Blue eleven
Thu 24 June 2010, 19:13
G'day to all you clever folk out there !
I may well be in the wrong forum to discuss this rather long winded problem ( and please let me know if I am ...or direct me to someone who may be able to help if you can )
In a nutshell, it goes something like this.
In mid 2008 I purchase a Chinese made Woodpecker CNC cutting machine manufactured by ROC Machine electronic system engineering, an Optima 1325, through an Australian distributor. It included the router, a computer and Type3 v4.3 machine software. If you google it, you will eventually find it and be able to see its basic tech specs.
The Australian technical support team ( which is basically one person ) had a very basic understanding of the machines parameters, capabilities, limitations and software. So , myself and my operator essentially taught ourselves how to use it and now we actually know more about the machine than the distributor. We have had the following issue since around September last year and the distributor has been unable ( and at times unwilling ) to help us solve the mysterious problem. Hence, I come to you in the hope that you may have an inkling of what may be going on .....
That's the background ....Here's the problem....
All the files at the first stage are generated either in Adobe illustrator and exported as a dxf or they are produced in AutoCAD ( as a dxf ) or they are generated in the Type3 v4.3 machine software itself ....fine.... then as you do, you generate the g code in the type3 and away you go.
In the first few months of having the machine we were cutting fairly simple shapes, squares , circles etc etc and it seemed to perform fairly consistently and accurately. As we started to understand the machine and software better we started to produce complex files, started engraving complex images and generally started to exploit the full potential of the machine. Progressively, over time, the machine started to do wierd things ....
It would happily be cutting away and then just decide to head south or head north or start straying this way or that or even start cutting shapes which weren't even in the file ....basically , it started writing its own G code ?!
It is worth noting that files would never go wrong in identical places. You could run the same file 20 times and each time it would go wrong in a different place ( ? ).....Occasionally even very simple files would go wrong.
So....
Here's what we have investigated -
Was it due to dirty power or a power spike sending the machine off ? .....No, we did a 24hour test on the power supply with the machine running and even when it went wrong no fluctuations or spikes in power were registered
Was it a fault in the mother board ?....No, we have had it replaced
Was it wrongly formatted files from either Adobe illustrator or AutoCAD ? ....No, as even files produced 100% in the type 3 machine software have been faulty.
Was it a foreign body ( eg sand/dust ) on the guide rails or in the worm drive ... No, we had it all pulled appart and rea-assembled.
Was the worm drive bent ? .....No
Was it microwave or electrical interference from a nearby or adjoining building ?..... No
Was there loose or dodgey wiring ? ....not that we have been able to locate
Was it one of the stepper motors malfunctioning ? .....At this stage the very unreliable and unavailable tech guy has only swapped the X drive motor , so I can only say it is not the X drive motor. I am reluctant to believe that it could be the Y motor as periodically both simple or complex files can be cut successfully ( ? )
So.....what else could it be ?
It seems to leave really only a couple of possibilities. One comes from a 'similar' problem that my operator had with a large format printer he has at his house. He would be trying to print something then halfway through the printing the printer would lose the plot and go haywire. He scratched his head about this then increased the RAM on his computer, then hey presto, printer works a charm ..... So does the RAM need to be increased on either the CNC motherboard or in the Computer running the type3 ?
Or ....
Is the type3 software faulty or simply not capable of dealing with complex files ? We are now frequently uninstalling and re-installing it to try and 'clean-up' and speed up the processing power of the software. We also installed an improved graphics driver to help with this. The CNC itself, as we are not running it via ethernet, takes files from a ( maximum ) 2GB stick, so we are frequently re formatting the stick to try and get any ghostys out of it. All these things to no avail.
I have sent some of the 'faulty' files to the tech support guy ( who has the 4 x 4 version of the identical machine ) ... They have also not worked on his machine .....This is an important point isn't it ......However, he has no technical/software knowledge to be able to tell me why (???). He has also sent these files to the manufacturer in China to see if they can tell us why they are not working ....Essentially , they are not returning his calls...they claim to have produced thousands of these machines, none of which have been faulty ( which I believe for the record )....My distributor here has also had no complaints from anyone he has sold other machines to in Australia, but noted that no one he has sold to here cuts files anywhere near as complicated as the ones we produce....but, to re-itterate , we are also having simple files go astray from time to time.
Can anyone enlighten me on this ?
Are any of you out there Type3 v4.3 wizards ?
Has anyone ever had a similar problem ?
or is my machine simply becoming intelligent and likely to become sentient ???
Please find attached a dxf exported from Adobe illustrator which proved to be 'uncuttable'
Please help !:(
Blue
I may well be in the wrong forum to discuss this rather long winded problem ( and please let me know if I am ...or direct me to someone who may be able to help if you can )
In a nutshell, it goes something like this.
In mid 2008 I purchase a Chinese made Woodpecker CNC cutting machine manufactured by ROC Machine electronic system engineering, an Optima 1325, through an Australian distributor. It included the router, a computer and Type3 v4.3 machine software. If you google it, you will eventually find it and be able to see its basic tech specs.
The Australian technical support team ( which is basically one person ) had a very basic understanding of the machines parameters, capabilities, limitations and software. So , myself and my operator essentially taught ourselves how to use it and now we actually know more about the machine than the distributor. We have had the following issue since around September last year and the distributor has been unable ( and at times unwilling ) to help us solve the mysterious problem. Hence, I come to you in the hope that you may have an inkling of what may be going on .....
That's the background ....Here's the problem....
All the files at the first stage are generated either in Adobe illustrator and exported as a dxf or they are produced in AutoCAD ( as a dxf ) or they are generated in the Type3 v4.3 machine software itself ....fine.... then as you do, you generate the g code in the type3 and away you go.
In the first few months of having the machine we were cutting fairly simple shapes, squares , circles etc etc and it seemed to perform fairly consistently and accurately. As we started to understand the machine and software better we started to produce complex files, started engraving complex images and generally started to exploit the full potential of the machine. Progressively, over time, the machine started to do wierd things ....
It would happily be cutting away and then just decide to head south or head north or start straying this way or that or even start cutting shapes which weren't even in the file ....basically , it started writing its own G code ?!
It is worth noting that files would never go wrong in identical places. You could run the same file 20 times and each time it would go wrong in a different place ( ? ).....Occasionally even very simple files would go wrong.
So....
Here's what we have investigated -
Was it due to dirty power or a power spike sending the machine off ? .....No, we did a 24hour test on the power supply with the machine running and even when it went wrong no fluctuations or spikes in power were registered
Was it a fault in the mother board ?....No, we have had it replaced
Was it wrongly formatted files from either Adobe illustrator or AutoCAD ? ....No, as even files produced 100% in the type 3 machine software have been faulty.
Was it a foreign body ( eg sand/dust ) on the guide rails or in the worm drive ... No, we had it all pulled appart and rea-assembled.
Was the worm drive bent ? .....No
Was it microwave or electrical interference from a nearby or adjoining building ?..... No
Was there loose or dodgey wiring ? ....not that we have been able to locate
Was it one of the stepper motors malfunctioning ? .....At this stage the very unreliable and unavailable tech guy has only swapped the X drive motor , so I can only say it is not the X drive motor. I am reluctant to believe that it could be the Y motor as periodically both simple or complex files can be cut successfully ( ? )
So.....what else could it be ?
It seems to leave really only a couple of possibilities. One comes from a 'similar' problem that my operator had with a large format printer he has at his house. He would be trying to print something then halfway through the printing the printer would lose the plot and go haywire. He scratched his head about this then increased the RAM on his computer, then hey presto, printer works a charm ..... So does the RAM need to be increased on either the CNC motherboard or in the Computer running the type3 ?
Or ....
Is the type3 software faulty or simply not capable of dealing with complex files ? We are now frequently uninstalling and re-installing it to try and 'clean-up' and speed up the processing power of the software. We also installed an improved graphics driver to help with this. The CNC itself, as we are not running it via ethernet, takes files from a ( maximum ) 2GB stick, so we are frequently re formatting the stick to try and get any ghostys out of it. All these things to no avail.
I have sent some of the 'faulty' files to the tech support guy ( who has the 4 x 4 version of the identical machine ) ... They have also not worked on his machine .....This is an important point isn't it ......However, he has no technical/software knowledge to be able to tell me why (???). He has also sent these files to the manufacturer in China to see if they can tell us why they are not working ....Essentially , they are not returning his calls...they claim to have produced thousands of these machines, none of which have been faulty ( which I believe for the record )....My distributor here has also had no complaints from anyone he has sold other machines to in Australia, but noted that no one he has sold to here cuts files anywhere near as complicated as the ones we produce....but, to re-itterate , we are also having simple files go astray from time to time.
Can anyone enlighten me on this ?
Are any of you out there Type3 v4.3 wizards ?
Has anyone ever had a similar problem ?
or is my machine simply becoming intelligent and likely to become sentient ???
Please find attached a dxf exported from Adobe illustrator which proved to be 'uncuttable'
Please help !:(
Blue