Estlcam stopped working

Software / Firmware
#1

Hi,

I’m having problems with Estlcam not producing valid gcode following Vicious 1’s intermediate instructions which worked fine on polystyrene but when I attempted to move on to MDF which required a change of all the depths it all stopped working. I have emailed Christian at Estlcam but not had a reply.

Basically everything was working fine upto the 28th January. I am using V9.018 although I notice on the Estlcam site that there was a 9.050 release on the 29th, followed by a 10.0 also on the 29th. I am on Windows 10.

In short: this is an abstract of my email to Christian, is anybody else having this problem or have experienced this situation and have a solution? I have found an uninstall program in the Estlcam directory and around 15 entries in the Windows 10 Registry relating to Estlcam and it is unclear to me whether this program would clean up the registry. I also cannot find and .ini or .cfg or any similar files with the name Estlcam

"I have been trying out Estlcam for my MPCNC project and it was working fine. I haven’t yet registered and the prompt countdown is now upto 19seconds. As I say the program was working fine producing codes that successfully controlled the MPCNC.

e.g. ;Project left
;Created by Estlcam version 9 build 9.018
;Machining time about 00:23:02 hours

G90
M03 S24000
G00 X0.0000 Y0.0000 Z0.0000
G00 Z5.0000

;No. 1: Pocketing: Surfacing
G00 X26.0008 Y9.3295 Z5.0000
G00 Z0.5000
G01 Z-1.5500 F180 S24000
G01 X8.1915 F900

I had a slight problem starting it yesterday ((Windows 10 E version 9.018) and it took a couple of goes. Then it lost the default File extension setting so was producing .cnc files which I have changed back to gcode. However the files it produces look like this

e.g 00000 00000 00000
50000
310008 93295 50000
05000
-2000018024000
131915900
131325 94069
130748 94852
130184 95645
129632 96447
129095 97258
128570 98077
128059 98905
127562 99742

i.e the M/G codes and X…Z letter have gone. Clearly this no longer work."

#2

In the Estlcam setup, make sure Marlin is highlighted. Then under CNC Programs, make sure Marlin is highlighted again, it should be, since you highlighted it under the setup pane. Then change the file extension back to nc or gcode, either will work. I use nc so I don’t get 3d prints and cnc cuts mixed up. That should get you working.

#3

Don’t know how to get to the original setup screen but I selected Marlin when I originally installed Estlcam. Under setup/cnc program generation: marlin IS selected/ highlighted and units are millimetre, mm/min. I have already set the file extension back to gcode from cnc and that didn’t make a difference.

The output I set out in my first posting was after doing all that.

My inclination is to “uninstall” and re-install but I am concerned about all the references in the registry.

Dennis

#4

I wouldn’t worry about those. The settings are located in C:\ProgramData\Estlcam\VXXX.

#5

Hi,

looks like the program lost its settings.
First thing you shoud try is to just reselect Marlin in the setup tab.
If this does not work uninstall and reinstall.
The registry settings do not matter - it is just important to get rid of possibly damaged configuration files in the settings folder which uninstalling will do.

Christian

#6

It is also best if you update, Some important features have been added. These are shown in the estlcam basics page now.

#7

Hi,

Have just selected another Preset (NC-Easy) under CNC program generation, then re-selected Marlin, untick the arc command, changed the file extension to gcode. Forced a save settings to/postprocessor/MPCNC.pp (which had the original file dated from the original installation) and it NOW WORKS.

Thanks guys

Once I’m happy with it I will update and pay!

Dennis

#8

Continuing my idiot persona which I am carefully cultivating what is the URL to the Estlcam basics page you referred to cos I can’t find it either on the vicious1 site or Estlcam.de?

Dennis

#9

Try here.
https://v1engineering.com/information/how-to/

#10

Sorry but where does that URL explain the differences in V10 compared to V9? I have obviously found the change log on the estlcam site but I thought vicious1 was suggesting that there was a fuller explanation somewhere.

Dennis

#11

I’ve not seen anything other than the change logs, and Christian’s posts here on the forums. Version 10 just came out today as well.

#12

The changes are shown on the getting started page. Estlcam 9.37 and newer has independent axis speeds now available. That is all we needed to make this machine preform very nicely now. Other than that the changelog is very detailed.