Work zero VS Machine zero

Thats correct. For this part, I had some extra material on the top i needed to remove so the total height would be correct, so i reset the z0 to the bottom

absolutely, I will re-machine the part using your approach :smile:

Great, please let me know how it goes!

ive found that after i put the machine in the start position and lower the z to touch the work surface, if i dont hit reset zero at that point my machine will just do whatever it wants when i hit send. last night i ruined a nice piece of material because instead of raising the bit and moving to the correct spot, the machine decided to LOWER the bit and go in a seemingly random direction across the work piece. wtf.

@BadWolf

Can you post your gcode?

Hey Jerry, are you using the stock spindle on 6061 aluminum? if so what kind of feed, speed and plunge are you using?? I need to make some parts out of aluminum but dont really know where to start as far as spindle setup! thanks and sorry I know that this isnt what this thread was originally for!! But I am waiting to see if this reset zero thing worked cause I have to try this when I get home from work today! lol

fusion 360 sometimes does funky things from the origon point to the initial plunge point. ive had to modify the gcode to raise the bit before the first travel in some of my jobs. thought i was going to break a bit once but just messed up a test piece of material. i’m still learning how everything likes to act before getting any more production material. id rather ruin some test material first. :wink:

@ThomasGonzales

That’s actually brass. I was using the stock spindle however, 2 have died on me so far, first one appeared to be defective, the second one overheated and died from running like 16 hours straight. I would not recommend using the stock spindle for anything other than some engraving and cutting soft materials like wood and plastic.

If you want to do metal, I would get this spindle here:

https://www.inventables.com/technologies/quiet-cut-spindle

as far as feeds and speeds; I uses this calculator:

Plunge rates of around 1ipm

Aw, no acrylic mentioned there for feeds and speeds.

i use 80imp and .03 step down

works pretty well. i’m using a single flute spiral upcut .1/8

1 Like

Oh ok. Yea I was thinking I would need to upgrade my spindle cause the stock seems to get pretty hot just doing wood.I was planning on getting the Porter Cable 892, but I would probably have to make my own mount, or I was going to get the DeWalt 611. Thanks!

Yeah I’m experiencing this was well ! Glad I’m not the only one. Rest of the job is fine, just that 1st move from Origin to the 1st plunge point.

Can I ask what modifications you are adding to the GCode to raise the bit before heading to the 1st plunge point ?

there are some Z lines at the top of the code. move those to the top that usually moves it up enough to clear the part before the first travle. i also ditch the homing lines.

start old code
%
(1001)
(T2 D=0.125 CR=0 - ZMIN=0 - flat end mill)
G90 G94
G17
G20
G28 G91 Z0
G90

(Pocket4)
M9
T2 M6
M3 S18000
G54
M8
G0 X4.8874 Y-1.503
Z0.85
Z0.3294
G1 Z0.3045 F20
S18000

start NEW code
%
(1001)
(T2 D=0.125 CR=0 - ZMIN=0 - flat end mill)
Z0.85
Z0.3294
G1 Z0.3045 F20
G90 G94
G17
G20
G28 G91 Z0 <-------- this guy can also give you grief as its a homing or return to refferece point funcion. might not be a bad idea to ditch the G28 line as well
G90

(Pocket4)
M9
T2 M6
M3 S18000
G54
M8
G0 X4.8874 Y-1.503

S18000

another thing ive had fusion do is drop S204 lines. that will kill the spindle as it can’t go below 18000rpm. either remove them or change them to M3 S18000

having to scrub files before you work them is kinda a pain. if anyone knows how to fix this in Fusion please chime in :wink:

Hi Andrew,
I found the following link on another thread

http://www.restrictedayerspace.net/cnc/autodesk-fusion-360-cam-post-processor-for-shapeoko/

This page discribes modification of the post processor. Hope it is helpful.

sweet. thanks! i’ll have to give this a try as soon as i get my CNC control computer back running.

Nice ! That worked Andrew, thanks very much :smile:

i’m so glad that helped. i’m going to check out what @WernerMrazek posted here and see if that helps too once i get my controle computer back at my workshop