Hello everyone. I just got my X-carve last week and am having good luck with it so far using Easel. Last night I tired to use Fusion 360 for the first time and created my part, set the stock size, tool paths, feed rate and all that stuff. I imported the Gcode into Easel. I used the steps in easel to home the machine, and set the height, but when I started the cut, the X and Y axis worked properly, but my Z axis was hovering a good 1 and a half inches too high above the material. I assume there is either some calibration that I am missing or another dimension that I need to input somewhere. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
Most likely you haven’t specified your X/Y/Z zero point under CAM/Setup and used a different zero point than F360 think you will use.
Right-click your Setup pane, select Edit and you can choose Select Box Point to center top/center bottom or whatever. Here in my example X/Y/Z zero is Left Front Top of stock material.
My somewhat wild guess is that in F360, you are set up to zero from the table surface rather than the material surface.
Sounds like a post processor issue to me. I had a similar issue by not having a G90 in the header.
Open your Gcode and paste the first like 10-20 lines.
Yeah, PP-issue can certainly be a the case here, good you mentioned that @JustinBusby
Mind you, in F360 it will start high when ramping down, but not by an inch or more (unless specified to do so)
Is the height it start to carve at somewhat similar to the height of the material? If so, PP is most likely it.
I will post the gcode when I get home. I did notice this when I was going through my settings. All the heights are way above the material. Am I correct to assume that they should be lower?
Kind of explains the pattern of the Xcarve. The last pass that the machine made just barely touched the top of my material.
What is your selected contour?
You have three planes defined here, Light blue/Green/Orange, which all should be above stock - as seen here.
I can’t see the fourth, dark blue which define the lowest point it will carve. (Follows the stock, almost at the bottom)
I think I have it sorted out. I didnt enter a value for the bottom height, so I dont think the Z axis knew how deep to cut. I only had the three colour lines (light blue, green and orange). After I set my bottom height, I got a dark blue line. My material is .5inches thick, and I want it to cut all the way though, so I set my bottom height to -.5 inches from the top height. I will try it out when I get home and see if my theory is correct.
Just set your bottom height to “Stock bottom” (assuming you entered your stock dimensions correctly in the setup).
I’d also recommend previewing your toolpaths. In Fusion 360, you can also simulate the operations. Once you import it into Easel, double check that the toolpath is where you expect.