Hi All
In Carbide Create using the Advanced V-Carve option, if I check the Enable Pocket Area Tool, and I pick say a 1/16" end mill and my v-carving tool is a 15 degree bit, then how do I know which tool to start with and does the program stop and prompt me for a tool change? If it does and I am using a spindle, which I am, does it spin up the spindle first before continuing on?
I have know idea how this multi-tool function works.
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Generally you don’t do this. You output separate G-code files for each tool. Then you have control over which bit you insert, which order you do things, can correct just one path, etc…
I get that and I have done that before but I am creating one g-code file in CC and it’s using two separate tools so confusing.
Been a while since I used CC, does it not let you save out separate g-code files per bit?
Hey Jim,
unfortunately Carbide Create lets you hang here with unusable tool change commands, because they want you to buy a machine of theirs and that you run their machine software. It’s only then that the broken commands get fixed later by Carbide Hardware and Software.
However, there is a solution, this was already answered (you possibly would have found some of them by searching for “carbide tool change” or “carbide M6”. But of course not if everyone typed “CC” instead of “Carbide Create” 
):
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…and after that (after the ‘tool change’ commands were manually edited to make them work), the next step is to make the ‘tool-change’ behaviour suit your needs. For this, the Onefinity Controller has a ‘tool-change’ field in which the user does this themself, because everyone has different needs. You can find
→ an easy instruction for this here.
PS: I think some people also wrote automatic scripts already to convert Carbide Create G-code to make the tool-change commands work on the fly, that would not be difficult e.g. with sed, but if you are dealing with only two or a few milling bits that you have to change within one g-code program, it’s easy to do that manually using a plain text editor.
If you follow the instructions above, you will be prompted with the tool number used in your program with a popup window and asked for confirmation before it continues.
As mentioned above, you can modifiy the behaviour, but in general, when you followed the instructions above, when your g-code program is started and a tool insertion is necessary, the spindle is halted and the VFD puts it into the ‘Safe Torque Off’ mode (STO), and a popup appears with the tool number and tells you to insert this bit, then after your confirmation it tells you to attach and put the touch probe underneath the bit, after confirmation probes tool length (Z probing) automatically, and after one more confirmation resumes your g-code program at the right position by powering up the spindle to the speed specified in your g-code program.
A difference in wanted behaviour is whether you have set your workpiece origin to workpiece top left corner, or to a lower workpiece corner. In the first case you put your touch probe on the top left corner of your workpiece, in the latter case you will be told to put the probe on the machine bed when spindle is at home position. This behaviour is altered by enabling or disabling one single commmand in the instructions above.
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Well that explains it then, thank you. And that’s way more advanced than my knowledge. I think I’ll go back to the safe route and create multiple g-code files.
I do have a couple more simple questions but I will briefly explain my project first, which is a home sign.
My stock will be a 1" thick by 18" diameter piece of circular pine. The upper half is an image of a guy fishing off of a lake boat with pine trees in the background. The bottom half is my friends last name and then his lake house address curved along the bottom. The text and the guy/boat will end up being “raised” a 1/4". The water under the boat and the sky above the trees will be depressions 1/8" deep.
So, there’s lots to route out here and some of it needs a small bit for the detail, like in between the text.
Do most of you start with one g-code file and use a large bit to quickly clear out material, like a 1/4" diameter end mill?
If yes, then when you switch to a 1/16" end mill for the detail, how do I keep the second program from running over all the area that the large bit already covered so that I am only routing out the detail areas? This I ask so as to minimize my time and reduce redundancy. I’m worried this is going to be a job last many hours, like eight or more.