I’m preparing for my first run on the MR-1. I’ve twiddled with Fusion 360 for a couple of hours and created a first part. My confidence with Fusion 360 is pretty low and I don’t want to end up crashing my spindle into something on the first run so I would appreciate anyone who could have a look at what i’ve done and provide some feedback. Here’s the rundown….
This part is a flat bracket that I want to cut out of a sheet of 1/4” plastic. I know… more or a router use case but it’s a simple thing to start with… and I need the part right away. I’m going to experiment with Delrin, ABS and HDPE, so I set the stock height to 7mm because there is some variability in the actually thickness of so-called “1/4 inch” sheet plastics that can range from about 6.3mm to 6.8mm. I designed the part in Illustrator and imported it as an .svg, just because I’m still weak on the F360 design tools. I drew the MDF spoil board as a 12mm plate.
Question 1: I’m not certain how to determine where to place the xyz origin of a part in F360 or how much it really matters. It’s not clear what is the relation between the xyz coordinates of F360 and the xyz coordinates of the MR-1. Isn’t the F360 origin just relative to the CAD drawing and the MR-1 origin is the one that matters for the cut?
Question 2: I drew the spoil board as sitting below the x/y plane, i.e., at a negative z position. Again, I’m confused relative to the relationship between F360 and the MR-1. Here is a pic of the arrangement of the stock and spoil board.
Question 3: Since I’m using a spoil board, does it make sense to select it as a fixture in the CAM setup? I don’t need the MR-1 to avoid it. In fact, I expect the tool to cut into it slightly. How do I tell F360 this? Should I select it as the fixture but set the radial and axial clearances to zero?
Question 4: How do I make sure that the tool cuts all the way through the part? I think I want the tool to cut about 1mm into the spoil board to account for any variance in the thickness of the stock and the spoil board. Here is the animation as well as pics of the heights and a close up of the start and end of the tool path… which seems not to cut below the bottom of the stock.
Okay a lot here…let me take a stab at some of this to get you going in positive direction:
There are two origins that matter one in the CAD and one for the CAM the latter matters for your MR-1…The one is the part origin which is what you have pictured. It matters only for CAD work.
The CAM zero is set while creating your “setup” ← you create a setup that your tool paths will be referenced to. It takes care of the zero, your stock size, and brings your part into the picture (mostly important for 3d tool paths).
So this is the zero that you defined in your setup and all tool paths within that setup will reference that zero. When you are at you MR-1 you need to set you g54 zeros to that location on you stock that is pictured (or at least that what it looks like in the pic). That is how the mr-1 knows where your tool paths are.
No it does need to be defined and in fact you don’t want it defined because your cad similation will show collisions (it still will collide btw as it only flags a fixture as a potential problem - it will not avoid it.).
Two trhings, since the stock has some Z varience, I would set my z zero to the spoiler board (you will need to do that in your setup also by selecting the bottom corner of the stock versus the top). That way you are cut to the exact depth you desire vs. taking a guess on the variance in the top. Next to make you cut all the way through, you will go to the heights tab and on the bottom height set the bottom height similar to this
In the above example I DIDN’T want the bit to come out the bottom of the part and added a positive offset tot he bottom height and the similation shows it perfectly.
Good luck….lot to digest I know. It takes time. IMO rushing into your first real part may not be the best as it could lead to frustration. This stuff is as equally fun as it can be frustrating. That is why I love it. It’s the learning.
BTW Don’t be afraid to set your z zero too high and just let the machine cut air so you have sense of how this all works.
As mentioned above this origin and orientation is set when you create your “setup” When you load your stock into the MR-1 you need to set your X zero, Y zero, and Z zero (G54 work offset). X is side to side, Y is front to back, and z is up and down. These are fixed direction on the MR-1 so you need to set them up in your fusion “setup” so that that toolpath in fusion matches the real world location on the MR-1. X + is goes to the right, Y+ goes to the back, and Z + goes up. If you set Z zero as the top of your stock in fusion than when you load your stock into the MR-1 you need to set z zero from the top of your stock. same with the other zero locations.
The MR-1 has a drop down G54, G55, G56…. This is so that you can set more than one work offset. for now just stick to G54 until you get the hang of it.
Also you can always set your z 1” above your part and cut air first to ensure you’re seeing what you expect to see. Just cut air until you get what you want than lower your Z to the actual zero.
Thanks, David. Super helpful. I am definitely taking my time on the first cut – I’ve been ruminating over the CAM settings and running test cuts in the air for a week. Today is the day!
Thanks, Richard! The confirmation for just sticking with the G54 is helpful. I’m guessing here, but is the use case for the additional GXX presets for known starting points of, e.g, specific different fixtures or parts/materials that you have cut before and want to return to later?
For sure. I’m running dual offsets on a program right now. I have two parts in a 6” vise. Since two parts fit but they can not both use the same stop (zero) I simply use G54 and G55. This way each offset is independently adjustable.
How to generate the program… So this might be more complex than I can explain with text but I’ll try. Right click on your “setup” and hit duplicate.
Then edit your new duplicated setup. If your first origin was back, top, left on your G54 setup make sure you change the origin point to top, back, right comer of the stock on the duplicated setup. Than set the WCS offset to 1 and 2 in the post process tab. check the box that says Multiple WCS offsets.
Today is the day!
