Breaking Bits After an "S" stop and "R" resume

[cabindoors]

The problem that I am having has happened before using the "S" and "R" keyboard commands.

I often use Aspire V2 to create "peck" holes for cabinet shelves.

I have stopped the peck drilling program using the "S" soft stop command with disasterous results after starting again.

The procedure:

1. To resume, I use the "R" resume command.

2. This is when the problem occurs. The machine tries to move to the correct depth WHILE STILL MOVING IN THE X and Y Position. It should move to it's new position first (ie moving in the X&Y only) before drilling the peck hole. The result is a broken bit and damaged cabinet.

What is going on?

Has this problem happened to others out there? I would like a solution since I often use the "S" stop and "R" resume keyboard commands.

Thanks
Tom

[ken_rychlik]

The resume button should not be there.

They should say (quit) and (destroy work) instead of resume. Foolishly I tried it yesterday and it lost z position and resumed without starting the spindle. Another broken bit.

Please report it to shopbot, but from what I can tell this is normal. It will not resume on my machine with success and several othres that I know of.

[chiloquinruss]

This is just a guess but it sounds as though the software thinks it has completed the last hole and is 'resuming' at the next hole. A suggestion would be to use the variation of the resume command where you specify the line number to resume at. Insert the line number for the hole where you stopped. The line number should be just a few less than what is displayed when you hit the 'S'. Just a thought. Try a simple test without the bit in and see what happens. Russ

[ken_rychlik]

Russ, it used to resume fine with the 3.5.xx sb3 software, but not anymore. Which version are you running?

[wberminio]

I've found that-at times- upon "Resume" the feed rate slows to a craw

[dlcw]

I've never had ANY luck with the stop, pause or resume feature. I've broken a lot of bits doing what Shopbot told me to do (to bad I can't bill them). I've found that the safest, but not the most time saving thing to do, is start the file over from the beginning. Then I know I'm safe. If the material hasn't moved on the table, you should be ok.

[jerry_stanek]

I use the E stop or the stop by hitting the enter key and then can restart with no problems all the time also before it starts it asks if the spindle is on.

[knight_toolworks]

the enter key is not is not but it does seem to work. when I first got my bot hitting the space bar wouls cause those issues so I got in the habit of hitting enter. though sometimes it is not fast enough. I have ad the slow thing happen before too.

[zeykr]

I get the slow move speed thing consistently if I stop and resume in a 'complex' command like CR.

I do stop and change speeds then resume pretty often with no ill effects.

[cabindoors]

I assume (hope) that Shopbot is monitoring this thread. It is an extremely important problem since we should always have the ability to control the machine in a safe manner. I do not have the time to call Shopbot and I am frankly shocked that this problem is happening in the software.

There should be an easy fix for the Shopbot programmers to add the appropriate "conditional statements" in the code when using the "S" and "R" commands. The question is whether they will deem this problem important enough to act. But perhaps they have fixed this problem years ago and I simply haven't installed the newer version of the Shopbot control program.

[cabindoors]

Perhaps this topic shouldn't be in the "troubleshooting" section but it's a problem that needs shooting so here goes....

Last year I purchased cans of Iron, copper and bronze B Metal Coating from Sculpt Nouveau. I never got around to using them until a month later when I tried the Bronze with great results.

I happened to notice that the can of Iron B metal coating was bulging so one of my friends tried to open it. Well, it literally exploded in his face when the seal released. I immediately called Sculpt Nouveau asking whether it was a hazard since some was in his face and eyes. They assured me that it was not that hazardous and backed it with the MSDS sheet. No problem, and they send me another can since their newer forumula was not as "gassy" and wouldn't case the can to bulge.

Well, last week I was ready to use the can of Bronze and Copper for some signs that I had made. I was dismayed to find that each can had rusted completly through the bottom and of course leaked and ruined each can. I then called the company that they emailed saying that they had already sent me a replacement and can't do it again. (They were small 16 oz cans). They also said they told me last year that the cans were used for shipping considerations only and that the contents need to be put in a plastic or glass container after they were shipped.

The problem is that they never told me to put the Sculpt Nouveau in another container when I receive them. Their web site also does not tell it's customers to change to other containers.

So, here is the heads up. After you receive your Sculpt Nouveau immediately PUT IT IN ANOTHER CONTAINER (PREFERABLY PLASTIC OR GLASS)! Why they didn't include these containers with the order I'll never know.

Tom

[ted]

Hello All,

It would be very helpful to get samples of a couple of the files that are giving trouble with Resume. If you could send the file, along with your ShopBot.ini file that you can find by going to Help> User 'D'ata Files (Windows now puts them in lots of different places depending on Win version). The ini file helps us duplicate your exact setup. And, if you could list the exact steps that lead to a failure it would be great ...
[support @ ShopBotTools.com or ted @ ShopBotTools.com]

We had thought that the current version 3.6.28 was working pretty reliably with respect to Stop/Resume ... so this may help us understand something we are missing.

Note that the "S-Stop" and the "Spacebar-Stop" & "Enter-Stop" (as well as the Stop-Button-Stop on a Standard ShopBot) are now all the same. They should each produce a ramped stop and a pull up if the bit is below the Safe-Z height. After hitting Resume, the Z should go back to cutting height and movement continue.

Thanks, -Ted Hall, ShopBot Tools

[ken_rychlik]

Ted,

Thanks for posting. Personally I stopped "upgrading at version 3.6.20 as it seemed nothing but more trouble was comming every time I did an upgrade.

Are you telling me it's safe and my machine will not be crashing into the hard stops if I upgrade like last time? Normal things like a C2, or C3 command will work too??

I'm scared to death to upgrade. :eek:

[cabindoors]

Thanks Ted Hall for your quick reply.

I just checked the version that I am using. It is 3.4.27

Could the solution be simply that I should upgrade to 3.6.28? Has this version addressed the "S" and "R" command problem?

I could send you my .ini file if you'd like but I usually don't keep the .txt files generated after a run.

Thanks again.

Tom

[ken_rychlik]

Tom,

That version you are running is antique.

If you are running an old machine without at least the 4g upgrade, that may be the latest you can use though.

I can understand from Ted's perspective everyone should be on the latest version to help in troubleshooting. If we are all running different versions, we will all have different problems I'm sure.

[cabindoors]

You guessed it. I'm running a 2004 Shopbot without 4G upgrade.

[cabindoors]

Does anyone know whether my PRTStandard (2004 without 4g upgrade) will run with the newer Shopbot Verson 3.6.28 ?

What will happen if I try it?

I've read the list of "fixes" that were made for various versions and I see that I'm having those same problems with the older version (3.4.27) such as occasional comm communication problems, this current problem and many others.

I assume that V3.4.27 is the best that will run on my machine. Am I right?

[Gary Campbell]

Tom...
According to the SB dowload software page:

"For older PRT ShopBots that do not have PRSstandard or V4g Upgrades (see above for upgraded Control Boxes)"


Looks like you have the latest version that you can use.

[dmidkiff]

I have an older PRT without any upgrades and use the S key to stop regularly. I do not use the R key to resume. I drag the mouse and clik on resume. It has always worked. I have never changed any of the default settings.
Dave

[ted]

Well ... on the 3.4.27 software for older tools. As far as I know, the various STOP controls worked pretty well. In fact, we used that version as the software end point for older controllers because it seemed very robust -- we've had little issue with it in the several years since the release.

As Gary indicated, for PRT's that have not been upgraded -- 3.4.27 is the last version of the software. For PRTalphas, PRTstandards that have been upgraded to Version4g boards, and all PRSs these control systems have a new controller card. This control card allows for a number of new or improved features and a different communication system that we can't implement on the older boards.

In fact, we are still working on firmware upgrades for the new controllers that take full advantage of their capabilities. More in the coming months on these upgrades ...

On recent versions of 3.6.20 software, yes ... we've struggled with a couple of bugs created by new features and things we've tried to update. One of the biggest issues has been with the implementing new universal posts for PartWorks and adding the capability to do automated, manual (virtual) tool changes (MTC). We thought this would make things easier, but in the transition managed to bungle a few things. With one exception (and unless reports of STOP issues above modify this), I believe that 3.6.28 works well. The exception is with FG (the Goto system that allows restarting a file in the middle of a file), which we have learned does not now work correctly with the MTC files.

Sorry for the overly winded explanation ...

Ted Hall, ShopBot Tools