X Carve/Vectric Aspire/UGCS "Home" Questions

DerekJordan · November 3, 2015, 8:45pm

I am having some issues with my latest trial cuts. I am cutting .75" MDF. I have a 3D Model in Vectric Aspire that is .6" deep on the Z axis.

When I was cutting earlier, everything was going fantastic until I got towards the end. It got to the point where it was cutting through the .75" thick MDF! I had my bit placed right on the top of the board when I started, universal G code sender showed I was zeroed on the “workspace” and “machine”.

I don’t understand what I’m doing incorrectly. I am very new to this!

AlanDavis · November 3, 2015, 10:51pm

After touch your bit to surface, also you must use piece of paper until bit catches it, then you have to click set Z zero. Did you do that.

LarryM · November 3, 2015, 10:54pm

Here are some ideas:

It seems that the Z axis is losing its position either through mechanical slipping or missed step pulses to the stepper motor, or you may have a Z axis calibration problem.

Check the following items on the Z axis -
The pulley set screws on the motor and vertical motion screw (either M8 or ACME).
The adjustment of the V wheels (may be too tight)
The tension on the Z axis belt

You may have to adjust the current limit for the Z axis.

RobertA_Rieke · November 4, 2015, 1:35am

You may also want to check whether your bit started coming out or not. If you’re using a downcutting bit and the spindle nut isn’t nice and tight, it’ll try to pull itself down and out of the spindle.

DerekJordan · November 4, 2015, 4:49am

Thanks for all of the replies! I just now was able to get on and check them. I was actually able to fix my problem by finding another post on the forums with UGCS settings (pulled up by typing in “$$”). I just happened to look through them line by line and saw that my $102 (I believe) was not the same. Essentially, it appeared that the number of mm’s my machine was counting per step was too high. I lowered it to what the forum user posted and it works fine now!

To check this theory, I used UGCS to move the Z axis from on the board to 1 inch up. I measured the movement physically and it was close to 1.3 inches. After adjustment a 1 inch movement in UGCS yielded a 1 inch physical movement.

LarryM · November 4, 2015, 5:00am

Ok, it was calibration (sort of). Thanks for the update. That helps for when the question comes up again.

DerekJordan · November 4, 2015, 5:02am

Here is a copy of the forum post that helped me…
Continuing the discussion from Universal G-Code Sender not talking to X-Carve?:

Universal G-Code Sender not talking to X-Carve?

Here is mine GRBL setting, just put $$ on UGS command line to see if you’re able to communicate GRBL and if it is matching. If you see screen similar to this and numbers are all different, we can straight it up.

$$
$0=10 (step pulse, usec)
$1=255 (step idle delay, msec)
$2=0 (step port invert mask:00000000)
$3=3 (dir port invert mask:00000011)
$4=0 (step enable invert, bool)
$5=0 (limit pins invert, bool)
$6=0 (probe pin invert, bool)
$10=3 (status report mask:00000011)
$11=0.050 (junction deviation, mm)
$12=0.002 (arc tolerance, mm)
$13=0 (report inches, bool)
$20=0 (soft limits, bool)
$21=0 (hard limits, bool)
$22=1 (homing cycle, bool)
$23=3 (homing dir invert mask:00000011)
$24=25.000 (homing feed, mm/min)
$25=750.000 (homing seek, mm/min)
$26=250 (homing debounce, msec)
$27=1.000 (homing pull-off, mm)
$100=40.000 (x, step/mm)
$101=40.000 (y, step/mm)
$102=188.976 (z, step/mm)
$110=8000.000 (x max rate, mm/min)
$111=8000.000 (y max rate, mm/min)
$112=500.000 (z max rate, mm/min)
$120=500.000 (x accel, mm/sec^2)
$121=500.000 (y accel, mm/sec^2)
$122=50.000 (z accel, mm/sec^2)
$130=790.000 (x max travel, mm)
$131=790.000 (y max travel, mm)
$132=100.000 (z max travel, mm)
ok

LarryM · November 4, 2015, 5:32am

Here is a reference that can help with tuning grbl.