In conversation with Masso tech support these past few days and discussing how difficult surfacing the spoilboard is (because it takes the machine to the limits of the surface) they pointed out that the controller software has a spoilboard surfacing program - Built in!!
Who knew!
Do you know that you can create a surfacing file directly on MASSO?
To ensure that no islands are left on the corners quote the tool diameter factionly small than the actual tool. This causes the wizard to create toolpaths closer together.
All inputs to the Wizard are keyboard.
You can jog to the extremes of X & Y to get the values from the DROs, set DROs to Zero in the home position.
You do have to set the Z height in the DRO to zero when touching the spoil board.
Suggest you run above the spoil board and do a âair cutâ before you do the actual cut, to ensure that you wonât throw any soft limits and confirm you arenât going to hit the Y rails.
You can ask for a smaller depth of cut (0.05mm) and just run it again if there are any patches that are missed.
Has anyone used this yet? I assume it needs a tool set up in the library? Also, what is the âZ offsetâ for the tool in the library? Is that only relevant if a tool setter is being used? Same question for Z clearance.
Iâve looked in the manuals for what these terms might mean but have been unsuccessful. Likewise a google and youtube search did not produce a resultâŚ
I have not used it. I do not think you need to worry about the z offsets in the tool table, as Masso support mentions, set Z height of tool with DRO. Z clearance I believe would mean how high above your spoil board your end mill will be set to travel when not cutting.
Yes and as I was making the spoil boards I accounted for placing the hold down clamps so there is 1.5" from the end of the cut to the beginning of the spoil board on both ends
Sorry for the delay, but I will try to explain, please remember I am a newbie and others on this amazing forum can probably answer what I say in better terms than I - I am a newbie.
Things I found odd:
I would set x and y at zero but the machine would move to another position almost 1 inch away on both x and y axis from where the machine home is. This is probably a program thing somewhere and I have no idea how to fix.
I used the metal thingy to zero z but when I ran the program it wouldnât go down as far as I had programmed. I blame this on âOperator Head Space and Timingâ - I am a newbie. My fix: Manually zero Z with a piece of paper and run from there. I worked well - see number 3
If i put in numbers such as depth of cut to .010" the z-axis would move to .008" which I assume is the difference between the bit and the surface of spoilboard minus and paper I used to zero the z-axis.
the programming would clear everything from edge to edge except for about .75" of the x and y axis. It would leave a lip on the outside edges that I did not like so when the cut pass was done I would do a manual cut at the same depth from machine home the whole length of both x and y axis of the the spoilboard and that help clear the .75" difference. I am guessing the .75" came from the bit width (1.5") and programing adjusted accordingly.
The Masso site has documentation on the basics of the conversational programing wizard but no how to or any answers to error codes etc etc. I did a google search and found this, it didnât answer all questions but help clear the fogginess: Accu-Pro VMC Mill - Conversational Programming - YouTube
The rectangle pocket cut was suppose to leave squared ends but it did not on mine, I attribute this to me being a newbie. After reading documentation and watching video I originally programmed x and y at 47.25" (48" - 1/2 bit width (.75") = 47.25â) and it left a bigger margin around the spoil board and rounded corners, so I went the other way and added .75" it helped some but not enough. I went as as as x and y to 50" and it worked across the x axis and went up to the y axis but when it was cut the x axis again the machine did not move but the screen was showing the axis was moving. I eventually settled on what you see in the screen shot and did a manual cut from home all the way around the board to clear everything.
It only allowed me to do 1 pass at a time - but I am a newbie so I am sure that can be answered by others on the forum
Once you save the file it will send you back to the conversational page and you need to save the wizard and the publish g-code. It will then populate on the F2 page and use the âxxxx.ncâ file. If you click the âxxxx.WIZâ file will bring you back to the screen shot so you can adjust the numbers, but you have to save and publish g-code all over again.
As for the screen the only numbers I changed were the red arrows.
the others as follows:
I had assigned my surfacing tool as tool 1
spindle speed was random since i was using a router
cutting feed rate was at 75 since i can use override feature on the F2 page to control the feed rate
z feed rate i put at 0.010" and this was the the z axis moves down to the final cutting depth before moving along its path
z clearance was the z axis height after the cut so the z axis would move .100" above z axis zero
x start and x end self explanatory
y start and y end self explanatory
z start self explanatory
depth of cut will be a positive number
z end will be a negative number but will be the same as depth of cut just a negative number, if not you will get error codes
The only numbers I changed was the red arrows, I started with .020" to test and made adjustments from there in increments of .040". The full pass took about 20 minutes to run but i spent 5 hours fixing adjusting and so on. In the end it was pretty easy except for being time consuming and the bald spot I created scratching my head. Either way I was proud of myself and had a celebratory steak dinner.
I hope this helps and thanks to everyone that helped me
Please feel free to help answer anything I might of mis-stated
Thanks Dan,
This helped and I successfully surfaced. What I did to zero this 2" cutter was lower it to the surface with the spindle unpluged and then very slowly (using the pendant) lowered it until the cutter could not be rotated. I then raised it a âsmidgeâ so it was free and then Zeroâd Z.
Aiph5u
(Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))
16
Hey Dan,
usually on the Onefinity machines you donât have to subtract the bit radius when entering the area to surface. If you want to avoid lips and corners, simply enter the entire max. workarea of the machine. When you look at the cutting area location, you see that there is plenty space around the workarea for the additional bit radius so it wonât damage anything outside the workarea.
What i did on my shapeoko was jog it to the limits, make a shape that size, maybe a little under picket it, then do a profile on the line.
I intended on doing that with my elite, but i guess thereâs a better way
thanks for all of thatâŚ