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New CNCUSB Phlatprinter Settings

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting and Build Support' started by kram242, Sep 10, 2011.

  1. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Hey guyz, :D
    We have been working on new settings for the Phlatprinter 3 /CNCUSB software.

    Main areas of interest:
    -We have gone back to micro stepping on all axis as well as other little tweaks and are getting much better results on our cuts and over all accuracy.
    -You will notice now that you can hold the right Shift in combination with your jog keys and it will step jog at 1/64" to make setting your zero start point a little easier.
    -There is also a faster jog speed then in previous settings.
    -You will also notice the accelerations have changed for the axis.
    -Shiny new skin with high contrast view


    ____________________________________________________________________________________________

    If this is the first time you are adding this new settings file. be sure to change your driver card to micro stepping as shown below.

    How to change your settings Instructions:
    STEP 1:
    Turn the power to the card off and set all the dip switch settings to the on position (1/8th micro stepping)





    STEP 2:
    Download this Settings file below and save it to your computer.
    Place the CNCUSBController.setting file in your C:program FilesCNC USB Controller folder
    overwriting the existing one.

    At this point you will want to re-calibrate all three of your axis under the settings, then you should be good to go


    ____________________________________________________________________________________________


    SPIRAL TEST FILE

    Here is a good test file to use with your Phlatprinter 3 Sharpie Attachment to test your X/Y calibration

    Be sure to set a dot at your starting zero point so that you can see where your machine ends at.













    CIRCLE TEST FILE

    Here is a good file to test your circles and calibrate how much backlash to add to round them out the best they can be. (Thanks to Glen [Evil-Tunes] for this one!)




    Note: If your circles are out of round after calibration, first thing to be sure that you check that your pulley on the X or Y stepper is not loose. sometimes the set screws want to work their way out and allow the pulley to move back and forth. Remember it only takes a little play in these pulleys to be off to be sure that your machine is sound and the stepper shaft and pulley are one. You want to be sure there is no play there.


    Hope this helps, Have fun!
    :doubleup:
    Remember these are settings we have found that seem to work well for us but, please feel free to experiment and post your settings here as well so that all can benefit from this community knowledge base.

    Thank you
    Mark and Trish Attached files CNCUSBController.setting (30.5 KB)Â 132.JPG">[​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] Glen test circle.cnc (216.1 KB)Â [​IMG] [​IMG] Sprial.skp (1.1 MB)Â Sprial_Black_Offset_TEST.cnc (236.6 KB)Â Sprial_Black_X_TEST.cnc (143.8 KB)Â Sprial_Black_Y_TEST.cnc (176 KB)Â [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  2. SilverFox

    SilverFox Member

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    Nice work guys! Is this also related to the CNCUSB software update and Firmware update that I saw today? I was not sure if I needed to recal and test backlash after a firmware update, but I did anyways. Would that be common practice after those updates?

    I'll be doing some more cuts tomorrow, I'll try out the new settings.

    Thanks for the hard work.
     
  3. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Hi SilverFox
    No not related to the new cncusb release, just good timing :D
    So it would not be common practice to see this change with ever cncusb update.
    Thank you for the kind words SilverFox
    Mark and Trish
     
  4. thunder hawk

    thunder hawk Member

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    The way to get around the settings file not saving is to change the name
    of the new downloaded file cncusb Phlatprinter 3 settings_2.setting
    to CNCUSBController.setting do this on your desktop or another folder

    Delete the CNCUSBController.setting, and the CNCUSBController.setting.bak

    files in the CNC USB Controller
    folder.

    Copy the renamed CNCUSBController.setting file into the CNC USB Controller folder.

    When you run the software the new settings will show up like they should.

    Hope this helps.
    George :D
     
  5. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Good tip George! Thank you :good:
    Mark and Trish
    P.S. I talked to Planet-CNC about this and they are looking into it as well.
     
  6. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Anybody having any issues loading the new settings files?
    If you have any error messages could you please post them to this thread
    viewtopic.php?f=253&t=3074&start=0
    so that the Planet-CNC Boyz will see them quicker.
    Thanks guyz
    Mark and Trish
     
  7. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Hey Boyz, talked with planet-cnc and they are going to fix this soon! :good:
    Thanks guyz
    Mark and Trish
     
  8. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Ok guyz I have gone back and re worked the settings file again :dance3:
    This time I fixed a check box for running scripts that I had checked and may have been causing problems.
    I also added one of the skins as well as set the viewer colors to a high contrast :doubleup:
    I must say I really like the way it turned out. :)

    New instructions
    Place the CNCUSBController.setting file (in the first post) in your
    C:program FilesCNC USB Controller folder overwriting the existing one.
    Until Planet-CNC gets the import settings bug worked out.
    Next time you start CNCUSB you will see the changes
    Hope you like it :D
    Mark and Trish
     
  9. hawk flyer

    hawk flyer Member

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    Wow! my first tests after this new setting look great. My bit is returning to its exact zero every time!!!! I have never had this happen before. My only issue is the new version of cnc usb will not accept my license?

    Great Job Guyz!!!!
    Eric
     
  10. Kroko

    Kroko Member

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    New beta is published. Issues with saving settings should be fixed.
    I've also did some changes on jogging. It should work better now.
    It helps to have Phlatprinter in my workshop.
     
  11. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Thank you kroko! the new release is awesome :D
    Congratulations on completing your build! Hope you have a lot of fun with the Phlatprinter :doubleup:
    One little bug I have noticed with it, is that since we now use a skin for these latest settings, cncusb always starts up in a window instead of full screen reguardless of the way we exit.
    Have you loaded the new settings with your machine and hows it running?
    Mark and Trish
     
  12. vicentel

    vicentel Member

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    Thanks for the update guyz. I finally got around to applying the new settings! I was reluctant at first because my MKIII was cutting so well and reliably...I figured "don't fix what ain't broke". But against my better judgement I decided to apply them anyway, I mean the new setting are better right? Oh, and since there was a new software update to the CNCUSB controller I decided to updated that as well. Man-o-man, when I jump in it is always head first! Too many thing changing at once. Anyway, I couldn't get the software to recognize the hardware, then there was a tremendous drift on my x-axis, then when I finally got cutting the circles were not circular . After all this I manage to fix everything that was wrong thanks to all the posts on this forum and I got to know my MKIII a little better. All is good now...actually better than before :dance3: Thanks Guyz.

    Vic
     
  13. PCPhill

    PCPhill New Member

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    I just finished my PPIII (seems to be working fine!) and got to the calibration step where things headed south on me.

    I loaded the settings from the support disk and the calibration wasn't even close. X and Z axi were 1/2 what they should have been. On a simulated cut x stepper sounded horrible and missed half the steps.

    I dug in and found that all the speeds were set to 500 ipm and cut them way down which tamed the x axis.

    I know I can tweak the settings to fix all this, but I thought these were supposed to be preset to ballpark, but mine obviously aren't. Is this download more recent than the file on the support disk?

    Should I also change the settings on my driver board to match? I don't know which setting are more current. Have the build videos been updated since this post, or is this the current best setup?

    Thanks for any help!
     
  14. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Hi Phill,
    Congrats on the completion of the build! :doubleup:
    To answer your question
    It sounds like you need to look at the pics above and make sure your switches are set in the right step mode for each of the axis. The speeds should be set around 200 ipm for travels and around (experiment) 80 to 100 for 1/4" foam cutting depending on how nice of a cut you want.
    Hope this helps get your machine running smooth for you.
    Mark and Trish
     
  15. PCPhill

    PCPhill New Member

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    Thanks! I wasn't sure if the kits went out with newer settings than these. The date on the posts were a year older than my kit and I wasn't sure if the kits had been updated since then.

    Tonight, first cuts :D

    Update: Everything playing nice now, thanks! Cut out the support table without a hitch :dance3:
     
  16. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Awesome to hear Phill :good:
    I know we should have changed the disk to the latest settings but to be honest we thought that we had them changed over.
    Sorry about that bro :)
    Mark and Trish
     

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