Have I lost my 0,0 point?

[myxpykalix]

I'm making a carved toybox lid. It is a 3 part file. 1) 90 degree vbit for corner elements, 2)90 degree vbit for center lettering 3)1/8th end mill for pocketing the center out. I have the first 2 files done but the endmill file is not done. After the first 2 files were done i inserted the endmill sent the carriage to the center to re Z. Did that and hit JH. While returning home it just stopped and i got an error message "communication error" and shopbot software froze up. I closed software, reopened, rebooted computer still will not communicate with control box. I've hit the reboot switch on the control box also. This has happened before and the only thing i know to do is to go to the circiut breaker and turn it off and on. My question is, if i do that will i lose my 0,0 point that is not physically marked on the material? Have I already lost it? How can i re-establish it if it is not a physical mark to realign to? If I don't have it go exactly back to home it will not cut the center out correctly and mess up the other part right?

6726

[harryball]

Jack,

Something similar has happened to me a few times. I did loose my 0,0 on some but not all. When I did loose 0,0 my original method to rezero was unable to get it sync'd perfectly and made some expensive firewood.

I since changed to using my prox switches to set 0,0 and ALWAYS anchor to that point. I was running 60 plaques from pine boards all on the table and the 6 minute vcarve was already completed on them all. It was profiling about the 10th one when it lost communication. The lights flickered while it was in a jog move. I ended up having to shutdown and lost my 0,0.

I was really concerned... I rezeroed using the prox switches and offset to the 10th plaque and started cutting... picked right up where it left off. The bit was cutting in the same slot it cut in before with no chips flying or sound of wood cutting... it was that dead on.

A tense moment after watching about $80 of lumber cut for 6 hours. The profile cuts took just over a minute each so I was about 45 minutes from the end of a 7 hour job. I was SO GLAD it worked as the plaques (of course) were to be delivered the next day at the meeting where they were going to be handed out... about 18 hours away... let's see that'd have given me 2.5 more tries.

They sold for $6 each, certainly not getting rich but it covered materials and some machine time. VCarve Pro estimated about 4 minutes for the total cut, vcarve, profile and all. Actual was about 7.5 minutes each. I knew it would be off some, but by almost a factor of 2! Live and learn.

My most recent project VCarve estimated 12 minutes... and actual was 10... go figure.

Robert

[richards]

Jack,
You might have a problem. I'm assuming that the material is 'floating', meaning that you don't have fixed stops that you align to based on proximity sensors or other zero-referencing. I'm also assuming that you didn't drill a small hole with your first cutter in the waste area, at a know location.

If it had happened to me, I would try to find a line in the file that I could use as a reference point, for instance a corner, or a hole or any other point that could be a reference point. If such a point exists, I would move the cutter to that point and then run the VA command to enter the axis locations.

In the future, you might include a routine to drill a shallow hole in the scrap area of the material that can be used as a reference point, just in case ...

[paco]

Assuming you have a really good homing system (reliable proximity switches) you can count on the TBC to "know where you are"; whenever I do such projects, once I'm XY zeroed (working coordinates), I check the UV (command) TBC XY values and write them down (usually on the spoilboard or on a piece of something).
I need the homing system (TBC) to help me with the X and Y but I can handle the Z myself with the Z plate.

[myxpykalix]

I have the mdf set in a jig of sorts on the table and eyeballed the v bit to the corner of the material and x,y zero'ed there with no physical reference for a bit/material commonpoint and if i tried to redo it i could be off by enough to screw it up big time.
Since i have a indexer i don't know how i would be able to set a prox switch 0,0 point. I'm running version 3.4.25 of the software could this be a problem?

[paco]

Offset enough your Y's TBC to clear the indexer working area...? I'm offset by about 0.5" in Y; you probably need something like 10, 15 or 20" in Y to offset the Y's TBC zero.

Why don't you go with 3.4.27 (which is the latest stable release for SB3)?

If your homing system and your referencing procedures are accurate and reliable, you should be within (at least) 0.01" on any situation where you can loose XY position no matter what.

[David Iannone]

Jack,
Are you running an Alpha or PRT? I have lost my 0,0 before, I run a PRT. I zero, then drill a hole at 1,1 for reference now just in case. Robert, I like the proximity switch idea, I am going to set up my o,o off the proximity switches also.
Thanks,
Dave

[bcammack]

I just locked the stop blocks on the racks at my 0,0 point. With the power off, the operater can gently pull the carriage back against the stop blocks, power up, and zero the X/Y in SB3.exe. Of course, we're doing the same process over and over and over all day long.

I also have a thin piece of unetched PC board bonded to the table next to the 0,0 point that is wired into the Z-Zero plate circuit. The operator only has to execute the modified zzero.sbp (I posted the modified snippet of it the other day) from the base 0,0 position and it will perform the zeroing of the Z axis without fiddling with the Z-Zero plate.

[doglaw]

I have found that I use my table home position far less than one would imagine. I end up placing jobs at different places on the table and on more than one occasion, I lost my home position. So I created two custom files. My custom3.sbc file makes the current postion 'home' and saves the 'current home' position to a file. (I don't like overwriting my 'table home' position.) I will then use Custom4.sbc to retrieve the current home position from the file and reset the machine to those coordinates. I use these two files regularly. Everytime I start a new job, or step and repeat a part file, I save the current home. Just makes it easy to get back if I lose position. These two files require prox switches.
Makes current position 'home' and saves position information to file.

6727 (5.0 k)
Reads position information from file and resets current home.

6728 (5.1 k)

[myxpykalix]

I got a lesson on resetting your home position via your prox switches from my buddy ed. Its nice to have another botter within 15 miles! Re: my original problem, I lost my original 0,0 position and there was no way to get it back. I reset the machine and did a JH hoping it would just go back to my set 0,0 but it just stayed where it was on the table. Having left the material in the jig i figured i might as well try it and if it screws it up i'll just start all over. I moved, nudge, moved, nudge till i got it where i thought it was then re x,y zero'ed. I started the last file and crossed my fingers. It cut it out PERFECTLY!! I had accidentally found the EXACT spot. Its like a hole in one, you may never be able to do it again. When i get my computer problems resolved i'll post a picture to show you. WHEW!!