I got my Pro up and running a few days ago, the table itself is working great. Fusion 360 however has been an adventure. I’ve already run the break-in software, i’ve already made some cuts, up until today I had no issues with the torch coming up. Now today out of the blue with the max stay down inches set to 25 and clearly the box selected whenever the torch is done with the first cut, it retracts up, moves over to the next and stays up but the plasma fires without issue. I drew this simple bottle opener in fusion 360 so there shouldn’t be any dxf files or compatibility issues - I’m about to send my computer into orbit but I’d like to check with you fine gentlemen before I do so.
Sounds like it’s about time to learn some fundamental G-Code. If your design is really simple, open the G-Code file and figure out what it’s telling your cutter to do, step by step. Tedious? Dunno. If you’re learning and have a good brew or whiskey in your free hand, how bad can it be?
Look at it long enough to see patterns. You’ll see patterns (like IHS cycles), turn on torch, move through the cuts, etc. If you’re SW is messing you up, you might actually catch it in the output. It’s a good exercise.
I did some basic CNC stuff back in welding school but this is my first venture really delving into CAD/CAM. In the G-code it showed me line 25 had (G0 Z1) as the only Z-axis reference through the whole thing. I’m new to it and I don’t fully understand the ins and outs yet. Just don’t get why this didn’t happen on the first 4-5 cut files but now all of a sudden it is.
Cool. Now you’re on the right track. Look at older files and see what the Z sequence is. Maybe that will give you a clue.
@MrHaNkBoT, @brownfox, his Z is essentially going to SafeZ and staying there. Obviously IHS is not operating, but, according to OP, had been… Got any ideas?
Got to me a setting you tabbed through or defaulted back while in CAM. I don’t use fusion, but I’ve messed up setting in sheetcam a similar way before.
Basically the torch completes a single cut, in this case the inside rectangle of the bottle opener. When it completes that cut, the torch Z-axis goes up like two inches, moves over to the next line which would be the body of the bottle opener. It maintains it’s height, now approximately 2 inches over the plate and fires the plasma cutter and follows the rest of the program from that height.
Theres a setting in the 2D Profile linking that shows a “keep nozzle down” option, when that is selected further parameters show up, one of them was maximum stay-down distance which according to the CAD tutorial that has it set at 25.3 inches if i remember right.
I don’t know why it’s happening all of a sudden, the previous cuts all stayed to cutting height and to my knowledge I haven’t done anything differently. I’m just practicing the sketch to g-code process to get more familiar with it. I started the same design from scratch twice just in case I may have inadvertently hit something to cause it but I’m really not doing anything differently than the first cuts.
If it’s a problem in the Fusion 360 CAM and post-processing, I’m not the guy to help you. If the Gcode doesn’t have more Z axis movements programmed to bring it down to the pierce and cutting height then it’s gotta be in your CAM processing workflow. If it was Sheetcam I’d ask if it was a new cutting tool and if you verified that you correctly copied all your pertinent parameters correctly.
I recently fat fingered a cut height and chased my tail for a couple hours, so I’m familier with how that feels.
Ok, thanks for the tip, appreciate you taking the time. I’m not the most computer-literate guy in the world (the reason I got into welding in the first place) so I’m sure it has to be something I did but I just don’t know what.
@MrHaNkBoT Thanks anyways, it has to be something I did. Probably just call it a day and go deal with the piles of snow dumping on us and attack it with fresh eyes in the morning. There was one point where I was trying to resize my workpiece and that turned into a whole thing - if I changed something it had to be then.
I’m experiencing the same issues and messing with the g code. I am removing the line G0 Z0 to see what happens.
for everyone else’s information, I do not have THC. IHS is disabled and playing around with the heights doesn’t solve the issue