Surfacing Macro

CthulhuLabs

@jay_s_uk you just adjust the step over. So if you were using a 1/4in end mill you'd set the step over to like 2mm. I'm using a 1" surfacing bit so I set it to 10mm. Seems to leave a nice finish.

jay_s_uk

@cthulhulabs fantastic! I look forward to trying this when I next need it

Sindarius

@cthulhulabs This is really impressive! Thanks for sharing. I plan on trying it out soon myself!

CthulhuLabs

@sindarius / @jay_s_uk
Get a chance to try this out? Trying to see if there are any ways to improve it.

Sindarius

@cthulhulabs It's been too cold in my garage to want to do any woodworking at the moment

I do have the macro copied over to my machine once it warms up enough to be in there.

chimaeragh

It would be nice if this macro could be made into a plugin. Then you wouldn't have to edit the macro to change parameters. Something like the CNC touchprobe plugin by @raymondstone

psychotik2k3

damn that would be another reason for me to update my old duet2w from RRF2.1 to 3.3
no build another cnc first

chimaeragh

I tested this macro today. Works nicely, had to edit some parameters for my Ooznest touchprobe input. Thanks a lot

; Adjust probe for low speed probing
M558 K0 P8 C"!e0stop" H20 F120 T300					; Z probe number - Z probe switch type - probe recovery 1s probe speed and travel speed

sinned6915

@cthulhulabs i like this macro! I am trying ot use it by I am encountering a couple of hiccups. I know this is an older thread, but I am hoping you might see this reply.

Are you using a PanelDue in conjunction with your machine?
Where/how are you controlling your spindle?
I am getting funny outputs with the move command prompts on PanelDue. I get the first one for probing Z. but not for any of the other ones. M291 Syntax looks correct. I am trying to get a PC near the machine to see what the console looks like.

M291 P"Insert your surfacing bit into your spindle and position it above the probe plate" R"Probing" S3 X1 Y1 Z1
 
; Set bit above center of probe
G91																			; relative positioning
 
; Probe Z component
G38.2 Z{move.axes[2].userPosition - (var.ProbeThickness + 2.25)}			; seek until the probe circuit is closed Z-axis 25 mm
G0 Z{var.ZClearanceHeight}													; rapid move Z axis 5 mm
 
G10 P1 L{var.CoordSystem} Z{var.ProbeThickness + var.ZClearanceHeight}		; store relative probe offset for coordinates system 1
 
G90																			; Absolute positioning
 
M291 P"Move to the starting X Y position for surfacing" R"Start Position" S3 X1 Y1 Z0
set var.StartX = move.axes[0].userPosition;
set var.StartY = move.axes[1].userPosition;

if var.Debug
	M118 P0 S{"StartX = " ^ var.StartX} L2
	M118 P0 S{"StartY = " ^ var.StartY} L2
 
M291 P"Move to the ending X Y position for surfacing" R"End Position" S3 X1 Y1 Z0
set var.EndX = move.axes[0].userPosition;
set var.EndY = move.axes[1].userPosition;

How or where are you turning your spindle on? As mine is controlled through RRF, I need to insert the tokens to turn off/on. I am thjnking before and after the while loop?

T1 

G90
M03 S5000
G04 S1
G0 X0.0000 Y0.0000 Z3.0000

; Begin surfacing loop
while true

...
...
	M291 P"Surface another layer?" S3 X0 Y0 Z0	; then prompt the user if they want to do another layer

M03 S3500          ; ramp spindle speed down
G04 S1
M03 S1500
G04 S1
M05
G04 S1
G90
G0 X0.0000 Y0.0000 Z3.0000

chimaeragh

@sinned6915 I have modified the macro for an Ooznest Workbee with their latest Firmware (RRF3.3). M3 starts the router and M5 stops it.

; Constants
var Debug = false;
var ProbeThickness = 5;
var CoordSystem	= 20;
var StepOver = 10;
var DepthOfCut = 0.2;
var FeedRate = 8000;
var ZClearanceHeight = 25;

; Variables
var StartX = 0;			; The X starting position
var StartY = 0;			; The Y starting position
var EndX = 0;			; The X ending position
var EndY = 0;			; The Y ending position
var YDir = 0;			; The direction to go in Y
var YDist = 0;			; The distance to go in Y
var YPos = 0;			; The position in Y to move to
var YDistLeft = 0;		; How much we have left to move in Y
var ZDepth = 0;			; How far down we should be in Z
var XSorE = "End"		; Whether X should move towards the start or the end position

; If the printer hasn't been homed, home it
if !move.axes[0].homed || !move.axes[1].homed || !move.axes[2].homed
   G28

; Adjust probe for low speed probing
M558 K0 P8 C"!e0stop" H20 F120 T300					; Z probe number - Z probe switch type - probe recovery 1s probe speed and travel speed
G31 K0 P500 X0 Y0 Z0								; Set trigger value - set offset and trigger height - Z probe number

M291 P"Insert your surfacing bit into your spindle and position it above the probe plate" R"Probing" S3 X1 Y1 Z1

; Set bit above center of probe
G91	; relative positioning

; Probe Z component
G38.2 Z{move.axes[2].userPosition - (var.ProbeThickness + 2.25)}			; seek until the probe circuit is closed Z-axis 25 mm
G0 Z{var.ZClearanceHeight}													; rapid move Z axis 5 mm

G10 P1 L{var.CoordSystem} Z{var.ProbeThickness + var.ZClearanceHeight}		; store relative probe offset for coordinates system 1

G90	; Absolute positioning

M291 P"Move to the starting X Y position for surfacing" R"Start Position" S3 X1 Y1 Z0
set var.StartX = move.axes[0].userPosition;
set var.StartY = move.axes[1].userPosition;

if var.Debug
   M118 P0 S{"StartX = " ^ var.StartX} L2
   M118 P0 S{"StartY = " ^ var.StartY} L2

M291 P"Move to the ending X Y position for surfacing" R"End Position" S3 X1 Y1 Z0
set var.EndX = move.axes[0].userPosition;
set var.EndY = move.axes[1].userPosition;

if var.Debug
   M118 P0 S{"EndX = " ^ var.EndX} L2
   M118 P0 S{"EndY = " ^ var.EndY} L2

M291 P"Are you ready to begin surfacing?" S3 X0 Y0 Z0


; Figure out which direction in Y we are going
if var.EndY < var.StartY
   set var.YDir = -1;
elif var.EndY > var.StartY
   set var.YDir = 1;
else
   set var.YDir = 0;

if var.Debug
   M118 P0 S{"YDir = " ^ var.YDir} L2


set var.YDist = {abs(var.StartY - var.EndY)};
if var.Debug
   M118 P0 S{"YDist = " ^ var.YDist} L2

; Begin surfacing loop
while true
   if var.Debug
   	M118 P0 S"Begin Layer Loop" L2;

   set var.ZDepth = {var.ZDepth - var.DepthOfCut};
   set var.YDistLeft = {var.YDist};

   ; go to the start X and Y position then down to Z Depth
   if var.Debug
   	M118 P0 S{"Move to start X" ^ var.StartX ^ ",Y" ^ var.StartY} L2
   T1
   M3 S17500 ;M42 P1 S1
   G0 X{var.StartX} Y{var.StartY}
   if var.Debug
   	M118 P0 S{"Move to start Z" ^ var.ZDepth} L2
   G1 Z{var.ZDepth}

   ; we should be at the Start X position so move to the End X position
   if var.Debug
   	M118 P0 S{"Move to X" ^ var.EndX} L2
   G1 X{var.EndX} F{var.FeedRate}
   set var.XSorE = "Start"

   while var.YDistLeft > var.StepOver
   	if var.Debug
   		M118 P0 S"Begin Y Loop" L2

   	; move in Y by StepOver
   	set var.YPos = {move.axes[1].userPosition + (var.StepOver * var.YDir)}
   	if var.Debug
   		M118 P0 S{"Move to Y" ^ var.YPos} L2
   	G1 Y{var.YPos} F{var.FeedRate}
   	set var.YDistLeft = {var.YDistLeft - var.StepOver}

   	if var.XSorE == "Start"
   		; move X to the start position
   		if var.Debug
   			M118 P0 S{"Move to X" ^ var.StartX} L2
   		G1 X{var.StartX} F{var.FeedRate}
   		set var.XSorE = "End"
   	else
   		; move X to the end position
   		if var.Debug
   			M118 P0 S{"Move to X" ^ var.EndX} L2
   		G1 X{var.EndX} F{var.FeedRate}
   		set var.XSorE = "Start"

   ; move in Y the rest of the distance left
   set var.YPos = {move.axes[1].userPosition + (var.YDistLeft * var.YDir)}
   if var.Debug
   	M118 P0 S{"Move to Y" ^ var.YPos} L2
   G1 Y{var.YPos} F{var.FeedRate}

   ; one last move in X
   if var.XSorE == "Start"
   	; move X to the start position
   	if var.Debug
   		M118 P0 S{"Move to X" ^ var.StartX} L2
   	G1 X{var.StartX} F{var.FeedRate}
   	set var.XSorE = "End"
   else
   	; move X to the end position
   	if var.Debug
   		M118 P0 S{"Move to X" ^ var.EndX} L2
   	G1 X{var.EndX} F{var.FeedRate}
   	set var.XSorE = "Start"

   G0 Z{var.ZClearanceHeight}					; get out of the way
   M400										; wait for the movement buffer to catch up
   M5 ;M42 P1 S0
   M291 P"Surface another layer?" S3 X0 Y0 Z0	; then prompt the user if they want to do another layer

sinned6915

@chimaeragh thank you. i am downloading now and will try it again.

chimaeragh

@sinned6915 Line 89 selects the tool (T1). If your spindle is set to tool 0 (T0) change it accordingly. Line 90 sends the M3 command to start the spindle.

CthulhuLabs

@sinned6915 sorry for the late reply. Have not been on this forum for a while. No I am not using a PanelDue. I am using a Pi with an HDMI touch screen monitor. As for spindle I am using a Brushless Dewalt Trim Router with the ESC replaced with an ODrive. It currently requires running commands from odrivetool on the Pi.

@chimaeragh what all did you change in your version? I just upgraded to an ODrive Pro and can finally use an ADC input to control my spindle.

chimaeragh

@cthulhulabs My DeWalt is configured as a spindle and is automated via a relay. So I can use M3 to start it and M5 to stop it. (Already modified my Vectric postprocessor for this)
I added M3 and M5 commands into the surfacing loop at line 89 and line 148 of the macro.

T1 ; selects the spindle Tool 1

M3 S17500 ; starts tool

CthulhuLabs

@chimaeragh Cool. There is a variable at the top for the spindle RPMs. Now that my spindle RPM can be controlled by the Duet I plan to add it. You should probably use that in your M3 command.

I am thinking of rewriting this Macro to only cut in one direction to give a more uniform surface finish. Basically cut from Left to Right, raise up, rapid to the next cut, lower and repeat. There would be a flag in it to change it between Left to Right and Right to Left. Might also add a flag to go from top to bottom or bottom to top.