Vectric Aspire GCode does not start at the correct height--SOLVED

X-Carve Troubleshooting
1

Good Afternoon,

I am having quite a bit of difficulty carving anything I design with Vectric Aspire (I am using version 8.0).

My machine has been calibrated with Easel.

I have tested sending the Gcode with ChiliPeppr - Hardware Fiddle, UGCS (VSN 2.0) and even the new Easel Gcode sender.
no matter how I send the code to the machine it always moves the endmill to the start location and stays .2-.4" above and starts carving the air.

If i try to carve a project someone else makes in Easel it works great for example I did a test carve of the Dewalt 611 air divertor and that carved beautifully (took a few hours). This leads me to believe that my machine is setup fine but some how the gcode generation is messed up.

here is a copy of the aspire material setup:

Each time I do a homing of the machine then jog to the start location zero x & y and follow the piece of paper test for the z zero.

below is the beginning of my gcode file (using the xcarve in pp)

T1M6
G17
G20
G0 Z0.2000 <------- z goes up .2 once
G0 X0.0000 Y0.0000 S12000 M3
G0 X0.8390 Y0.3909 Z0.2000 <--------z goes up .2 twice
G1 Z-0.0280 F0.0 <--------- -.028 is the pass depth for the bit i have selected
G1 X0.9067 F28.0
G1 X0.9124 Y0.3914
G1 X0.9310 Y0.3938
G1 X0.9785 Y0.4015
G1 X0.9877 Y0.4034
G1 X0.8058
G1 X0.8051 Y0.4038
G1 X0.8001 Y0.4089
G1 X0.7964 Y0.4147
G1 X0.7960 Y0.4159
G1 X1.0421
G1 X1.0804 Y0.4259

I could change the line to be -.428Z but i want to make the gcode work seamlessly.

Thank you for any help you can provide

2

I’m no grbl scholar, but I ran into a similar situation recently. The issue could be that your machine has received a G91 command prior to you running your code. G91 sets the subsequent moves to relative mode; i.e., Z0.200 followed by Z0.200 moves Z to 0.200, then to 0.400. You want to be in absolute mode, G90, so a move command for any axis moves the the absolute location; i.e., Z0.200 moves Z to Z0.200; another Z0.200 does nothing because Z is already at 0.200. One way to check is to manually issue a G90 command before running your code. A more permanent way would be to modify your PP file to include G90 at the beginning.

3

Expanding on my previous post and using your code:
T1M6
G17
G20
G0 Z0.2000 <------- z goes up .2 once
G0 X0.0000 Y0.0000 S12000 M3
G0 X0.8390 Y0.3909 Z0.2000 <--------z stays at 0.200 in absolute mode
G1 Z-0.0280 F0.0 <--------- -.028 is the pass depth for the bit i have selected
G1 X0.9067 F28.0
G1 X0.9124 Y0.3914

4

So I tested this with issuing G90 in the file same result :frowning:

I also noticed there was an error with feed rate so I am attaching the log from UGCS, $$ output, aspire file and my gcode file to see if that helps.

log.rtf (5.6 KB)

$$.rtf (9.3 KB)

3D Roughing.gcode (1022.1 KB)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-un2AhNqKjdQmkxY19zNnVkMlU (Link to Aspire File 11mb)

5

I forgot to mention that i did modify the PP file to include the G90 Code that is how i issued the command

6

okay I figured out what was going wrong. I feel a bit dumb I had plunge rate set to .028 in/min so i think it was not moving down it is working now :slight_smile: thanks for the help!

7

Glad to hear it! Your gcode showed the Z feed rate as F0.0 which would have kept it at 0.200", I think.

Interesting thing is that I just finished running your gcode on OpenSCAM as a test and it ran as it should.