Tool Path change **HELP** Newbie

[Jarrodh (Jarrod)]

X50 Owner for 12 months. Australia
Never had a problem, faultless really. Still a lot to learn. I cut a lot of shapes out of birch ply and recently my machine has decided to change the tool path slightly as per the image below. As I have never had a problem I have absolutely no idea where to start other than to reach out to you fine folk on the forum.
The Gcode is below with an image showing the fault with the cut. I have never changed anything with my machine including not even updating firmware or really understanding whether it could be a factor.
The simple cut below is a shape using a 1/8 downcut bit on 15mm ply. It would have done 7 passes to make the cut fully but on at least two depth of cuts it decides to change where the shape is cut.
Re-starting the machine and also doing different cuts it seems to be a problem with all. If this is the case is it my “X” or “Y” axis sticking?
Keeping in mind that these shapes I have been cutting perfectly for the lift of the machine.

Hope someone can assist.

%
(VECTRIC POST REVISION)
(0EF08EE7FEE6AFF80E20B6E55BC3B23F)
T1
G0 G17 G21 G90 G40 G49 G64 P0.001
G0Z20.320
G0X0.000Y0.000
M3 S10000
M0(MSG, Click ‘Continue’ when the spindle is up to speed)
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[Aiph5u (Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))]

Hey Jarrod,

the cause of position shifts is usually cable or connector problems, or electromagnetic interference as the stepper cables are unfortunately not shielded.

See here:

• Troubleshooting: Rail is getting hung, stuck, or out of alignment (x35/x50 machines)

Do you have retrofit strain relief for X gantry Molex connectors on your machine?

[Jarrodh (Jarrod)]

Thanks so much for the reply. I haven’t changed anything for 12 months. I did get extension cables which were made up by one of the aligned suppliers from Etsy. See below. These have been on the machine the whole time.
I’ll have a good read of the troubleshooting.

[Timberly]

@Jarrodh

I know that @Aiph5u has been around for a while and is super knowledgeable; however, have you tried to simulate your tool paths in software? While I’m not as experienced as others, I looked at your image and I see the rails to the top left, which makes me think that the x-axis was off. I am wondering if you could duplicate the issue in a simulation/preview using your CAD/CAM software.

There are two pieces to this system: software (G-Code to execute) and hardware (movement, electronics, interference). If you could eliminate one of the two pieces from suspicion, you’d be able to move in the correct direction and focus on gcode/software bug or alternatively a hardware issue.

While I’m new to CNC, I’ve been troubleshooting systems for a long time and I’ve always found the fastest way to find the issue is to break a system into logical halves and verify if it’s good or bad. Then continually break the failing segment into halves again until you’re left with only the faulty part at the end.

I’m very sorry that I can’t just figure it out quickly for you, but I hope that this helps.
Good luck!

[Jarrodh (Jarrod)]

Many thanks for the reply. My hunch is the machine as I have run different jobs and the same thing happens. I even ran the same job twice over the top of the first and the machine ran a different path to the first. Looking at my jobs it does seem to me that the “X” axis is off. I’ll take a closer look at my machine today including fixing bolts, cables, connectors etc.
Fingers crossed!!

[OnefinityCNC (Onefinity Support)]

Do you have 1.2.1 installed? If so, there’s a know file bug that 1.3 fixes

[Jarrodh (Jarrod)]

I don’t have 1.2.1 installed at all. In fact the machine isn’t wi-fi connected and has its factory version of v1.0.9.
My machine is doing something different today. what I have drawn is not what it is cutting out.
Any ideas???

[Timberly]

@Aiph5u

I’m still new to CNC and G-Code, but I see what appear like Linear movements with G1 and then I see arc movements with G3 (assuming G3 represents turning the corner).

That being said, the g-code ‘almost’ repeats exactly. Starting from the 10th line (G1Z-2.286F508.0), I count 71 lines and can break the code into 7 ‘nearly’ identical blocks.

Okay, I did a CLI diff on them to make sure that my eyes weren’t missing anything else, but on blocks 5-7, I found differences.

• Block 5: Lines 1,3,5, 27, & 28 differ the first four blocks. It looks like just an addition of the z-axis values and both x&y appear to be the same.
• Block 6: Lines 1, 4, & 28 differ from the block 5.
• Block 7: Lines 1, 4, 26, & 28 differ from block 6.

I just selected the gcode above as described and put them into 7 text files so that I could run a diff on them. It’s probably totally fine since x&y look the same. I zipped those text files and attached them here:
gcode-comparison.zip (7.4 KB)

Based on the original posters software photo, I’m suspecting that vcarve is in use and I thought I read somewhere else about another user having some path issues on vcarve. I defer to you though as you know significantly more than I do.

[Aiph5u (Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))]

Hey Timberly, hey Jarrod @Jarrodh

@Timberly

gcode-comparison.zip (7.4 KB)

When diffing the g-code blocks, I can only see alteration in Z movements between these blocks (G1 is a modal command, it can be followed by any number of subsequent axes movements). The diffs show that it only mills deeper with every block, but the X and Y path does not change between the blocks.

I took Jarrod’s g-code from the first example an loaded it into the controller. The toolpath simulation is okay. It does not show the faulty path that Jarrod’s machine milled, so I would say, the g-code is okay, the machine is at fault:

Therefore I would check all the possible causes mentioned in the support document above and then try to reproduce the error.

PS: Considering the fact that the error is in the X, I would have a look at this:

I would avoid using hot glue as strain relief. It’s not flexible. Better retrofit real strain relief for X gantry Molex connectors to the machine. I would assume there is cable break where the wires come out of the hot glue. That could explain the fault seen very well (on the second example you posted too, Jarrod).

Also I would check the conductivity of the connector pins:

@Aiph5u

Sometimes they have simply a bad connection due to wear or corrosion of the tin plating. In this case, a little amount of KONTAKT 60 and then KONTAKT 61 can help.

[Jarrodh (Jarrod)]

Thank you so much Aiph5u and Timberly. My apologies but this has been the first chance I have had to get back to you both to reply. This machine is my side hustle and for the last 3 days I have been selling product and haven’t had a chance to look over my machine and give it some tender loving care.
I need to sort this ASAP so I will let you know how I go.
Many thanks again.