Test cut and suggestion

[Vlad]

Been playing around yesterday with gcodetools, and did a basic cut to path of a logo I did in inkscape.
I'm starting to really like inkscape and your plugin!

Used a 1/8 ball cutter on a jewellers type dremel. Approximate size of the logo is about 100mm, cut 0.5mm deep, material - cherry wood.
Everything went good.

cutting in process

finished

May I suggest to add a radio button to turn the spindle on inside one of the tabs in gcodetools. Or perhaps it should be in the gcode file by default?
I have a relay that turns the spindle when there is a signal from EMC and its a bummer to add the code every time by hand.
The code I add is S5000M03 which is spindle on at 5k rpm cw.

I will try the area cutting next and take some pics.

[Nick]

Have you noticed this line at the top of your Gcode?
(Using default header. To add your own header create file "header" in the output dir.)

You can create your custom header file, that will suite your machine, and it's contents will be added to every ngc-gcode file created using Gcodetools. I think it's not necessary to include spindle speed into the form. There are already a lot of options there. May be we should make a better man ...

Same as with header file you can add custom footer.

If you are making gcode for several different machines you can store ngc files in different folders which has their own header and footer files.

Thanks for the photos!

PS Nice logo !

PSS Can you say some words about your machine. It's a home build one? I'm interesting in how did you make your rails and spindle holder?

[Vlad]

Thanks for the tips, I will try the header today.

Machine is home built, I started last year and did a lot of upgrades this winter.
Rebuilt the table out of 80/20 aluminum, new Y axis, rebuilt X and Z.
Tool holder is 3/4 cherry wood cut on the cnc.

Will take some photos and post later on.

[Vlad]

Here are some more pictures of the machine and I cut a little cover door for an electrical box using "area" today.
The machine

Tool holder

X axis rail, angle aluminium on top and bottom and v-grove berrings

Y&Z axis

EMC screen

Finished product

[Nick]

Thanks for the photos.

What are your rails on X axis made of? Is there any backlash compenstaion?

And does your spindle make a lot of noise or not. I want to by a new spindle for my home cnc, but I'm afraid that my neighbor's wont like it's noise.

[Vlad]

Rails on the x are aluminum L angle.
Motor/spindle is very quiet but its not made for running at long periods of time so I have to pause if the code is long, maybe run it for 30-45 minutes at a time. There is no fan on the motor.
Here is what you are looking for http://cgi.ebay.com/FORDOM-C-30-20-000- ... 33620a9103

[Vlad]

Backlash is big on the x because I use a regular threaded bar (need to upgrade soon) but easy to compensate in EMC so no big deal.