Sheetcam won't generate G-code for a specific circle

Problems and questions
1

I’ve been using sheetcam for a few years now, recently upgraded to 4.0.4.

Tried to generate a cutpath yesterday for a couple parts I wanted, using a plasma torch. Sheetcam generated the entire cutpath fine, except for one circle. There, the only thing it will generate is the 1/4" leadin.

Relevant g-code-

N1020 (Process: Inside Offset, hole, T5: Plasma, .25 hole)
N1050 M06 T5 F40  (Plasma, .25 hole)
N1060 G00 X5.4760 Y3.4998 Z0.5000
N1070 Z0.2000
N1080 G28.1 Z0.12
N1090 G92 Z0.0
N1100 G00 Z0.0600
N1110 G92 Z0.0
N1120 G00 Z0.2000
N1130 M03
N1140 G04 P0.6
N1150 G01 X5.7260 F40
N1170 M05

I’ve tried moving the start point, changing the tool, changing the offset, just trying to get it to generate the code in any manner. It will never generate more than the 1/4" cut.

DXF attached. Plasma torch isn’t accurate enough to cut the smaller holes, so the tick marks in the center of each are just to put a centerpoint for a drill guide. The large hole is the one sheetcam chokes on. The tick mark in the center of that is because the first drill guide it cuts on any particular part is blasted apart, so you have to put a waste one somewhere.

2

Can you send me the job file. That way I can see exactly what settings you are using.

3

Sure. Job attached.

4

Are you using an older post converted from SheetCam standard? If so, give me a copy of the post and I’ll modify it to work with TNG.

By the way for punch marking, look at the drilling operation. Set the min hole size to be less than the size of the circles to be punched and the max hole size to be greater than the circle size. Any circles between these two sizes will have their centers marked. Note that they still have to be on a different layer to your main cuts.

5

Post attached.

Thanks for taking the time to look at this.

6

This should fix it

7

Hi Les,

Thank you for your time and effort in resolving this issue, I appreciate the excellent customer service.

Unfortunately, Mach3 does not understand the g-code generated by the new post file you made. (First error- line 11, G23 is unrecognized.) I just realized I did not mention that I was using Mach3 earlier and apologize for the lapse.

I’m thoroughly confused by this issue, as I’ve used the new version of sheetcam several times and haven’t had any trouble. Is there something about the location and size of this circle that’s throwing it off? Even if it’s the only shape in the cut file, it refuses to generate code for it.

Thank you again,

Zach

8

In SheetCam go to Options->machine->post processor. Make dsure it is showing that your post is selected. it should be named something like MP1000-THC-piercecount(edited)

9

Oops! PEBKAC error, that’s embarassing. When I imported the file you gave me I thought it selected that as the post processor.

Properly selected the one you gave me, processed, it’s giving me empty .tap files. Huh.

10

If you have cut paths you should get some code. Does the simulator work?

11

Yes, it does.

Tried another job with the new post processor. I have a code snippet in that job, and when I checked the tap file, the code snippet was the only thing there. Only thing the debug log says is

1:59:20 PM: Matched 0 arcs

12

I am not sure what is going on there. I tested the post here and it worked correctly.

13

I deleted the post processor and reimported, and it worked the second time.

While doing so, I did notice that at import, it pretends it’s loading the one you just imported for a brief moment, before jumping to whichever one is at the top of the list. In the dropdown where you choose. This would explain my confusion yesterday about accidentally using the wrong processor. Dunno if that’s something that could be easily fixed in a future version, automatically selecting the one you just imported.

Thanks for your time, sorry for wasting some of it with my errors.