Ok so I’m new to sheetcam and mach 3. Over the past 2 weeks I converted over my old software and hardware on my torchmate plasma table to Mach 3. Everything is working great except my G code files. When I create a G code in sheetcam and pull it into Mach 3 and run it, it’s like my scaleing is way off. When I hit cycle start just trying to cut a 2" square test cut the gantry moves a bunch like all the way across the y axis and the DRO’s only show it moving like .100 for about every 6 inches it moves. Once I run the G code it messes up Mach like this until I close out and open it back up. Then its back to normal. If I delete the first 5 or so lines off the G code prior to pulling it into Mach it works fine. I have tried about 10 different post processors and they all do the same. I have checked all my settings in sheetcam and it all looks good. I thought maybe I had something set to metric but it doesn’t appear that way. Any help would be great. Thanks Andy
Here is an example of my G code
N0010 (Filename: Part1.tap)
N0020 (Post processor: Mach3 plasma.scpost)
N0030 (Date: 17/11/2015)
N0040 G20 (Units: Inches)
N0050 G53 G90 G91.1 G40
N0060 F1
N0070 S500
N0080 (Part: Part1)
N0090 (Operation: Outside Offset, 0, T2: Jet tool)
N0100 M06 T2 F25.0 (Jet tool)
N0110 G00 Z0.1575
N0120 X-0.2000 Y2.0125
N0130 Z0.1000
N0140 M03
N0150 G04 P1
N0160 G01 Z0.0591 F3.937
N0170 X0.0000 F25.0
N0180 X3.0000
N0190 G02 X3.0125 Y2.0000 I0.0000 J-0.0125
N0200 G01 Y0.0000
N0210 G02 X3.0000 Y-0.0125 I-0.0125 J0.0000
N0220 G01 X0.0000
N0230 G02 X-0.0125 Y0.0000 I0.0000 J0.0125
N0240 G01 Y2.0000
N0250 Y2.2000
N0260 M05
N0270 G00 Z0.1575
N0280 M05 M30
I was wrong I guess I was deleting out the first 10 lines and it works fine.
Are you sure you have Mach configured correctly? In Mach go to Config->Select native units. If you have that set to metric it would cause symptoms like this.
I have checked this and it is set to inches. I also uninstalled both programs and reinstalled them. Really odd that it works fine when I delete the top few lines. I have also tried other G codes that I got on line and they all work fine.
The line causing problems is probably N0040. It explicitly sets the units to inches.
With the native units set to inches have a look at your steps per unit in motor tuning. Do they still look correct?
Well I feel like an idiot. It was the native units. I was for sure I checked that last night. Thanks for your help. Both sheetcam and Mach 3 both work great.