So I am trying to cut an aluminum touchplate for Z homing. I have the tool setup to use trochoidal milling. I have attached the saved project. First off I am not sure if I am using the correct lead in type. I wanted the bit to just start cutting from the side of the plate instead of plunging into the pocket.
Anyway. The second problem is the big one. I go to save the CNC program and my computer will churn for over 24 hours without any Gcode produced. The first 8 hours it uses a lot of CPU and Disk usage. After that it uses very little CPU and disk and just sits there with a lot of RAM used. I think it is stuck. Any ideas? Maybe some of my tool settings are causing the program to be too long or complex.
I am using a Surface Pro 5 with an i7 processor. My magic fix all trick of rebooting the computer has not helped.
Aaah. Here is a zip file but the version problem may be real. As part of my debugging the problem I updated to the latest version of Estlcam that he released this week.
You aren’t using finishing passes. The lead in and out are not right. The big pocket should be a peel. The only part the tricoidal should be used on is the cutout/engrave.
I changed a lot, let me know if it all makes sense to you.
Slowed you down, might need to go slower. Finishing passes at full depth. Trichodial is taking the longest but it is 10mm thick aluminum, I hope the numbers are conservative.
Side note, this style touch plate is only useful if you are using the repetier board and firmware and use lots of flat even square material.
Oh! That’s brilliant!. So I really like the idea and direction you are going with that. I was trying to recreate your changes as a learning exercise. I get it! This way you only have to use Troch milling for a little bit on one tool. (solving the eternal number crunching issue.) Then I liked how you solved the lead in by using a manual path. Clever. So then would you suggest I continue to use the same single flute bit the entire time or should I actually switch the bit to a 2 flute flat nose for the finishing pass? I think the same tool is the better idea.
I didn’t know about the the repetier firmware. I thought I could get this to work with Marlin. Just change the logic for the Z switch so it is normally Open. That should make it work as a Z homing switch. That is my main goal. Z homing touch plate. (I know I could do with a simple flat plate.)
Then to zero in on X and Y I thought Estlcam would do that for me using the cnc controller and essentially a G91. Granted I think this only works with the cnc controll program. aka no headless SD printing. Not a huge deal if I can’t get it to work for X and Y. My X and Y homing are working for me pretty well.
This piece is mostly a learning opportunity for milling aluminum. I probably won’t be doing a ton of it but I want to see if I can figure it out.
The whole thing is using the same bit, so depending on your settings you may or may not have pauses where it wants to change but it is not needed.
You can see it is a long job though. You might want to do some test cuts and see if you can increase the tricoidal step-over and peel speed. I would make a miniature one and fine tune the settings.