Jerky motion on particular g-code files

When this kind of thing has happened to me, there have been two causes:

(1) Sometimes this happens as a result of ramps that I set up. On most profiles, you can see the machine slow down for the ramp and then speed up for the level cutting. But on smaller profiles (like a screw hole cutout), the whole machine can start looking a bit jerky as it switches between ramping and 'normal' in relatively quick succession. In my experience, this is typically fine.

(2) The other times that this has happened, it is because the input DXF/DNG to my CAM program had a ton of (unnecessary) control points. Maybe it was a circle and instead of treating it as 4 arcs, it treated it as 400 arcs. When that happens, each line is so short that it underfills the GRBL controller. In cases like these,

I ended up re-creating the file in my CAD program. I imported the old file into CAD, then drew a new sketch with just a few control points while using the imported file to lock down constraints. For example, if you have a circle in the orignal file that has many points, draw a new circle somewhere and then do a circle/point intersection constraint on three points to lock the new circle in place. And when you later export your new circle, it will only be represented as a few arcs in the DXF.

I've only had to do this when pulling in design files I did not create myself. So perhaps the exporter in some programs adds too many points, or perhaps it went through an intermediate STL stage where the circle was represented as a ton of little triangles. In my case, it didn't just cause jerkiness. It also caused melting plastic because it meant my cutter wasn't moving fast enough through my stock and it was generating more friction heat than it was dissipating. But I couldn't find a way to fix it in the CAM itself, which is why I had to go back and remake the geometry in CAD.

-Jonathon Duerig