Every CNC file I load they are all RED status

Anything to do with our PCB / Engraving machine or software

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jhoffman
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Joined: Thu 15 Oct , 2009 13:51 pm

Every CNC file I load they are all RED status

Post by jhoffman » Thu 15 Oct , 2009 14:58 pm

Mid East Ohio Career Center purchased the PCB engraver. First of all the documentation is insufficient. These are electronics instructors not cnc operators. To take them through a so called tutorial and then say make it the way you would any CNC program in not right. :dumbfounded:

We have tried every way we can think of but we are never able to try and make a board. We have loaded the sample files and they are always RED. Do you have anything that takes it step by step to make a board.
Jason D. Hoffman, Vice President
Buckeye Educational Systems & BES Solutions Inc.

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Re: Every CNC file I load they are all RED status

Post by Denford Admin » Thu 15 Oct , 2009 15:39 pm

The tutorial you're referring to is fairly generic, and was written with the PCB creation software we were evaluating at the time, and covers how we got it to create .gerber files suitable for the PCB import wizard in VR Milling 5.
It has been shipped with the PCB Engravers because it should help to configure whichever PCB software people happen to be using, and the gerber import wizard in the PCB engraver software is exactly the same as the one in VR Milling 5.

The QuickStart guide for the PCB Engraver aims to cover all the basics of getting a CNC file into the machine and manufactured. If you find it lacks enough information to get started, then please advise how it can be improved.

I'm guessing that all the CNC files you are loading are in RED because, as it states in the QuickStart guide (latest copy attached), A red LED indicates that the program cannot fit into the working area (i.e. anywhere to the right and above the current DATUM position).
If you have not set the Datum position yet, then none of the programs will fit into the working area...

HTH
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PCB Engraver Quickstart.pdf
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jhoffman
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu 15 Oct , 2009 13:51 pm

Re: Every CNC file I load they are all RED status

Post by jhoffman » Thu 15 Oct , 2009 16:05 pm

How?
Jason D. Hoffman, Vice President
Buckeye Educational Systems & BES Solutions Inc.

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Denford Admin
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Posts: 3632
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Enter as much information about your CNC hardware and software as you can - it makes it easier for everyone to know what you're talking about then.
Location: Sunny Brighouse
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Re: Every CNC file I load they are all RED status

Post by Denford Admin » Thu 15 Oct , 2009 16:12 pm

From the quickstart guide:
2. Click Home to initialise the axes.
3. Click Jog to allow manual movement of the axes.
4. Using the keyboard arrow keys for XY and PageUp/PageDown for Z, jog the tool to the bottom left corner of the material.
5. Click the 3 DATUM set buttons next to the position readouts.

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