Part Wizard measures?

[ghoeing]

I am new to the forum and the world of shop-botting. I recently purchased a new benchtop model and have been doing alot of air cutting. I am having trouble taking a project from the drawing board to an accurate end product. I have drawn a rectangle with twelve 5 inch squares ( 3 rows with 4 in each separated by 1.5 inches) using the Part Wizard software. After drawing the project and asking it to "clear area" in the 5" squares, I ran it. The tool ran the project with the correct design, but not the right dimensions. I have 3.5" squares and an inch instead of the 1.5" area between the squares. What's the trick to getting the right size?

Thanks,

Gary H.

[rgbrown@itexas.net]

I will hazard two guesses. One is your "Unit Value" may not be correct and the other would concern "bit diameter conpensation". It sounds like someone specified a 1/2" bit but used a 1/4" bit or the reverse.

I have not gotten a clairvoyance license renewal and I don't use PartWhipper. Without more information, it is the best I can do.

Ron Brown

Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock. - Will Rogers

[bjwat@comcast.net]

I second that....Check your unit values. When I first used my tool, it was cutting 1/2 of what it should have on the Z axis. I thought it was just my newness and that I messed up something.

Check the unit values. If in question call ShopBot.

-Brady

[ghoeing]

Thanks to Ron and Brady for pointing me in the right direction. The Unit Values are different for the benchtop model. Still learning!

Thanks again,

Gary

[gerald_d]

Is it too much to expect from ShopBot to set the unit values correctly before shipping?

[billp]

Gerald,
Since the unit values are software rather than hardware items they wouldn't really be shipping them at all. BUT I think it might behoove someone to make up a master chart that could be referred to on the web page which would list all possible variations of values. Then you should be able to count the number of teeth on your gears, or check your specific model ( as in the benchtop) , and this would let people have an ongoing reference in the evnt they decided to experiment/upgrade, etc. in the future. I believe there IS an abbreviated chart like this on the plastic "cheat sheet"which lists all the commands and shortcuts, but I think they have added some since then ( and a lot of people have lost /destroyed, or used their sheets for other purposes...).

[gerald_d]

Bill I am thinking along the lines that either:

a. the software will ask for a serial/model number of the motor/controller hardware during installation, or
b. a floppy disk (or model-specific CD) is supplied with the motor/controller hardware (with a setup.exe file?) as is done with all other computer devices such as scanners, plotters, cameras, etc.

I can't see what makes a SB installation so much more prone to errors than a printer installation. We would be very upset if we purchased printers and had to calculate unit values by laying a ruler to measure the length of printed lines of text.

Editted to add: Even if the SB-folk wrote the unit values on the motors, it would be a big improvement!

[bjwat@comcast.net]

Gerald,
Wouldn't that be nice??!!! I would be cool with a simple sheet that showed unit values and that it was inspected by #12...Better yet, hinging on your idea, have the unit values in a table/database that are written in before it is shipped. That way if you were to call, someone could query the info and recite your recommended values. A web interface could do the same thing after a user logged in...

However...Unit values on my machine are going to change once I hook up the indexer. The Colombo runs a different unit value than the plasma cutter since it has a different gearbox...The indexer, another value yet. So a 'Plug n Play' hardware/software interface really isn't the answer. Although you can get the address of each stepper motor and SB can guess as to what they will be hooked up to, there are too many variables to make it plug and play.

I've always been told to write down my unit values and stick them in various places around the shop where I could get to them if something crashed or needed to be configured.

-Brady

[tlempicke]

Most of the drive in my Bot is home made,and so the unit values are like nothing that Shopbot ever heard of.

It is no problem at all! Just use the calibration routine built in to the Shopbot software.

Mount something with a point in your router, lay a machinists rule on the table and just follow the instructions on your screen. Because we are a little anal retentive we used a dial indicator to do the job. Our carraige returns to the same spot within .002 every time.

Well By Yumpin Yimminy! I just pulled up the new Windows version of shopbot so that I could post the commands here. I don't see them. Is it now a separate routine?

[rgbrown@itexas.net]

Tom,

This may be a conspiracy. My machine is a highly "user modified one" also. We might get our own webpage for "oddball" values, although I think a magic marker and the ability to write on the side of the control box would be more convient.

I had been using the wall of my old shop to store the values. However, if one moves, having the values stored somewhere on the machine itself would be more convient than trying to move the wall especially, if the wall was a 2' thick solid rock wall like my shop is.

The "UC" help file is still in new Software. I didn't find it in the command list.

Ron

[magickeith]

When I bought my shopbot 2years ago I recieved a sheet with the unit values. I wrote them down on top of my controller with permanent marker. I checked, Yup... still there.