Hello mates!

Question..? Been running into a little bit of a dilemma for the past few days. Im not an expert at Machining so might not know a whole lot but willing to learn.

so far I've been running our company micro mill for about 2-3 years with basic 2D cutting projects but using super cam when we first got it. We then had to move on to using something more universal as super cam was no longer being supported... so im slightly familiar with mach 3 and (lazy cam. I know its not the best but its what I have).


Heres the question and photos to go along with it...

When I do my CAD work in Corel Draw and load it into Lazy Cam as a PLT/HPGL. I Then post code and load it into Mach 3 but comes out to be not right. CAD line are all missed placed (in the photos you can see the lines going through my lettering).Another things is the starting cut depth starts at Z0.0850 and gradually goes down to my desired cut depth which is Z-0.0150. I want it to go to the safe rapid height and plunge down to my cut depth, then cut. not gradually go and cut to my set depth.

I hope this makes sense :|

any sense to why this is happening? when we first got the new controller box and stepper motors and UC100 USB adapter, it all worked and I was using it just fine.


any help is VERY VERY appreciated!
sorry if I sound like a newb... we all start somewhere

Luke

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@Luke
Can you post a image of your Lazycam | setup | loading options...autoclean setting  ?
If you do not want Lazycam to alter your drawing/toolpath, please untick
Optimise Drawing in that page.

Your uploads shows that there are a lot of G0 (dotted line) moves. Those are done by Lazycam optimization (in order to cut faster).
Just turn Optimisation off (for now).

In your MACH3 Config | general Config page under Motion Mode
make sure that Distance Mode is ABSOLUTE
BUT
IJ mode MUST BE inc (ie NOT absolute) -- to match settings in Lazycam.

There is a manual ( written 10 years ago by me ) for Lazycam and suggest you read it if your are going to use it.
LC is what it is and one just needs to know what it is!

Cambam provides good gcode and like any program you have a learning curve.
The more complex and options provided by software the higher the learning curve.
All depends on what you want to do.
 
Suggest you use and learn a CAD program and not use etch-a-sketch for drawings.

RICH