Help

[diapowder2000]

Downloaded PW2 Quick Start Tutorial and was able to finish Cut & Profiling of circle and square
yesterday by just following tutorial though I have PW1 in my Shopbot. But when I tried to cut
file I made, router did the same thing that I described on my previous post. Plunging from home(0,0)and then follow X-axis(0 to 12...), so I punched space bar to stop it(I have DOS OS). So I tried to do tutorial one more time but when I
click ShopbotCut, I got this screen. I followed
all instructions on the screen but results are all same. Back to same screen. What it means?
What did I do wrong? Please help me. Getting nervous. Did I screw up big time? Any help will
be appreciated.
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[zeykr]

The screen is saying your computer cannot talk with the shopbot control box for some reason. Check the serial cable attaching the pc to the control box. What serial port on the pc is the cable attached to? Is the control box on? Are you using a USB to serial converter or anything?

I'm not familiar with the dos version much, maybe someone with more experience with it would offer to let you call them while you are at your machine. You can also call shopbot tech support - they are very supportive even for those of us on used machines.

[gerald_d]

Chris, something tells me that the Ver 2.28 visible on your screen is not a match for your PRT96 - can anyone else check this?

(You can download ver 2.39 for the PRT from here (http://www.shopbottools.com/files/Software/sb239sx_m.exe))

[Brady Watson]

Good point Gerald...Although 2.28 can run a PRT, it was a bit buggy...2.39_m is definately the way to go on a PRT if you are set on running DOS.

-Brady

[diapowder2000]

Thank you very much for your help, fellow Botters! Ken, Gerald & Brady.
I know it's old one but I'm not going to try
new stuff till I'm comfortable with the one I have now.
I tried Comm Port 2 and it reconnected.
I tried Tutorial again and a circle is not
smooth and round(perfect circle) but it looks like continuation of about 1 1/8" straight lines. Is it normal? Thanks again.

[harold_weber]

Chris, here is one possibility: Are you using Part Wizard's "profiling" tool path? The 4th fill-in box in PW2's "profiling" tool path is "tolerance". You may have this number set too large. I work in inches, and have "tolerance" set to .0001. The larger the "tolerance", the less the result will resemble a circle. Read the help screen for "tolerance".

[diapowder2000]

Thank you very much, Harold.
I'll try first thing in the morning.

[diapowder2000]

Harold,
Since I have PW1, it does not have "tolerance" in
it. "Start Depth" & Finish Depth", that's it.
What a bomber. Is there any other way to improve
circular lines such as "O, S, C"

[harold_weber]

I had forgotten about PW1, it was only $100 or so to upgrade to PW2 and PW2 has way more than $100 worth of additional features.

Chris, what I would do next is to make sure that the problem is with the cutting instructions; i.e. Do the commands in the cut file make the tool move in 1 1/8" straight line segments? You can import the .sbp file into a program like EXCEL and plot the x and y coordinates there - does the plot of the toolpath move points look like you are getting the 1 1/8 straight line segments? If you don't understand how to do this, E-mail me the .sbp cut file that you are having trouble with.

If the plot looks OK, then you may have a hardware problem. Maybe you could take a photo of the circle you have cut and post it here. Please include an idea of the scale, is it 1 inch diameter or 48 inches in diameter? There are several possibilities but once we see the part, we may be able to narrow them down for you.

[beacon14]

when you save the toolpath from PartWizard make sure the output format is selected as ShopBot(arcs)(inch) not ShopBot(inch)

[diapowder2000]

Harold & David,
Thank you for your advices. I'll check them out
tomorrow.
In the meantime, these are photos of C & O.
Hope you can see those straight lines.
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