I am working in vcarve desktop and when I make up the tool paths I look at the time it says it will take to cut, Lets just say 30 minutes. When i load that program in to the machine it might say cut time will be one and a half hours. What am i missing here? Why such a big difference between the two?
Out of the box Vectric software provides a pretty simple WAG regarding cut times. You can fine tune it by first entering your rapid rate (i.e., G0) for your machine. You can then complete a simple cut (or a few simple cuts) and compare the actual time vs the VCarve predicted time and calculate a ‘scale’ factor to account for variables with your machine. You can get it better honed in doing these two things. It won’t be perfect but it will get you closer to a ballpark projection. Note that the scale factor you determine will likely vary based on the type of job (e.g. 3D model vs. 2D profile cuts). Search the Vectric forums and training videos you’ll find help on getting this done.
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Thank you. I believe I will give this a try tomorrow. Too tired today, covid shot is kicking my butt.
Greg - as Doug mentioned, there are a lot of variables in the machine itself that affect cut time - mostly the affect of acceleration and deceleration. That said, 3x difference seems fairly far off just of simple machine settings.
(FWIW, the second shot wiped me out for nearly an entire day…)
-Tom