Is this normal? I have a 1515, and I'm engraving on wood, pretty much using default settings and it is set at 1000 and only cuts at about 25% of that. It just makes for a really long cut. Operator error or is it doing as designed? 3 weeks into CNC here also
Adding on to Sharmstr's reply: See Grbl v1.1 Configuration · gnea/grbl Wiki - the Grbl wiki is a must read (;
I'll read up on that....but as I am cutting, it's slow, then intermittently it will jump to the programmed setting for a split second, then go back to snail speed.
OpenBuildsCONTROL > Grbl Settings tab > Click the Backup Settings button on the top toolbar and post your Grbl Settings backup in a reply (just a text file) so we can check if anything looks off, can also include the gcode file.
Using Openbuilds CAM and CONTROL... $0=10 ; Step pulse time, microseconds $1=255 ; Step idle delay, milliseconds $2=0 ; Step pulse invert, mask $3=0 ; Step direction invert, mask $4=1 ; Invert step enable pin, boolean $5=0 ; Invert limit pins, boolean $6=0 ; Invert probe pin, boolean $10=1 ; Status report options, mask $11=0.020 ; Junction deviation, millimeters $12=0.002 ; Arc tolerance, millimeters $13=0 ; Report in inches, boolean $20=0 ; Soft limits enable, boolean $21=1 ; Hard limits enable, boolean $22=1 ; Homing cycle enable, boolean $23=3 ; Homing direction invert, mask $24=100.000 ; Homing locate feed rate, mm/min $25=2000.000 ; Homing search seek rate, mm/min $26=250 ; Homing switch debounce delay, milliseconds $27=5.000 ; Homing switch pull-off distance, millimeters $30=1000 ; Maximum spindle speed, RPM $31=0 ; Minimum spindle speed, RPM $32=0 ; Laser-mode enable, boolean $100=198.109 ; X-axis steps per millimeter $101=198.109 ; Y-axis steps per millimeter $102=199.100 ; Z-axis steps per millimeter $110=3500.000 ; X-axis maximum rate, mm/min $111=3500.000 ; Y-axis maximum rate, mm/min $112=1000.000 ; Z-axis maximum rate, mm/min $120=350.000 ; X-axis acceleration, mm/sec^2 $121=350.000 ; Y-axis acceleration, mm/sec^2 $122=350.000 ; Z-axis acceleration, mm/sec^2 $130=1180.000 ; X-axis maximum travel, millimeters $131=1270.000 ; Y-axis maximum travel, millimeters $132=90.000 ; Z-axis maximum travel, millimeters $I=leadmachine1515
...Yup, that's about what I expected to see. Not sure how to fix it off-hand though, it's a CAM arc setting. It's splitting each curve into so many tiny lines they're blocking up grbl's buffer. The "fast" lines are probably longer straight lines.
OpenBuildsCAM doesn't support Arcs, so, use a more advanced CAM. But per-se "not-an-arc" isn't always the cause though, provided the line segments in the CAD side is sufficient (not too short) Always best to clean up a cut file first before loading it into CAM: docs:software:file-errors [OpenBuilds Documentation] - split it into polylines (and smoothed to prevent very tiny segments) in CAD, to make it easier on CAM This kind of job, would be perfect in Vectric Products - OpenBuilds Part Store though - v-engraved instead of a line engrave, would look so much better
I'm using a 30* V-bit...although the cut is slow, I don't have any burning. It's just a bear that it takes me over an hour to cut the job. I broke the job into 5 segments by saving the gcode and re-zero between starts. I do have a tool change to a 1/8" flute because I do a few pockets in the center. Figured that was the easiest to do as a 1st timer. So, I'm basically stuck unless I upgrade and change software? If so, is the desktop sufficient. I'm limited to 24x24, but I can upgrade to Pro eventually. I appreciate the input and help on this!
You can manually write arcs if you just have the one circle to do- G02 and G03: CNC Circular Interpolation G-Codes - CNC.com - it's a little tricky to get the quadrant points perfect (and the control complains if it's *not* perfect) but it should take your big circle from like, 8000 lines of code to around four and cut the whole thing in like, 30 seconds. Nothing wrong with manually writing G-code when you need to, it's still taught that way in introductory classes in a lot of places, I'm sure. Long term, yeah, you need another CAM.
If your plan is to make plaques, signs, and other 3D carves, from my experience Vcarve Desktop is worth it's weight in gold. It makes those types of projects so easy. For years I used free software like Fengrave - which works well - but there were a lot more steps involved and it was not intuitive to me. Once I got Vcarve stuff became easy. If you like the way OpenBuilds CAM is used to generate your tool paths, you can also try Estlcam. I have used it for years and love it. I purchased the $59 license, but you can try it for free with no "expiration" on free. I paid to encourage further development and it is updated fairly often.
Custom plaques and signs is actually my intended production target. But, being that I have a 1515, is the desktop version wasted money because of the limited size of 24"×24"....upgrade to the next step?
If you upgrade Vectric software you pay the price difference, so buying a desktop version wouldn't be wasted money, but if you think you regularly need the larger version I'd suggest getting it to start with (if you only occasionally need larger sizes the tiling feature is really easy to use) - the pro version has a few other features, like the ability to use "gadgets". Have a good look at the Vectric website and compare features - download the trial versions to get a good idea of what they can do - fully functional except you can't export the g-code files for your machine until you pay for it. Alex.
So, to be clear, if the Desktop is 350 and the Pro is 700....and I buy the Desktop at 350...a couple months later I want the pro...is it 350 or 700 more?
In your example you would pay 350 more (assuming the price hasn't gone up in the meantime). Basically you pay the difference between what you paid and the price for the software you are switching to at the time you upgrade. Alex.
