My new Shapeoko 3 is it just me?

[Ya-Nvr-No]

I think that's a good possibility Joakim Hjort  ;)

[ArtF]

Rocket:

   I think Joakim has a very good idea. It may be your machine
is ignoring the line because it has an A on it. I never thought of that.
Remove the A 0.0 from that first line.. See if it makes a difference...

 If it does fix it, I can show you how to tell gearotic not to put it out.

Art

[ArtF]

Rocket:

I can see where changing that line helped, but it also makes your first pass in the air , then drops double the amount
for the true  first cut. So I do think its ignoring that line. Lets focus on that line alone till we find it.

Remove the A.. see what it does.. we'll go from there..

Art

[BillM]

Rocket

I don't know what your background is or your experience with programming.  I see from your earliest posts on this subject that you did successfully install a turbo charger and build a brick pizza oven.  You obviously like challenging projects.

My backgound is electrical engineering, most of my career involved computer programming. I've been retired since 2007.  Last August I had the opportunity to work alongside a clock repairer on an 1860's tower clock.   I knew little or nothing about clocks...so I began searching for info on clock repair.

In September 2014, there was an exhibit from the Royal Maritime Museum that included working replicas of John Harrisons first three sea clocks and a display version replica of his winning chronometer.  When I found out that the description of the clock along with diagrams had been published by the Royal Astronomer in the late 1700's, I figured out how to download images of that document.   The challenge was to figure out the workings of the chronometer. That's when I found out that I knew little or nothing about gears or general clock theory.

Terms such as addendum, dedendum, diametric pitch, module, etc were greek to me.  I found online free resources to learn more about gear design, gear theory.   I also found a free document on Horology to understand the theory behind clock designs.  There were also good, free online descriptions of escapements.  If you want to build clocks you really need to understand what/how they work.

In January this year I decided to invest in Gearotics. It takes time/patience to explore the features of any software product.  The online videos, documentation, and the gear head forum have been a great help.

Since January, I've been able to build a simulation of a chronometer and the tower clock.  I tend to look at any software package a tool that needs to be mastered in order to know what its features/ limits are.   I think at this point I've pushed the simulation modeling of Gearotics capabilities pretty far.

I thought about building a wooden gear clock.  I too am more interested in clocks rather than tickers.  I decided that to build a wooden clock I'd be better off buying a kit rather than purchasing all of the equipment needed to build one from scratch ...I have a table saw, small drill press, and hand tools....that's it.  I may still try to build one using hand tools.

I have begun learning about Gcode to better understand the issues being raised in this thread (even though the equipment costs are outside of my retirement budget).  

Gcode is a programming language and if I ever do invest in a machine I have already learned that understanding the features/limits of a particular CNC machine and of Gcode would be crucial to creating good outputs...whether it be gears, escapements, etc.   If you don't understand what commands you are sending to a machine and what the machine expects then it will be impossible to accurately control it.   If you modify code generated by a computer program, there is always a possibility that you may be creating problems rather than solving them.

I think talking with the CNC machine manufacturer is the right thing to do.  I would suggest creating a simple Gcode program, perhaps machine a square which if it doesn't work, then the manufacturer have to figure out why.

Bill

[Rocket]

Rocket:

I can see where changing that line helped, but it also makes your first pass in the air , then drops double the amount
for the true  first cut. So I do think its ignoring that line. Lets focus on that line alone till we find it.

Remove the A.. see what it does.. we'll go from there..

Art

Yes...............So i just trick the job and add few tenths of an inch to the material so
the cut goes all the way through.....I know that is cheating but it gets me buy for now....

[Rocket]

Rocket

I don't know what your background is or your experience with programming.  I see from your earliest posts on this subject that you did successfully install a turbo charger and build a brick pizza oven.  You obviously like challenging projects.

My backgound is electrical engineering, most of my career involved computer programming. I've been retired since 2007.  Last August I had the opportunity to work alongside a clock repairer on an 1860's tower clock.   I knew little or nothing about clocks...so I began searching for info on clock repair.

In September 2014, there was an exhibit from the Royal Maritime Museum that included working replicas of John Harrisons first three sea clocks and a display version replica of his winning chronometer.  When I found out that the description of the clock along with diagrams had been published by the Royal Astronomer in the late 1700's, I figured out how to download images of that document.   The challenge was to figure out the workings of the chronometer. That's when I found out that I knew little or nothing about gears or general clock theory.

Terms such as addendum, dedendum, diametric pitch, module, etc were greek to me.  I found online free resources to learn more about gear design, gear theory.   I also found a free document on Horology to understand the theory behind clock designs.  There were also good, free online descriptions of escapements.  If you want to build clocks you really need to understand what/how they work.

In January this year I decided to invest in Gearotics. It takes time/patience to explore the features of any software product.  The online videos, documentation, and the gear head forum have been a great help.

Since January, I've been able to build a simulation of a chronometer and the tower clock.  I tend to look at any software package a tool that needs to be mastered in order to know what its features/ limits are.   I think at this point I've pushed the simulation modeling of Gearotics capabilities pretty far.

I thought about building a wooden gear clock.  I too am more interested in clocks rather than tickers.  I decided that to build a wooden clock I'd be better off buying a kit rather than purchasing all of the equipment needed to build one from scratch ...I have a table saw, small drill press, and hand tools....that's it.  I may still try to build one using hand tools.

I have begun learning about Gcode to better understand the issues being raised in this thread (even though the equipment costs are outside of my retirement budget).  

Gcode is a programming language and if I ever do invest in a machine I have already learned that understanding the features/limits of a particular CNC machine and of Gcode would be crucial to creating good outputs...whether it be gears, escapements, etc.   If you don't understand what commands you are sending to a machine and what the machine expects then it will be impossible to accurately control it.   If you modify code generated by a computer program, there is always a possibility that you may be creating problems rather than solving them.

I think talking with the CNC machine manufacturer is the right thing to do.  I would suggest creating a simple Gcode program, perhaps machine a square which if it doesn't work, then the manufacturer have to figure out why.

Bill

Thanks....I also build home computers...for friends and myself...

If you look at my posts from today...you will see I am making some very good gears
with Gearotics....but you are right....I have a long way to go...before I get a clock up and running.

I have purchase some .dxf files of the Simplicity clock from Clayton Boyer.
The files are workable in a CAD program (to separate each part) from the total drawing.

Then import into Cut 2D Desktop, and create G-code.....

But, I want to use Art's software (Gearotic) to make the gears.....
the other parts I can make with Cut 2D.

RR

[BillM]

Rocket

As a challenge in working with Gearotics you might want to see if with the Boyer Genesis model that you can create the gears in Gearotics.  I tried it and based on the Boyer website's photo of the clock, your photo of the hour gear from the design print (to guess approximate gear size),and general clock theory,  I was able to come up with a Gearotics version.

I've also looked at the online photo of Simplicity and as a challenge in clock gearing I may try to figuring out how to create a Gearotics version.

I will not publish either of these models on the forum since the exact design is owned by Boyer.

It's the challenge and thrill of learning new things, gaining new skills that is important to me.    As one old TV commercial stated....Life is a journey  enjoy the ride.

Bill

[ArtF]

Bill:

 You can also print the gear on paper at 1:1 size for cutting on a scroll saw, Ive seen many tickers and clocks made by scrollsaw,
while I prefer CNC and tickers, never underestimate the hands of a person who knows how to use a scrollsaw, with patience you can match ( clockwise) anythign done on cnc.. its mostly 2d work. You just print on your laser printer, stick it on wood, and cut
the object.. theyll fit great..

Art

[Ya-Nvr-No]

When I was working as a Toolmaker, we used the band saw to cut very close to a line then use a power stroking reciprocating file to clean any high points off and smooth out the profiles. So the better the template and line the better the results. Tedious work but very rewarding to see the results with minimum tools. Now I cant see the damn lines without my Optivisor.  :'(

[Rocket]

I bought a scroll saw at the onset of this project about one month ago.

I do not have the patience to make a 60 tooth gear with that machine...
I love the computer side of this adventure and will try and make the gears
as close as possible to my dxf files I bought from Boyer.....

I like Art's program, it makes great gears....

I enjoy the challenge of figuring it all out...once that is gone, I sometimes
lose interest...

RR

[Rocket]

Rocket:

I can see where changing that line helped, but it also makes your first pass in the air , then drops double the amount
for the true  first cut. So I do think its ignoring that line. Lets focus on that line alone till we find it.

Remove the A.. see what it does.. we'll go from there..

Art

Removing the A did not help.

[ArtF]

Wow, thats really curious. It looks to everyone so far as if its ignoring that line, but it shouldnt.. I wonder if maybe it doesn't like comments, or a tool change command, perhaps you should remove all the unimportant lines at the start to see if its that..

How about we change this..

G20 (Imperial Mode)
M5
M6 T5
M3 S1750
G0 X3.445  Y3.307  Z0.250  A0.000
G1 Z-0.050  F20.00

to this

G20
M3 S1750
G0 X3.445  Y3.307  Z0.250  A0.000

  If you zero your table with Z 1" in the air, and run the above 3 lines, does the tool end up .25" in the air, at a
point 3.445 " to the right and 3.3" back? If not, where DOES it move to?

Art

[Joakim]

Art:

Interesting to see if it works without the unimportant lines.
From the GRBL github Wiki I see, that M6 is unsupported and the A parameter in moves.

Joakim

[Richard Cullin]

if you make your gear in millimeters , does that cut properly on the shakeopo

[Rocket]

if you make your gear in millimeters , does that cut properly on the shakeopo

No, I tried that also.