EzRouter Help Needed

[Shanghyd]

I'm helping someone with an EzRouter. These are probalby pretty simple questions for a fulltime user. Its not my machine.
I pretty much have it cutting and doing what I want except for a couple of things.

We are using Sheetcam and BobCad-Cam software in addition to the Mach3 version that came with EzRouter. LazyCam is available also.

Problem:
The torch height is too far off the plate. What controls this? I know there is a THC button in Mach3. I would think that the THC (torch height control?) would do this. While the machine is running Mach3 displays +.450 for the z axis height. The gcode sets the z at about .190. Somewhere this is being overwritten I think. Looking at the data for the plasma cutter the torch pierce height is (I don't have the book so this is from memory) .150. Cut height is .190. Something is setting it to .450

I'm not able to change the cutting start point. I take the DXF file and run the post processor in sheet cam. Sometimes the X,Y origin in the G-Code is pretty far away from the cutting start point. I jog the machine to the x.y origin, zero the X and Y and run it from there. It might move 10+ on the X and 10+ on the Y to get to the initial starting point. I would like to set the cutting start point manually. How can I do this?

I need to find the BobCad-Cam post processor for the EzRouter. When I run the post processor in BobCad I can select EzRouter but the code that is generated has no M03, M05, or any Z moves. One z move at the start of the program and that is all. Its more like code for a wood router.
Any help is appreciated. I'm not charging the guy to get the machine to do what he wants it to do.

[millman52]

The EZ Router THC looks like a Sound Logics THC http://www.soundlogicus.com/thc300a.htm Which is a repackaged version of Bob Campbells THC300

I know Sheetcam TNG has a post listed for Plasma THC 300. If your version of sheetcam doesn't have this post you can contact Les here: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/sheetcam/ I'm sure he will be more than happy to help you.

I suspect part of your problem is BobCAD Try doing a simple geometric shape in BCC using only the CAD part of the software. Export the drawing in .dxf format. Open the test part in sheetcam & apply all CAM functions there. Lead in, speed etc. etc.

Then do your post processing to a .tap file open that in Mach & see what you get.

I bought V 21 BCC with all the Nesting & other bells & whistles in 2007. I struggled with it for many hours & finally gave up. To this date it is nothing but a paperweight to me. It seems BCC is one of those products that you either love or hate with a passion. I'm in the latter group. I'm not telling you it will not work. I'm sure it will if you want to spend the many hours it will take in the learning curve.

I have attached a AutoCAD .dxf file I know is good try to use it if you can.

[curlyweld]

I also started with bc,I even bought the learning cds,what a waste of money.The best thing I did buy was corel draw x3,the next well spent money was corel draw add on tool.To this day I only use bc for spirals and bolt flange layouts.I have been able to do all plates,brackets and artwork with corel draw,I believe I paid 65 dollars on ebay,it is now even cheaper because x4 is out.Make up your drawing in corel draw,save it as a dxf file and then open it in sheetcam.You can set your torch height,pierce height,delay and so on in sheetcam tool selection.As far as where your start is you need to open the material tag and enter in the size of material you have and the size of table.You can also move your cutout anywhere you want on that material.Go to the top of the sheetcam toolbar and push the far right button I believe it is the shape of a plus sign with arrows on each end.When you have the part where you want go back to that toolbar a press the single arrow key.Its the first one of the four buttons.Then hit the process button and open new plasma cut,verify your settings.Then hit the capital P on the toolbar and save it.Now I need to know if you are using two computers.If you are you need to get your dxf file to mach 3.I started by using a small thumb stick and then went to a router and wired the two computers together.Now when you are at mach 3 you hit the load g code button and find your dxf file,when you have the file on your screen you can position your torch on the materal much the same way it looked in sheetcam.Then zero out your xyz button and hit regen tool path button.Now you can use your buttons on your keyboard and move your torch around to see if things on the screen are where you want them,if they are, move torch back to the starting point.I usually move my torch down to within .5 of material and then hit zeros on the xyz buttons.You should now be ready to hit the run button..Hope some of this helps.When you make a file in bc just save it as a dxf file and open it in sheetcam.Bobcad does not need to make your gcodes sheetcam will do all that.I remember what it was like when I got started, I was wondering what I got myself into, in the end it was all worth it.Feel free to ask more questions. BYE FOR NOW,,,,,CURLY

[curlyweld]

One other thing after reading your post again.Yes thc needs to be on and the correct tip volts set using charts in your plasma cutter book.If you have no chart I would suggest starting at 145 volts for 1/8 inch material.Enter that number on the mach 3 screen and hit button that says send to thc controller. Once the cutter starts cutting at your preset height the thc will take over with the voltage setting.You will figure this out and it will all make sense, GOOD LUCK ,,,CURLY

[curlyweld]

MILLMAN,about your post of bc,I had a new Bobcad salesman call me the otherday with their new software that would import artwork and do many other great things.It sounded like all the things I do with COREL DRAW,when I told him this he said he didn't know what corel draw was,poor guy.So just out of curiosity I ask him the price,get ready for this,2495.00 but being I could be considered a repeat customer I could have it for around 2000.00 dollars,what a joke. Don't be surprised if he calls you. CURLY

[millman52]

MILLMAN,about your post of bc,I had a new Bobcad salesman call me the otherday with their new software that would import artwork and do many other great things.It sounded like all the things I do with COREL DRAW,when I told him this he said he didn't know what corel draw was,poor guy.So just out of curiosity I ask him the price,get ready for this,2495.00 but being I could be considered a repeat customer I could have it for around 2000.00 dollars,what a joke. Don't be surprised if he calls you. CURLY

THEY DO ON A REGULAR BASIS If I'm not knee deep in something at the time I listen just a bit to the pitch then butt in. I have a problem with your nesting software! I'll say. Then I get transferred to tech.

I bought the thing for the nesting because I cut many sheets of 3/8" & 1/2" A36 plate. The main part I want is (18) 15" circles. This leaves about a 6" square of plate between these circles. BCC-Nest will not recognise these scrap pieces as usable for other small parts!!!! Which I also keep rolling stock of these small items on the shelf for future sale.

anyway Tech support will tell me they haven't fixed that bug as yet So I get to tell their salesman I don't need an upgrade or new version. I also use their high pressure sales tactics at that point & offer sell them a full unused V21 with Nest for 1000.00 then 800.00 then 600.00 then offer just to ship it back if they'll pay the UPS bill. Somewhere in there I usually loose phone connection.

They were really trying to rape you on the price too. Sometime around Dec. Or Jan. They offered the entire NEW package to me for something like $600.00.

What little bit I did try to use it to write code for Mach There was always some glitch in the code.

So I'm one of the guys that when asked about BCC I'm very quick to give my $800.00+ University of Hard Knocks education. NEVER EVER, NO HOW, NO WAY, would I even let them give it to me if I had to use it. I've never even offered to give my version to anyone because I don't want to turn a friend into an enemy.

[curlyweld]

Millman,if it's just those two sizes,one circle and one square can't you load one of each into sheetcam and then nest them by hand into your size of material??Just my two cents,good luck,,,,CURLY

[millman52]

Millman,if it's just those two sizes,one circle and one square can't you load one of each into sheetcam and then nest them by hand into your size of material??Just my two cents,good luck,,,,CURLY

Sure, The square I mentioned was the approximate amount of scrap if you don't place small parts in there like I thought BCC should do.

Once I was through the very short learning curve of Sheetcam I realized I could save each sheet as a file for later use I have absolutely no use for nesting software because I cut the same parts over & over.

It would be different if every day brought you new stuff & enough of it to cut an entire sheet. Then you need powerful nesting with chain cutting capabilities.

Even the chain cutting I have became pretty efficient at just drawing those in CAD.

[TerraWombat]

I had the fellas from BobCADCAM contact me even before I received my ez-Router machine trying to sell me the newest version (v23). Told them I'd like to try v21 before I jump to v23! At one point, they were offering me the entire v23 version at a "student" discount of $400 or something ridiculous like that. Told them I'm not even a student anymore, but they could overlook that fact...

I have yet to even use BobCADCAM for any longer than 10 minutes....I'll stick to my work CAD (TurboCAD) and SheetCAM.

[Mike 1948]

I'm helping someone with an EzRouter. These are probalby pretty simple questions for a fulltime user. Its not my machine.
I pretty much have it cutting and doing what I want except for a couple of things.

We are using Sheetcam and BobCad-Cam software in addition to the Mach3 version that came with EzRouter. LazyCam is available also.

Problem:
The torch height is too far off the plate. What controls this? I know there is a THC button in Mach3. I would think that the THC (torch height control?) would do this. While the machine is running Mach3 displays +.450 for the z axis height. The gcode sets the z at about .190. Somewhere this is being overwritten I think. Looking at the data for the plasma cutter the torch pierce height is (I don't have the book so this is from memory) .150. Cut height is .190. Something is setting it to .450

I'm not able to change the cutting start point. I take the DXF file and run the post processor in sheet cam. Sometimes the X,Y origin in the G-Code is pretty far away from the cutting start point. I jog the machine to the x.y origin, zero the X and Y and run it from there. It might move 10+ on the X and 10+ on the Y to get to the initial starting point. I would like to set the cutting start point manually. How can I do this?

I need to find the BobCad-Cam post processor for the EzRouter. When I run the post processor in BobCad I can select EzRouter but the code that is generated has no M03, M05, or any Z moves. One z move at the start of the program and that is all. Its more like code for a wood router.
Any help is appreciated. I'm not charging the guy to get the machine to do what he wants it to do.

I "believe" you are trying to get the start point changed in the wrong spot. You have to change it in Sheetcam before posting. After you get you cut paths in Sheet cam find the "S" button after you push that in you can drag the cut start point to any node you want, and the software will recalculate the path.

As far as your cut height goes, I think you will have to edit a variable in your post to compensate for the float in the torch head. Here are some generic instructions, Note: THIS MAY OR MAY NOT apply to your setup but it gives you an idea.

Modifying the XXXXXX.post SheetCAM Post
Modifying the XXXXXXX post is very simple, and can prove to be effective for different jobs. To edit the XXXXXX. post, simply go to the folder that contains the post within your CAD/CAM PC’s hard drive (assuming you have placed it there). This file is found at C:\Program Files\SheetCam\Posts. Simply right click the post and select that you wish to open it with notepad. Once you have loaded the post, only one area will be of relevance to you and your case. You should save another copy of the post before modifying, just in case you screw it up.

Look for a line that says: SwitchOffset x.xx

The switch offset controls how far the machine will move the Z-axis to offset its part zero. In layman’s terms, this simply means that the distance it takes for the floating head to hit the switch and create a signal needs to be compensated for.

The easiest way to find this distance is to simply slow down the jog, and jog the tip of your torch to the material. Once the tip is just touching, zero out the DRO and create a part ZERO. Then, slowly jog the Z-axis down until the light next to the Z axis DRO changes showing that the switch has been triggered. Record this value, and insert it in a positive number in place of the 0 that currently the SwitchOffset value.

Good luck
Mike

[Shanghyd]

I'm still working with this plasma table.
I'm using sheetcam to generate the code then run it in Mach3.
There is this annoying process of the torch coming down and finding the plate every time. Is there a way to keep it from doing this? Once the torch finds the plate the first time there isn't any need for it to keep doing it in my case.

Is this a THC thing? Is it controlled with G-Code?

[Mike 1948]

I'm still working with this plasma table.
I'm using sheetcam to generate the code then run it in Mach3.
There is this annoying process of the torch coming down and finding the plate every time. Is there a way to keep it from doing this? Once the torch finds the plate the first time there isn't any need for it to keep doing it in my case.

Is this a THC thing? Is it controlled with G-Code?

If it is similar to mine the the initial torch touch off is controled by the post processor in Sheetcam. If your post is similar, open the post with word pad and look just by the switchoffset line. There should be a Refdistance= xx line, the xx is probably 1 or something small. this is the distance the torch will travel(in mm) between references of the material height. Change that number to 99999, that tells to the machine to cut 10,000 mm before another reference. The machine should do the first height check and then not need another unless its a really, really big part for 10,000 mm.
If your post processor does not have that line maybe someone else can chime in.

Good Luck
Mike