Mastercam X4 to Mach3 - machine acting crazy.

[CarlofET]

Hi all -

I have a new diy CNC machine built with parts from cncrouterparts.com, and things seem to be running quite well. I have a cutting ability of about 30"x110", and the machine seems to respond right on to commands over the area.

I'm having an issue with some weird stuff happening when I try to run a program. I'm trying to cut out several simple profiles out of a long board. I set up an assembly in Solidworks that shows the different parts I want to cut out. I import that into mastercam X4 and write the program and the simulation works perfectly. Then I open the code with Mach3 and for the most part, it works fine, but hole drilling seems to be a problem.

I want to drill pilot holes in all the parts before I cut them out, and when the machine starts it's fine, but at some point it will ignore the XY commands and will drill the same hole multiple times and then try to go to the step after the hole-drilling. Sometimes this means that, when the hole should be 1/8" deep, it moves at that depth to the next step and scars the material all the way to it.

I'm assuming this is an issue with the post-processor - am I wrong? So far I have been using whatever the default router setup is on mastercam though I have downloaded the Mach3 postprocessor and plan to try it tomorrow. Just wanted to post here to see if anybody had any other ideas for me to try tomorrow.

Thanks!

[cad01]

yes it could be the post. But also haw are you selecting you drill locations? sometimes if you select multiple points in the same XY you could be picking the top and bottom of the solid.

[CarlofET]

I select the drill locations by selecting the center point of the hole on the top of the surface - the simulation definitely is right on that respect, only drilling once in each spot. Then when I run the program, the machine will start drilling the hole pattern, and at some point will stop moving in X/Y. It will raise and lower 2-3 times in the same hole, and then make a direct move to a hole 2-3 places ahead, sometimes cutting into the material when doing so. I have run the programs in NCPlot to verify that the program is right and that simulation seems to work fine as well. It's just once Mach3 gets a hold of it, things go a little weird on me.

It happens in a couple other situations where it's like Mach3 is ignoring the xy command and then skipping ahead, but it seems to always be related in some way to hole drilling.

I haven't had a chance to try the other post processor yet but will see if I have any problems with it.