OneCNC XR Questions

[CNCPlastic]

A couple questions...

1. If I have a solid model with an area to be milled out that is .150 deep, and I set depth of cut to .100 (I'm milling plastic) the toolpath model wizard stops short, it creates code for the first .100 but doesn't seem smart enough to go oh, there's another .070 to cut, adjust downward and cut that also...or I'm not smart enough to figure it out. lol

2. If I want to mill a .250 wide groove in some material why won't XR let me use a .250 end mill? Again the model wizard looks it over and just does nothing, no error msg, no toolpath either, the cursor just reappears. Which by the way is getting annoying, there should be a popup message or something in that situation. Anyway if I switch to a small enough sized end mill it works just fine. I'm not sure what the tollerance is, even a groove say 5/16ths isn't wide enough for a 1/4 inch end mill, XR seems to be wanting a certain minimum amount of clearance, can you turn that off? I'm cutting plastic with flood coolant and could hog right through it and save a lot of time with the larger end mill.

Bug? I have been modeling a lot of cubes and cyclinders, normally when I model a cube I set X, Y, Z, next the construction plane (normal XY), then position (XY Coordinate), then I set X, Y, and Z. This is the natural flow of the menus as the appear and everything works fine. But several times now XR seemed to get confused, it wouldn't let me set the construction plane e.g. the menu never even appeared, then for XY coordinate the only choices were for X and Y e.g. I could not set Z, it wasn't even displayed in the menu.

This has happed to me quite a few times, not enough to be annoying but enough to know its not me. Some clues for the debuggers...I have had this issue with several different files so I don't think its related to a particular file. This last time it happened, I opened a new file while keeping the old file open, created a cube in the new file and it worked fine, closed that file, tried the old file, still broken. I opened a new file again and again created a cube without any trouble, this time I kept this new file open and went over to the old file and now cubes were working again, e.g. it fixed whatever was wrong.

Not a complaint, I have a workaround and its not a huge deal, just wanted to pass this along in case you want to fix it.

[HuFlungDung]

1: Post your file for actual scrutiny of your process setup. There's reasons why you're not getting the results you want.

2. SMT machining does require some amount of cutter clearance in a narrow slot, because this is good machining practice for mold machining. For simple slots and such, you can (and should) use mill profile to make a tool fit exactly in a slot, based on the extracted edges of the slot, or a simple 2d wireframe layout of the slot. I know I used to think the same way as you, but if you really stop and think about it, a full width, single pass slot usually turns out with a crappy finish on one side at least, and the chip clearing is not very good.

3: I suspect you may be in Cadview mode, when there is no request for Z information. Use Top view (3d) when you want all 3 axis to appear in the dialogs. If that is not the issue, then perhaps you have locked in a plane. At that point, then requests to set the plane stop coming forth. To change the plane, you need to click on the plane icon down in the lower left status bar. Then you can uncheck the locked in plane and select a new plane.

[wms]

Charles,

You didn't mention what tool path style you are using for the pocket in your solid model. SMT or pocket?

It will for sure cut all the way down to the bottom of the pocket in both instances if you set things right.

As for SMT Z level rough this is controlled by the "extents page" and the "find flat areas" setting.

As for "pocket" tool path it is set by final Z depth.

A file to look at would help to pin down the proper setting for you. You could post it here or on the other board.

As for the groove question, you can always use "mill profile" or "cut chain - constant Z" to mill a .250 wide slot with a 1/4" tool. Fast and easy.

If you take a look over on the other board you will find that this has been covered in the past.

And as far as the Cube or Cylinder creation question, If you are in "Cad" view, you will not get the option to choose any construction plane. As cad view is a 2d world. My bet is that this is what is happening to you. Just click on any of the 3d views and you will then get the chance to set your construction plane.

[wms]

Looks like Murray and I post at the same time.

Well at least we concur about the answers.

[Ken_Shea]

CncPlastic,
1) You did not mention which tool path you are using but of course OneCNC is smart enough, I would check your Z-Bottom of job or Z-offset settings.
Post you .xfa and we can take a look.

2) On the groove issue this may be a tolerance setting, you might also check the tools diameter setting in the tool list to be sure it is .250

3) On the Bugs thing, could be a bug??, Z settings will not show up while in 2D view, were you in that view. Are you able to repeat this problem? I have not experienced this problem in XR or previous XP.

[Ken_Shea]

Man you guys are fast, I can't even sneak in a little help here on the zone.

Ambulance chasers

[CNCPlastic]

Hu I'm in the 2D top view 95% of the time on these parts and its not been a problem, only occasionally is Z not an option. But I'll certainly try the top 3D view thanks. Appreciate any thoughts you have on why its not cutting all .170, I tried several different cutting depths, if I pick a multiple of the depth for example .010 for a .100 deep cut it works fine. Its just leaving the remainder of a depth less than the desired depth.

[CNCPlastic]

2D verses 3D and Z...thank you all ver much I figured out what was happening. I nearly always hit Ctrl-1 which now that I am paying attention is putting up the 3D top view. But once in a while I select the 2D top view from the menu, the only thing that changes is the screen background, never noticed that before but thanks for the assist.

On the other stuff I did post a file over on onecnc forum but I'll also go back and look at this mill profile verses model toolpaths, but model toolpaths is so easy!!! I'm spoiled already.

HEY on a side note, this XR is beyond fantastic, after only a few days using it and never having done any cad/cam before I'm creating parts already on the mill, kind of feel like I could build anything now, its VERY cool, onecnc that is.