Cut Path Off Mid-Cut

[m3customdesigns]

I began having issues cutting mid-December after 1 1/2 years without problems. (It may have started shortly after the last time I updated SheetCam, but I'm not positive.)

I was setting up my artwork through Photoshop, converting in Inkscape, creating code in SheetCam, then cutting with our plasma with Mach3. At Christmas I switched to CorelDraw instead of Photoshop/Inkscape. I am seeing the same problem whether the cut file is from Photoshop/Inkscape or CorelDraw. So I am ruling the initial artwork out as a problem and am left with either SheetCam or Mach3 as my problem. The problem does not show up in every cut. We cut several this weekend without a problem. When we had the problem in the past, the same error would show up each time we tried to cut a specific piece, so that makes me think it is related to SheetCam or Mach3, not the physical machine.

The issue:
Mid-cut something "jumps" and then the rest of the cut is off. You can notice in the attached photo that it cut the inside pieces as it is supposed to. When cutting the outside, the cut is off by the "A" and then cuts right through the hole that had been previously cut. It is not just on inside and outside cuts where we see the discrepancy, sometimes we have multiple inside layers and between one inside and the next we see the problem.

Jacey-Volleyball.tap

Cut File

(16.99 KiB) Downloaded 57 times

- This is the cut file I used today.

Photo

volleyball.jpg (1.87 MiB) Viewed 3037 times

- Photo of mid-cut error.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Metal isn't cheap!

Thanks,
Brittany

[Les Newell]

This is most likely a mechanical problem with the machine. Check for loose couplings or pulleys. Move the gantry around by hand and check for any tight spots or roughness.

[m3customdesigns]

Thank you!
I had my dad and brother examine the code and they were thinking the same. We will dig in this weekend to do some testing!