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Hi charlie : I'm stumped , I have two layers a raster layer of mountain and a text layer. I do a parallel rough pass first 1/4 EM. My second operation is with a round nose EM to clean up. I wanted to get a crisp outline on the letters like a Vbit profile but can't find the right operation order. The mountain in the back ground has varying heights . Any suggestions to point me in the right direction ? Is the profile operation that will be fixed in the next release the answer ?
Thanks Joe
Hi Joe,
I did some experiments to try to get the Profile Milling operation to stall out. I'm sure it's just a parameter that's set to something it's not happy with. I am able to cause it to stall out when Contour Z is set to the bottom of the canvas, 0%, which technically shouldn't produce any contours and error out. I'm not sure what I changed in v1.55b but it's not an issue on there - it just generates a blank toolpath and shows an error about it, but v1.53a definitely gets stuck calculating when contour Z isn't set to somewhere between the top/bottom of the canvas volume.
It's important that the operations which require the user set a contouring Z plane have it set to something that does produce a contour which includes the Profile Milling, Pocket Milling, and Medial-Axis Carving operations, otherwise they will either fail to generate a toolpath due to not having any contours at the set Z-plane or it can generate something undesirable.
- Charlie
Charlie : It also will stall with the mountain layer even thou it is less then 1/2 of the letters. This is with any depth setting, not even touching the bottom layer. So I just set Text layer as the active profile cut, works fine then. Is there any way to stop the calculation once it begins ? Otherwise I have to close and reopen program. Thanks
For anyone who comes across this thread in the future, Joe was running into a bug that exists in v1.53a that prevented PixelCNC from showing an error if a toolpath fails to generate. This was since fixed for the upcoming v1.55b release. The issue was that he was not setting a Contour Z that intersected the contents of his canvas, which occupy only a section of the full canvas Z size being used. It's a good idea to only make your canvas Z size as thick as you want your deepest cuts to be and keep your canvas contents ranging the full thickness of the canvas, at least in most situations, and not leaving a portion of the bottom section of the canvas solid or a large portion of the top of the canvas empty, particularly when using operations that employ a Contour Z level.
Here's a GIF showing how the Contour Z level affects the toolpaths that are generated by the Profile Milling operation. The Pocket Milling and Medial-Axis Carving operations also rely on the user specifying a waterline contour level for PixelCNC to trace for generating toolpaths from. If the contouring Z plane is set lower or higher than the contents of the canvas then no contours will be produced and no toolpaths generated. Something for everyone to keep in mind and be aware of :)
- Charlie
That was the problem, got it working now. In your explanation you said It's a good idea to only make your canvas Z size as thick as you want your deepest cuts to be. Most things I do require a cut out, so I set my canvas Z size to my material depth (.75 ) . Is that the best way to set canvas Z ? I use profile operation to cut it out, and max depth will only go to Z size ?
Hi Joe,
Yes, the maximum depth of an operation will only be able to go as deep as the canvas' Z size. I see what you're saying, you're effectively modeling the workpiece in your canvas to accommodate the cut-out. If you're not doing a cut-out (e.g. just engraving or v-carving into a workpiece that's already the shape it needs to be) then it's a good idea to set your canvas Z size only to the deepest you need your cuts to go. If you need them to go through the workpiece then set it as thick as that at least, if not a little more as room for error to make sure it cuts all the way through :)
- Charlie
