I created a Fusion 360 2d contour job to cut out a pattern in 5mm plywood. No matter what I do, when I run it it starts the job 5mm too high. It’s as if FluidNC does not know where the top and bottom of the stock are. The simulation runs fine. Any suggestions?
Does your post processor have the correct start gcode?
Thats an issue with your work piece tio zeroing (z zero). Just replace the set pos mm z heich when 0 o just manually edit your z height.
I’m using the MPCNC v3.0 Beta 3.cps post processor. I am not sure what the correct start code should be as I am new to this, but I see in the gcode comments that Z-min is -0.5 and Z max is 25. In fusion, since you select the bottom of the stock yet set Z0 at the top when running the job, seems Z min should be -5.5mm (0.5mm bottom height offset to be sure I cut out the piece completely).
cesar, what if I just added G92 Z-5 to the gcode as a fix? Or I could play with offsets in Fusion to fool FluidNC. what do you guys think?
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Since you are new to this my suggestion would be to try the same job in Estlcam. You can use the Docs to set up all the start gcode correctly and it should go a lot smoother.
There are a few guys that use Fusion for CAM around here, but not many. Hopefully one of them will come along to help out. But you will get a lot more support trying out Estlcam.
That is marlin based, you need a grbl post processor if you want to use fusion360 CAM.
You should be able to manually edit your gcode file to include the correct starting gcode if you can not find a good PP for GRBL.
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Thanks. I’ll give Estlcam a try as well as fooling with Fusion. I like sticking with Fusion as I have projects that have different parts made different ways such as 3d printing and CNC milling. But it probably is not hard to reconstruct a part in Estlcam.
Fusion is tricky. I had a very small cheap MillRight kit machine before the MPCNC and they only described using Fusion. But they also had to insert some gcode in the final output to get some things to work.
I’ll play with both approaches, Estlcam and hacking gcode. Luckily I’m a hobbyist and have no time constraints.
Just export a DXF of the part you need and load that in estlcam to cut
We are not asking you to switch your CAD work, just use esltcam for CAM (toothpaths).
estlcam is 98% as fully functional but 300% easier to use. When installing it do not install estlcam CNC control, just CAM. I will be updating the instructions to show the new install instructions soon I just found out my pictures are now outdated.
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Thanks for the update in advance. I will try another post processor as well in Fusion. Estlcan is pretty cheap so I’ll give it a try as well.
Just for grins I put G92 Z5.0 (the thickness of my stock) in the fusion gcode file in the Start commands. It worked. It seems positive Z values mean down into the stock.
You can try it at full function for free. It just gives you a timer at the end to wait. Each time you save a new gcode the timer adds a second. Good to try it out before you buy incase you just don’t like it. But it does work real well once you learn it.
Good to know. I’ll give it a try.
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X100 for the Estlcam. It just works.
But uf you still want to thinker with fusion, there is someone in the forum that uploads a postprocessor for fusion. (Do a quick search because i dont follow those threads)
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My understanding is that each updates it brakes something. Dxf exporting to use with estlcam (or vectric aspire in my case ) should be the default option really
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I agree 100%
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I’ll try it. Fusion is always changing things. Estlcam sounds more stable.
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Also, Estlcam support is really great. I have found several bugs over the years and Christian fixed them in hours once he could reproduce them.
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