Alphacam

[SR203]

I have had an issue where on shared cuts, sometimes the piece will come up short even though it was definitely programmed correctly. To be clear, I am talking about when i have 2 pieces nested together and I want to make one cut between them instead of two so we are not making double cuts for no reason, one of the pieces is not the right size. An example would be tonight, I cut some strips that had to be 3". When all was said and done and I measeured everything out some were 2.875. What am I doing wrong? I am also having a big problem when I have a lot of cuts and manually change a few, it will change other cuts on the slab that shouldnt have changed. Very strange and frustrating. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Demetri]

Have you checked to make sure your saw is calibrated?

[Todd Luster]

When your using shared cuts it's important to make sure your pivot distance is setup correctly and your blade thickness is correct.
This setting would be necessary to check when you change a blade if the blade thickness is different.
There is also a Northwood user room where these topics have been discussed and you can find how to do this.

As far as editing cuts and it changing others, I've never heard of this.
I edit a lot of saw operations on my FabCenter.

If you'd like, you can send me a program where these issues occurred and I can look at it.

[SR203]

Yes saw is calibrated. Only about a month old and I have defintely offset the distance correctly when nesting pieces. I will try to send tomorrow. Thanks!

[Todd Luster]

What machine is this?
The pivot distance is actually a setting in AlphaCam in your saw settings. It's different from the spacing between pieces while programming.
I've attached link to thread

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=9829&p=101679&hili ... ce#p101679

[SR203]

Thanks for the link todd. I tried clicking on it but it says im not authorized for the forum. Can you repost?

[Todd Luster]

IMG_7913.PNG (267.7KiB)Viewed 945 times

There is the post from the thread explaining it.

Send request to Join the room and they will give accessories

[Alex DiPietro]

Jason,

I have you crashed the machine at all? If your tilting axis goes out even very slightly you can have issues. Easy way to test is to draw a square. Any size it doesn't matter. Make all the cuts and make sure the motor is either always on the outside or always on the right side. The motor has to rotate with every cut. Then measure. If it measures right it may be software. If it measures off your axis may be off. It shouldn't be hard to zero out.

If this is a new problem, it's probably the axis...

I could most likely help you do it if sasso gives you the instructions. Do you have a dial indicator? It's an important thing to know how to do.

[Alex DiPietro]

Yes saw is calibrated. Only about a month old and I have defintely offset the distance correctly when nesting pieces. I will try to send tomorrow. Thanks!
[

Wait, do you have to nest pieces by offseting blade thickness manually in alphacam!?!

[oatesgranite]

You do have to account for blade kerf when programming. Say you need multiple 3" strips draw a box the size you need say 3" x 96", and then offset the line as geometry 3.15 and make sure the tool directions are on the outside, hit the go button and it should cut perfect 3" pieces. Our normal granite cutting blade makes a kerf that is .151 so that is the number we use. If you want to common line cut you need to leave that distance between parts and remove the cut toolpath from one line with the single line attribute button.

[Alex DiPietro]

You do have to account for blade kerf when programming. Say you need multiple 3" strips draw a box the size you need say 3" x 96", and then offset the line as geometry 3.15 and make sure the tool directions are on the outside, hit the go button and it should cut perfect 3" pieces. Our normal granite cutting blade makes a kerf that is .151 so that is the number we use. If you want to common line cut you need to leave that distance between parts and remove the cut toolpath from one line with the single line attribute button.
[

Let me get this straight... Everyone here that has a fusion, or a NW saw jet, or a Sasso running alpha cam has to offset every piece of geometry the blade kerf? And when nesting parts next to each other you have to manually offset the thickness of the blade? This isn't done automatically?

[Todd Luster]

Correct on my NW FabCenter.

[Dave.Scott]

For our Fusions, there is a "join" function that sets the pieces for common line cutting that includes the blade kerf from your last calibration.

[oatesgranite]

As far as i know that is it on say just offsetting lines. How can the software decide what side of the line to offset for the blade and a single unjoined, unconnected line. With the geometry there should be a way in the latest software but it takes less than five minutes to program most slabs manually changing either way. Some slabs are programmed with one button in just a few seconds depending on the nest. Also Slabsmith has settings to common-line cut and account for the blade kerf as well but we usually don't use that function.

[PSPR_Premier]

we were also having this problem on our Fab center, but it was with back splash heights. ive tried to pay close attention to tool direction or in this case reversing cut path. make sure all cuts on things like that with lower tolerances are the same direction. On a big island I don't care if I'm .047 off from my desired measurement, but on backsplash and small strips I need them to be accurate.

check that cut direction, set a sample piece and try it. ( I usually run my cuts right to left if I'm able to)
I'm pretty sure that's your problem as you're .125 shy of your desired 3.the blade traveling on the top side of the first cut, then the bottom side of the next, if that makes any sense. Your blade is set up to cut on one side of the desired line, if its cutting on the top of the top and the top of the bottom you're going to lose .125 leaving you 2.875.... set all cuts the same direction on pieces that HAVE TO BE the same. hope that helps
This will make your cuts .125 short

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This is how I do it to be sure all are the same height

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