Can LinuxCNC meet the needs of my growing small shop?

  • wiremonkey
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23 Sep 2020 14:53 - 23 Sep 2020 15:57 #183476 by wiremonkey
Hey folks,
I'm hoping the LinuxCNC titans on here will weigh in on this. We have very specific needs for our next upgrade and want to know if LinuxCNC is the right platform. So far, I think yes, but I'm not a strong programmer and there don't seem to be any plug an play solutions.

We are dealing with large g-code files, 1.4+million lines of code, combined with a need for autoleveling and over 160 of the same objects being carved on one large piece of wood.

Maybe using g-code ripper autolevel? But this is complicated by the fact that we're dealing with huge files! If we use subprograms, subroutines, remapping, etc, will that play nicely with an autolevel subroutine? Probekins?

The single objects are quite complicated, the surface is almost entirely made up of curves and arcs, so shrinking the code isn't really an option.



And there are a lot of them on two sheets of wood held flat on vacuum tables.



We are currently able to do this with a grbl based machine on the less complex objects using bCNC, but it only works with smaller files and the machine clearly has data starvation, stuttering when cutting, which slows things down and isn't ideal.

I just joined and the community here is great!

Thoughts?

Thanks!
T-
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Last edit: 23 Sep 2020 15:57 by wiremonkey.

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  • tommylight
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23 Sep 2020 15:44 #183484 by tommylight
Did you by any chance try the dmap2gcode by ScorchWorks ?
It does this type of stuff very nicely and it is very simple to use.
www.scorchworks.com/Dmap2gcode/dmap2gcode.html

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  • wiremonkey
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23 Sep 2020 15:53 #183487 by wiremonkey
Hmmmm, I hadn't realized Scorch had another autoleveling option. Once I get the machine up, I'll give it go.
Thanks again!
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  • rodw
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23 Sep 2020 20:29 #183511 by rodw
I don't think there is any reason fro Linuxcnc not to be able to handle the Gcode. The screen display preview might not. I don't know.

I think if I had this auto level problem, I would try and map the surface in a grid and use a custom component that read the current X & Y position and then calculated the Z external offset to apply in real time so there was no gcode used at all.

But if your router base is level, why can't you take an initial levelling pass over each disc with your router?

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  • wiremonkey
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23 Sep 2020 22:54 #183526 by wiremonkey
Thanks for weighing in.
The material is 1/8" thick wood and tolerance is less than 0.1mm. even with a perfectly flat vac table, which we have, the variations in stock thickness make enough of a difference. We also do engraving, which is even less forgiving.
It shouldn't be a tall order to make this happen: autolevel a surface and apply to said g-code file. What makes it challenging is the large file sizes involved.
I admit that I'm seeking perfection.

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