Built my MPCNC using all items from Ryan, Rambo 1.4 and LCD. All connected Ok. Downloaded Arduino and Repetier Host and all connect to MPCNC. ESTLCAM gcode loads into Repetier Host and machine cuts OK. The problems I’m having are since I started using Vectric VCarve Desktop. Post processor was downloaded from Ronnie Cohort on this forum. When I load VCarve CRV toolpath file to Repetier Host, file not loading to Repetier Host the same as Estlcam. They load but don’t show ETA and toolpaths as Estlcam does. The VCarve toolpath does run on my MPCNC, but only part of the toolpath file runs. My next plan of attack was to try Vectric VTransfer and Arduino in place of Repetier Host. Does anybody else use Vectric Vtransfer? I can’t get it to connect Rambo 1.4. My computer skills are nowhere near the level of most of you on this forum and at 68 years old might have left it a bit late, but I am determined.
Paul,
The Vcarve CRV file is not a toolpath file that you can load for cutting, you still need to create a gcode file.
Also, Vectric Vtransfer is for GRBL-based controllers. You’re running Marlin, so that won’t work.
Kcny, Vectric Ltd tells me the MPCNC is Grbl based, I contacted them to ask which post processor I should use with VCarve for my MPCNC, it was then I found Ronny Cohart’s Marlin’s post processor that he uses and used that. When I first started using VCarve , I created toolpath file for Bulls Head carving and cut that on my MPCNC, so that must have been gcode, I don’t think I’ve changed anything in VCarve but its now producing CRV file.
The MPCNC itself isn’t Marlin or Grbl-based - it is the controller and what you load onto it. Since you bought the Rambo controller from Ryan, it is running Marlin. And Ronnie’s Marlin PP should work just fine.
As for the Vectric file side of things: A CRV file is Vetric’s native file format for the design you create – you then tell the software to create the toolpaths, which are gcode files. That’s how it has always been.
Can you take me through your process to create the files and include screenshots where possible? Also, are you on Vcarve version 11?
RepetierHost is being used as a g-code sender to transfer the g-code produced by your other tools to the control board. It is very unlikely to be the root of your problem. Arduino is an umbrella name for a set of microcontroller boards, so I’m not sure what you mean by that term.
Both GRBL and Marlin use flavors g-code as the input language, but there are differences that impact the compatibility between the two. Usually this is addressed by having a different post processor like your mention of “Cohart’s Marlin post processor” to generate the g-code. Occasionally a tool generated g-code that is generic enough to work for both firmwares. This is true for Easel.
I strongly suspect that kcny is right that there is something wrong with the g-code being output…especially since you are getting a .CRV extension, but it might be something else like a tool change that was inserted in the file that you are not seeing/addressing.
He isn’t outputting any gcode. The .CRV extension is just the Vectric drawing – you then have to define the toolpaths in Vectric and save it, using the post processor, as a .gcode
He says:
The VCarve toolpath does run on my MPCNC, but only part of the toolpath file runs.
…which implies that something somewhere is producing g-code that he can successfully send to the MPCNC. I don’t see CRV as a input file format for RepetierHost or EstlCAM.
Edit: If Ronny Cohart’s Marlin’s post processor is for VCarve, maybe the missing step is that he needs to learn how to output g-code from the PP for input into RepetierHost.
I think he was just mixing up things, as he says “When I load VCarve CRV toolpath file to Repetier Host, file not loading to Repetier Host the same as Estlcam.”
A CRV is a Vectric-exclusive drawing format - it won’t work anywhere else and certainly won’t generate gcode.
The reason I asked to walk us through the process and provide screenshots, as well as what version of Vcarve - is that Vcarve 11 just came out and there was an issue with migrating the post processors. So it is possible the missing step is just tying the PP back in to correctly output the gcode.
After reading your replies, I thought I better recheck my process. I started in VCarve Version 11, selected a simple “Cheers” 2D vector and generated a V carve toolpath gcode. I then used that same “Cheers” vector and generated an Estlcam gcode, both gcode are identical. I then ran both gcode paths through Repetier Host to my MPCNC, just using pen method. They both worked. The only difference being where they homed at programme end. On Repetier host I still get ETA and image of “Cheers” on workplate, when I load Estlcam gcode, but I don’t get that information loading VCarve gcode. I can live with that. As far as the CRV toolpaths I was producing, it must have been in the way I was doing things, or it links to the issue you mention Kcny in VCarve Version 11. As I mentioned, I was generating gcode, when I did the “Bulls Head Carving” and all the previous Vcarve designs produced gcode. It was only yesterday, that the same “Bulls Head Carving” generated CRV code. I did not change anything in post processor, so it can’t have been that. Thank you all for your help
Hi Paul, got a link to Ronnys post processor?
Hi Bing Bada Boom, if you search ‘Primo Signs’ the first post that comes up, about half way into the post you will find Ronnie’s post .
Paul
Awesome, thanks Paul and Ronnie