Denford Software & Machines

I've been milling out some boxes from soft wood with success until this latest one went awry.

For some reason towards the end of the programme the machine cuts on a different toolpath to the one I had set (or at lest thought that I had set). This has happened 3 times now. I have tried re-drawing the toolpath using the Drawing Import function (importing .dxf files), but have the same issue.

Any thoughts on where the error is? I'm going back to a previous successful programme to see if that still works, which would suggest the error is with this particular file?

Here's a piture (hopefully), you can see where the machine has been following the toolpath quite happily and then, wallop it deviates into the side of the box!

Update:

I've tried another file that has previously work without any problems and it has done the same thing. Towards the end of the routine there's a toolpath deviation that wrecks the work.

The error seems to occur at the same point, co-incidence or indicative of what the problem is?

Help gratefully reveived.

John

The slides may just need lubricating with silicone spray.

It does look like one of the slides may have stalled. Possibly a Retract in the Z axis.

Vacuum down the machine and clean the leadscrews especially the Z axis.

Spray the leadscrews with the silicone spray and leave to dry then retry the program but turn the feed override down and see if that improves things.

I like the vice you have fitted!

Thanks for the replies, and sorry for my delayed response - I got dragged into other areas of responsibilty (in other words "stop playing with that machine, here's 300 cutting lists to do")

A colleague here suggested re-installing the drivers which we did and it did seem to help, though this may be a coincidence, I'll clean and lube the slides as suggested.


The vice has bought before my time, I believe it's from Techsoft. It is quite handy for repeats as it self centres.