[Mike_Walls]

Complete newbie, here....I just got everything up and running for the first time the other day (Mach3, ESS, G540, MeshCam), but I have a problem that I cannot seem to fix.
I ran the skull and crossbones G-code freebie that comes with Mach, and the parts of machining where the bit should lift up out of the stock and move to the next area before making the plunge never seems to happen. My bit just plows right to the next piece- carving a track along the way. At first I thought it might be an issue with that file, so I bought a cheap puzzle from CNC Make, loaded it in Meshcam, played with it a bit and generated a tool path. Everything looked good until I started the cycle. The same thing happened. Why is the bit not lifting up out of the material before traveling to the next piece? I watched the tutorial video on homing/limits, but I don't see what I might have missed...yet I know it has to do something with the way I set up my Z..... I'm stuck.

[wizard]

Have you defined zero to be just above the surface of the stock? Also how deep is this unwanted machining?

Complete newbie, here....I just got everything up and running for the first time the other day (Mach3, ESS, G540, MeshCam), but I have a problem that I cannot seem to fix.
I ran the skull and crossbones G-code freebie that comes with Mach, and the parts of machining where the bit should lift up out of the stock and move to the next area before making the plunge never seems to happen. My bit just plows right to the next piece- carving a track along the way. At first I thought it might be an issue with that file, so I bought a cheap puzzle from CNC Make, loaded it in Meshcam, played with it a bit and generated a tool path. Everything looked good until I started the cycle. The same thing happened. Why is the bit not lifting up out of the material before traveling to the next piece? I watched the tutorial video on homing/limits, but I don't see what I might have missed...yet I know it has to do something with the way I set up my Z..... I'm stuck.

[Third-Gen]

Make sure your safe Z is defined. also check your zero to workpiece height. Your Z should go negative to cut, and at least back to zero or positive when its jogging. Post some code and maybe we can see something. Can you jog the Z in the jog panel in Mach3? if it has as issue lifting the z that could be another issue. some code would be a great start. You can always add a manual lift cycle if for some reason your toolpath creator isnt adding it.

[Mike_Walls]

I figured out what I was doing wrong, and it was a simple bone headed move. In my configs, I forgot to check the box for reversing my Z. As you can imagine, my rapids were plunging in deeper than my roughing pass. I'm lucky I didn't break a bit. Moving on...

Thanks for all the suggestions!
Mike.