error with program/machine

[davekirk]

Hey bud.. i recently downloaded your walleye and havr been trying to get it to work with the plasma table at work...my plasma tablr is an older used vanad something or other... but im hoping maybe youve come across this error before and can clarify what the issue is..and possibly how to fix it....
We use nest master software and the drawing doesnt throw any errors there just when i send it to the machine i get a "no equidistant crossing points for radius corrections exists" error and it wont let me cut it.. i tried googleing it but that was no help...any ideas?

 

[SignTorch]

is nest master sending gcode to the machine control and the machine control is throwing the error?

if so then PM me the gcode and I'll see if I see anything there

I don't know what to make of that error message

 

[SignTorch]

there's two types of radius corrections I can think of - for rotary axis feedrate calculation - and tool nose radius compensation - not sure if or how either might be at play here

 

[davekirk]

Yeah im not sure either... its an older used plasma table and half of the instructions for it are in dutch or something.... i found out how to adjust the radius correction value and i tried a couple others including zero... the setting it came with was 0.039... i tried editing the drawing and making all the radii bigger than that and that had no effect... the only thing i can think of is that some of the radii arent equidistant and my machine doesnt know what to do with them??... im not sure if our program or table generates the g code... i will try and find a copy and message it to you tomorrow after im done work...thanks for your time.. i appreciate the help

 

[davekirk]

Normally we draw up parts in autocad... send the drawing to nest master and then send that file to the table... most of our parts are just geometric shapes though so im not sure what the tables limitations are..i know we have got a few drawings to work in the past so im not sure where the issue is for sure

 

[SignTorch]

I'm speculating, on an inside sharp corner, CAM programs have to round that off to the tool radius for the tool to fit, if it was a sharp point with straight sides then it could simply calculate two points equidistant from the sharp point and that's where the fillet radius would start and end

my drawings usually don't have sharp points with straight sides, they usually have rounded corners with curved sides, which is a more complex calculation than looking for simple equidistant points and straight sides (like an HVAC program might be optimized to work with straight sided geometry with sharp corners)

try scaling the design as large as practical and see if the error goes away

and/or try reducing kerf compensation to an impossibly small value and see if the error goes away

both tests increase the liklihood that the tool will fit in every corner so it won't have to do any complex corner rounding (on corners that are already rounded off)

if you did not scale the drawing up any then that could be the problem - my drawings are not drawn to scale for any certain purpose because the ideal size depends on the tool size used - they are usually drawn on the small side when it comes to plasma cutting because I usually draw around the size of a normal sheet of paper - which helps me draw a somewhat consistent level of detail all the time

which is almost always too small for plasma cutting if there is much detail at all - so plasma cutters usually have to scale the drawings up - how much depends on their kerf width and the level of detail

some of my walleyes date back to the super bundle which is my oldest work from a time when I couldn't draw as good and when I was drawing for vinyl cutting which came to be used for plasma cutting - since vinyl cutters have zero kerf I could get away with more detail and more thin spots than plasma cutters can manage (at the size drawn) - my later works are better but still not drawn to scale - plasma cutters still must worry about project size versus artwork detail versus tool size (like everybody else), but I digress.... I'm just guessing....

 

[davekirk]

I played with as many settings as i could find this afternoon... kerf size..radius correction value..the way nest master handles arcs... and all of them resulted in the same error...i did scale the part up quite a bit...overall dimensions were roughly 3'x4' and big or small i get the same error...i tried one of your free dxfs...the hummingbird welcome sign and also another drawing i traced using adobe illustrator...both scaled and normal and all had the same error...so im guessing its either an error with the way autonest handles the part or with my plasma itself....i know some of my coworkers have cut out the dodge ram emblem before and although not quite as intricate it worked...in about a 6"x6" size...i did get the g code for the walleye that is throwing errors....its like 3-4pages in word though so i dont know if you still want me to msg it to you on here or just forward you the ncp file via email.

 

[SignTorch]

you can message the file on here - if you run into a size limitation or anything let me know - it's easier to communicate here - my email is crazy busy - in fact, it's good that you asked here rather than via email or phone -

my next guess is if it might have to do with the selected post processor in nest master - have you checked that it matches the machine - or have you tried any other post processor that might or should work on that machine

after re-reading your posts I'm thinking it might have somethign to do with arcs

most of my software has post processor choices with or without arcs

have you tried loading it in autocad first and then saving and sending to nest master like you normally do

first I'd like to see the gcode - if that looks ok then I can make some test files using different entity types and different dxf versions - that could be useful for everyone to see if any certain combination causes any certain problem

 

[davekirk]

ok, so apparently i dont have a program on my laptop that will open the ncp file... and this forum wont allow me to attach it to the thread... i'll send it to you tomorrow afternoon when i get done work from my work computer..... and yeah i tried loading it through auto cad, i tried using just your stock file and both of them gave me the same error.... i have the different file types that came with the download... i will also try all the file types and see if nest master will load any of them... i know it will load dxf and dwg files. but im not sure if any of the other types will work... and we only have the one post processor available. i know nest master allows us to cut our nomal pieces but im kinda new to all this and learning as i go.. thanks again for your help i appreciate it.

 

[SignTorch]

I added .ncp to the acceptable file types - you can add .txt on the end of a filename to upload any file type - gcode is a type of text file so almost any text editor can open and read and write gcode files

I didn't mean for you to try all the different vector formats - I meant that there's several ways to format DXF files - mine is composed of all arcs and polylines compatible with like AutoCAD 2.5 or later - it could be all splines compatible with version 2000 and later - it could be all line segments and polylines - it could be all individual arcs without polylines - it could be all individual lines with no arcs or polylines - any of those can be closed using DXF syntax, or by physically overlapping endpoints, or both - etc etc - and lots if not most software does not support half the possibilities -

if you can provide the DXF and gcode files for a drawing that works and a drawing that does not work then I can (probably) track down the difference and identify the problem - and then I can probably suggest more than one way to work around it -

 

[Scott Gordon]

I am just starting to work with the plasma table at school. They have an $80,000 system and an $8 software bundle. Is anyone aware of the Hypertherm SoftwareHyperCad Version 1.02.0? I think it is just the reader version. Build date Jan. 18th 2006. Also, what is a decent conversion program going from .jpeg, .tiff, or .gif file to .dxf?