Mostly Printed CNC MPCNC Part 16 - A Geometric Puzzle

[@eskerinola5845]

Hi SOG!. How do you approach a situation where you have to cut an outside pocket of fonts and the path near the fonts need fine detail and the pocket outside is rather large? ?Would you use 2 tools one for the text contour and then one larger for the pocket? ?How would you define the paths then? Thanks in advance!!

[@Someoldguycoding]

Well, it would depend on how repeatable the systems is after a tool change. Generally I like to split different tools into different gcode files. Run the first, change the tool, reposition to the starting point and run the second. But that depends on how well practiced at starting the second job at the exact same point. If your zero location is the corner of the machine, with hard stops, or electronic end stops, it's not so bad. If you're in the middle of the machine someplace it might be a bit more challenging. When in doubt and getting it in one shot is priority, then I guess I'd use the smaller tool for the whole thing if I could. Generally I use ESTLCAM, It's easy to select the paths you want for one given tool, then save the gcode file, and then after deleting those paths, select the others that use the second tool. While it's possible to put it all in the same file with a pause for tool change, I prefer just to keep the different tools in different jobs. Since the stepper motors will power down after a certain time as specified in Marlin, I prefer to just go ahead and let them go, and restart the second job at a known starting point, rather than trying to avoid moving anything while changing the tool. We need an automated tool changer, and while I've got some ideas in that area, it's gonn be a while, if it ever envied comes to fruition. About as clear as mud. Hope that helps.

[@eskerinola5845]

I indeed value your answer. It's more generic than I expected but sure helpful. Thank you!

[@coobin77]

Hello, how do you print it with Estlcam if it generates the files with .nc extensions but the firmware on mpcnc only tolerates gco code ? I am building my mashine and I have no idea how I can transfer those nc file into sth that mpcnc will undestand.

[@Someoldguycoding]

coobin77 in Estlcam, on one of settings tabs there is a spot to set the extension. Just change it to Gcode. Also if you happen to generate a file with the .nc extension just go ahead and change that extension in explorer/finder to G code and it will work fine. The contents of the file is the same Thanks for watching!

[@coobin77]

Some Old Guy Coding thanks a lot.