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Don’t know if this will be helpful, but I searched all over for a way to cut t-hole slots for hanging pictures and frames. It needs to plunge to a quarter of an inch, and then nibble forward, back up, nibble forward, back up, etc. This is if you don’t want the hassle of first cutting a quarter inch pocket, then following up with the keyhole bit. This code is for 1/8" depth of cut slot cutters. The bottom of the cut is only .25" deep so this is safe for .5" material.
This code slows the plunge to 5 ipm, and overrides the feed rate to 10 ipm. It goes .1" forward, goest back to zero, and creeps forward another .1" until a 1" slot is created. It then returns to zero and lifts out the bit.
Worked great for me. You just zero out right over where you want the circular hole to be. The slot will be cut up (away from you) from there. My machine is set for inches. You may need to do a little translating. And you’ll need to secure your material a little better than double sided tape.
I also use a router. I would not attempt this with any of the spindles (unless VFD powerful spindle). This code sets the RPMS to 12,000, I certainly would not go slower - perhaps a little faster.
Just used this and it worked great, thanks for providing the code.
I’m new to GCode and was curious, why does the bit travel 1.10" in the +Z at this beginning? Is this good practice or just your own personal preference? @Earwigger
YES - the slot is too damn long. Painstaking. Especially since I am usually physically holding the piece down throughout the process. Yet, I still have not edited mine.
I know it is a simple cut copy and paste… but… well… OK. I will use your code next time, not matter what kind of hurry I am in. Can’t cut that deep though - some of my projects are pretty thin.
Does anyone have g-code that will work through Universal G-Code Sender? I know this may be sacrilegious but I almost never use easel. I have vcarve and use UGS to send the code to my X-Carve. None of the above code will work with UGS. Anyone have an alternative?
Easle has never congealed in my brain and confuses me every time I have messed with it.(all me not inventables fault) I also run vcarve pro and ugs If I have time I will try this one out this evening with an air cut and see if I can make it go. then maybe I will need to buy an 1/8" slot cutter!
This code is untested on an actual machine, but the simulation looks good. It will drill peck to 3/8th inch (.1, .2, .3, .375 returning to z0 after each peck to clear chips) then move half an inch at 30/ipm (Again, change this to a slower setting if you don’t feel sure). Finally it moves back to x/y 0.0 and retracts at 9/ipm.
If anyone tries it out before I get home, let me know. I’ll update this post after I test it myself.
Again, this code was written entirely in Camotics and simulated, It may not be a bad idea to dry run it first.
Better? As stated, G-code can be changed, if someone is unsure if how to change a 30 to another number, probably best to stick with what easel can do by itself.
Hope this help out. It now drill pecks in both directions at 9/ipm.
Thanks for posting this G-Code, I found it quite helpful. I didn’t tweak the code at all and made 2 carves, one through the edge of the board so I could get a nice feel for the depth of the plunge, and one “real” cut so I could see the finished product, and to see how the chips would behave in the more constrained environment - everything went fine.
You guys will have to pardon my ignorance on this one, but… I’ve been doing plenty of vcarving, 3D, and stuff in V-Carve Desktop and have been wanting to add keyholes to some of my projects right on the X-Carve versus trying to freehand it afterwards - my question is how/where exactly do you set your X/Y(as in, on the material -bottom/left/corner, etc) when you are wanting to add one or two keyholes to a project?
Or do you simply position your router exactly over the spot you want it to start and then run the g-code?
After I study up on G-Code, I would like to make a modified version that starts at a different XY Zero, moves to the desired spot, and makes the KeyHole cut… until then, I am limited to the tedious, manual job of setting XY-Zero using the machine jogging buttons - easy enough to do, but time-consuming.
@GrantFarrand if you have a stop block and a constant zero set(G28) then all you need to do I know where you want you keyhole cut. For instance if I have a 10"x5" board and want it at a certain spot, I can jog it 2.5" over on x, and up 8.5" on y with a click each. Then the z is a little more time consuming, but, once set if you have several of the same piece that needs a keyhole in the same spot it’s just a matter of replacing the work piece, and then when hitting carve just “use last zero”. That’s how I did it on 125 pieces that needed a keyhole.
Another option would be to use the part Zero and use incremental programming for the local G code. Then you could use your current zero points and have very accurate slot locations.
Just change the X__Y__ Point for the starting point of the slot. The rest is local movements. Basic canned cycle. Is there a way to save this as a Macro and recall it in UGS? I’m used to using Fanuc controls on large CNC, and this is how I would have done it then. Not sure about GRBL.
So, I was thinking that you could use your part zero to position the spindle, then use incremental mode (G91) for the code to insert the keyhole. You would then switch back to Absolute mode (G90) to continue with the program. The benefit would be the ability to position the spindle to the exact XYZ coordinates you want the keyhole to be relative to your part alignment rather than having to reset the Zero point for each keyhole.
