommendation of one of the members of the forum, I can’t remember who, I downloaded a app that keeps your computer up no matter what.
Honestly it sounds like the complete gcode didn’t compile and easel did what it had and returned the machine to home. What program did you use to compile your gcode? Vcarve, Easel, etc… I wouldn’t see this happening if it was designed in easel, but it has happened in other programs when you pull it into easel to send to the machine. The more info you supply us, the better we can help
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I use vcarve pro to compile then import gcode into easel to carve.
I have no experience using Easel to send external G Code, but I wonder if it has a max file size that you have exceeded. If Easel simply truncates the file when the length is too long, that would explain why they system went “home”, because Easel thought it was done.
When I use VCarve, I use UGS to send the files. Since it opens and reads the file locally, there isn’t a max file length.
–Rick
This makes sense to me Rick… I know my rates are way slow and I’m trying to remove tons of material with a toothpick but it also sounds to me like its reaching the end of its programming and just returns home.
if I use UGS will it have to cut AIR for 10 hours before it hits wood or is there a way to start where (or about where) it finished?
thanks.
It would have to cut air, unless you go into Vcarve and redo your toolpath to start at the current depth it is at.
@Zach_Kaplan
Does Easel have a max amount of lines it will accept in a single file?
Theoretically, you could edit the GCode file, basically chopping off the first part of it. However, you really have to understand GCode to do this as (if I understand correctly) there are both absolute and relative movement commands. For instance, when you jog your machine to set the material zero, you really don’t care what the absolute position is, you just want the carriage to move say 1 inch to the left. Once you have set the material zero, you could also give a command to ask the machine to move to an X,Y position 10,10.
If you are lucky enough to find an absolute move command slightly before where the cutting left off, you could chop the file there, and it would pick up close to where it left off. If the code is all being sent using relative movement (which in my limited experience is most of the time), you would have to run a simulator or some such to calculate an exact position, cut the file, fabricate a header to get the machine set up appropriately, etc.
Sad as it seems, for a one off situation, I’d strongly consider just letting the system air carve… However, I am only a hobbyist, so time on the machine is basically free.
A second tehoretical option, would be to somehow use VCarve to break the carve into rough and finishing cuts with the finishing starting slightly before where the machine is at. Then only send the remaining finishing code. I am nowhere near proficient enough with VCarve to know how to do this, so proceed at your own peril.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
–Rick
Post the project I’m sure someone on here can help you tweak your settings to cut down overall time.
