Hello, I am new to CNC and to this forum, although a long time engineer and CAD designer (solidworks mostly). I am excited to have found such a resource!



I bought a used CNC router that came with mastercam X4 on the computer and I have a few issues I need help resolving.



Any help would be greatly appreciated! I "think" I understand a little about how the post works and that you can some how alter the post and customize it. However I have no clue how to do that or fix these issues, even after reading many documents about post processors.





The issues I have are:



1) When I am using a single tool, I must go into the code every single time and create a G54 Z.25 right before the line where the gantry / tool starts movement. If I dont do this, then the tool will move to the X,Y it needs to, but without raising the tool up in +Z, which means the work piece gets trashed. So the stock processor I have is not telling the tool to raise before it travels in x,y

Blow is the post that is output prior to me altering it
N106 G52 X0. Y0. Z0.
N108 T2 M6
N110 G0 G90 G54 X7.304 Y.422 C0.
N112 S18000 M3


After I alter the code it looks like this:
N106 G52 X0. Y0. Z0.
N108 T2 M6
N110 G0 G90 G54 z.25
N111 G54 X7.304 Y.422 C0.
N112 S18000 M3


2) If I am using multiple tools, the same thing occurs after the M01. I must manually go in and change the code every time using 'G54 Z.25' to raise the tool prior to the X,Y movement after the tool change. I also have to change (in the code shown below) line N254 to git rid of the Z0... otherwise the tool goes to z=0 and then travels to x=y=0 which ruins the work piece.

N254 G90 G49 Z0. M05
N256 G52 X0. Y0. Z0.
N258 M01
N260 G90 M05 Z0.
N262 T1 M6
N264 G0 G90 G55 X48.2283 Y19.7375 C0.

3) At the end of the code, or before a tool change, I always have to go back in and manually raise the tool again after it finishes the last operation. Otherwise, the tool stays at z=0 and the work piece is ruined.

See above for example code

4) at the end of the code; I have to change;

'G54 X0 Y0 Z0 '

In to

'G54 X0 Y0
G54 Z0'

Otherwise, the tool / gantry travels in the negative z direction as it travels in negative x and y. If the tool is far form the origin, this results in the work piece bring ruined because it reaches z=0 before x=y=0


4) This is more of a Mach3 question I think, but if the tool is at X,Y,0 (where x and y are any value other than zero) and I click "go to zero" the tool doesn't raise before moving in the x,y direction. Is there a way to change this setting in Mach 3 so the tool always raises prior to moving to the origin?



Thank you again for any help!
J

Similar Threads: