Hi,
I recently constructed a 4th axis for my machine. I downloaded the deskproto trial and made some toolpaths. For the first part, I am testing the machine by roughing out a part from a 1 inch dowel, having it step down 1/16th at a time (I am just breaking the machine in). I zero out all of the axises (sp?), and align the z axis with the top of the dowel and set the DRO to .5, since the zero point is the center of the dowel (the dowel is 1 inch as measured to 1/1000). I set IJ to incremental, have 'use diameter for feedrate' checked and set the diameter to .001 as others have done to get around the speed issues.
So the problem:
When the z axis moves down for the first 1/16, it does so fine, runs parallel cuts and everything is fine. For the second step down, the tool path tells it to move another 1/16th down, the DRO reflects what the correct height would be, but the machine actually moves about .25 inches, ruining the part. I retried the toolpath having it just cut air, and it does this every time. Every subsequent step down seems like it is about 1/16th, it is just that second step down. The DRO reflects what the move should be, but not reality. I haven't had an issue with 3 axis operations before.
edit: gecko g540 controller
I am at a loss. Any ideas?