I’ll have to try it from vcarve. I design on my laptop (in the house), then I save my gcode on a thumb drive. I have an old dedicated pc with universal g-code sender. I home in UGS, zero my work piece, probe my z. Rough cut ususally 1/4", change bit to 1/8" reprobe z, finish cut. Change back to 1/4" reprobe z, profile cut.
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I use Roberts method as well. VCarve -> .nc file -> Easel.
I prefer Easel over UGS and Chilipeppr because in case of the need to pause or stop, pause means pause and stop means stop!! When using both UGS and Chilipeppr, after hitting stop, the machine continues to run for a while.
Have been using this method for 6 months or so.
If the next tool path uses the same bit you can save them as one file and run them without stopping
Thanks Robert. I’ve found the Easel PP and have it working. It is a tradeoff for me… UG remembers the zeros, but I lose the hot keys I like so much for jogging. I’m still finding my work flow… thanks!
Thanks Curtis, I am learning that too.
I know I am a little late to the party but since the probe option has been added to Easel I switched back. I now go V-Carve-Import Gcode into Easel and away I go. The little reminders of is the material secure and did I move the probe is comforting to have.
Still missing something here…
I want to drill 5 holes in my styrene plate. I do this in VCarve and save the toolpaths.
I have:
“rh lam drill.crv” it has "drill rh plate.nc toolpath saved as “Easel”. I export this as “rh lam drill.svg”
I open Easel. Import GCode. I open the .nc file. It shows correct postitions of holes and toolpaths, but has no cutting data and I get a warning, so I am not going to run it.
I import SVG. It shows my holes in the wrong location. I take a guess and place them where they should be (reason #1 I don’t like Easel). Easel saves this as my new SVG file. I try to run this and it tells me there are no toolpaths to follow. It seemingly does not know how to drill a hole??
I can edit this tool path to machine the hole and it works fine, but what is the point if I cannot use the drill toolpath I created in the first place?
Not much easier or luckier in Grbl Controller.
Thanks Phil.
I am using the “easel” PP. Will try the G Code steps you mentioned.
Easel PP saves toolpaths as a .nc file, not gcode. To get a gcode extention I need to use xcarve inch or mm.
GitHub? I have to join another website now? I am between laughing and crying at the moment.
It ran the .nc file as it should. thank you Phil.
FYI: G code is actual just a plain text file. (you can read and edit it in notepad)
It can be given lots of different extensions depending on the software used. (but is still encoded the same as a plain text file)
*.nc, *.tap *.gcd, etc
Here is a quick reference.
http://bobcadsupport.com/helpdesk/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/13/5/known-g-code-file-extensions
Thanks for this post. I cannot believe this is not outlined somewhere else under some heading like “How to take your digital desire make it into a manufactured product.” I am a total newbie to CNC but not to computers. Can you help me understand something.
You use easel to send all Gcode to the X-Carve getting the machine to actually start the project and don’t need something else like UGS, Grbl Controller, etc?
What do you use to create the 3D models to be brought into VCarve?
Do you use Easel or Easel pro and does Easel actually require an active Internet connection (as suggested by web-based in its description) to run and continue to send the Gcode to the machine?
Easel is a stand alone Cad/Cam. You can use it to design and send your project. It is very basic and internet needy. V carve is the “little brother” to Apire by Vectric. It can do most everything except create 3D models. It is a Cad program. Ugs is a sender like Easel except it does not have the ability to design anything. It just send Gcode to the controller. It is a Cam program. It does not require internet.
I always thought Computer aided drafting CAD was the design. And Computer aided manufacturing CAM was sending to the controller. But looking up “using google of course😉” the definition it says Controlling the manufacturing process. So sounds like toolpath to me.
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Thanks. Learning every day lol.
Haha google is this new thing I found on the internet thingy. If you dial into AOL you can find it in under two hours.
And yes I thought the same thing. But alas @PhilJohnson is correct. It’s he creation of toolpaths. “According to this google guy”. Nothing to do with sending the gcode.
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Yep. That’s the same feeling I got lol.
AOL search funtion🧐
Also there are;
(FEA) Engineering software programs includes finite element analysis
(CFD) Computational fluid dynamics
(MDB) Multibody dynamics
AND Most important is (ISH) I’m Soo Hungary, where is my breakfast.
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Thanks to all who replied to my questions. All makes much more sense now. Thanks also for the various bits and pieces of humor. Everyone needs a good LOL in their day.
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