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I just purchased a CNC router and for the life of me I can;t figure out how to run a program. I've designed a program in VCarve pro and can load the program but I have no idea how to Zero my Z axis on the material or make it run. The guy I purchased it from isn't being very helpful even though he said he would assist me in getting it up and running. IT has Masso controllers and I cant seem to find any videos that help.
Thanks in advance!
Jeff
Welcome to the forum.It is quite possible that the fellow who sold you the machine isn't being very helpful because he had the same problem as you and couldn't actually make anything.
I know a little about Vcarve but nothing about your particular machine so you may have to fill in a few gaps.I hope you understand the difference between the home position of the machine and the datum position of the job and consequently you need to make sure the machine has the correct information or X and Y as well as Z.
You need to jog the machine to the zero position of the part in each axis and enter it in the control software and you may need to advise us of what control software you are running.It may be Mach 3 (or4),GRBL or LinuxCNC to name but three.The X and Y aren't too difficult but for the Z I find the simplest way is to jog the tool down until a thin piece of paper is just nipped by the tool and record that as the zero Z position.I hope your control gives the option of doing this in quite fine increments as you will be looking for small changes when almost there.
In essence,you need to be sure the datum from Vcarve matches as if you datum the part from the top surface of the workpiece and select the top of the spoilboard as a Z datum you are headed for a nasty gouge equal to the depth of the material-so be sure you double check the Vcarve setup.
Good luck.
You have to create and save a toolpath from Vcarve. Then load the toolpath you made into the machine software to run.
If you have not worked your way through the free tutorial vectric has, you should do that first. Set up two computers. run the tutorial on one and work along with it on another. I have not run masso, so zeroing the machine and bit, I can't help with.
My understanding from the first post was that the program to be run had been created and the difficulty was in establishing the part datum position.Quote:
Originally Posted by kenrbass