Troubleshooting random straight line cut

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hwdonnie
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Troubleshooting random straight line cut

Post by hwdonnie »

Went to cut out a lion head and everything was going fine. new consumables, good air, clean tracks and gears, etc. However when i was making the cut my torch randomly cut a straight line that wasn't part of the design. While going around the lion's mane it pivoted and went in a straight line back to an earlier part of the mane. I double checked my design and there wasnt any small lines or marks there so it wasnt something in my design. Anyone have a similar issue? I'm struggling to troubleshoot this. From what i can tell it was as if the torch brain just acted on its own.
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acourtjester
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Re: Troubleshooting

Post by acourtjester »

Did you create the G-code yourself, I have seen hidden items in a SXF or SVG file that were unseen. But the CAM program found them and cause just what you are seeing. I would do a dry run (no plasma on) of the G-code and just before that part do a pause and single step to watch the torch's movement. CNC tables only follow the G-code commands. If you see it again them try looking at the file and magnify where is happened for a closer look.
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plasmanewbie
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Re: Troubleshooting

Post by plasmanewbie »

Tom's suggestion of some dry runs are good and if you see it do that straight line over and over again in the same spot it's definitely in your design. If you could reply and post your design someone here may be able to find an issue with that.
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Re: Troubleshooting random straight line cut

Post by robertspark »

what CNC control software are you using?
is it mach3 or something else?
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Re: Troubleshooting random straight line cut

Post by tnbndr »

When I first started cutting, I was running my table from a laptop even though it was recommended that I not do that. Most of the time everything worked great. But every now and then I would get those random straight line cuts in the middle of a design. Definitely not in the drawing or code.
Only thing that could be suggested was electrical or magnet interference or the laptop interrupting the G-code. All guessing but I eventually caved and setup a mini desktop and never had the issue again.
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