WAM omission of arbitrary features

1

Hi All,

WAM’s gcode generation often OMITs certain features of my DXFs.

Attached is my screencap of 3 windows showing Fusion 360’s file, Adobe Illustrator’s View of it, and ncviewer.com’s interpretation of the gcode.

Also, you can see my WAM settings in screencap 2of2.

Notice how it is missing the 4 small holes (2 at top and 2 diagonal to eachother) at bottom.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Jim

CleanShot 2023-02-04 at 12.02.00@2x
CleanShot 2023-02-04 at 12.02.00@2x1920×1080 123 KB

CleanShot 2023-02-04 at 12.08.33@2x
CleanShot 2023-02-04 at 12.08.33@2x2938×1892 185 KB

2

Hi Jim,

Thanks for sharing the details of the issue and pictures! While taking a look through everything, it appears the issue is due to the auto-pierce function.

When cutting a closed circuit, WAM automatically adjusts for any circle that cannot maintain the kerf accurately. For example, cutting a closed circuit will always remove double the kerf amount from the material (approx. 1.2mm each side or 2.4mm total). When using the outside cutting path, any cicuits with a diameter of 1.1mm - 2.6mm cannot be cut to size due to this limitation - so instead, WAM will turn this circle into an auto-pierce at the center to enable the user to drill a circle to size at a later time.

Looking at the gcode visualized on NCViewer it appears that some of the circles are auto-pierced and some are omit. This could be a bug or it could be intentional, it all depends on the size of the circuits. In order for us to further investigate, we recommend sharing the Design File (DXF or SVG) here so we can take a further look and try to re-create the issue.

I hope this explanation helps make sense of the problem! For more information regarding auto-pierce, check out the link here.

3

Hi Alex,

Attached.

Thanx,

Jim
2-2,3 v18.dxf (5.7 KB)

4

Hi Jim,

Thanks for sharing this DXF File! After taking a deeper look, I discovered the following during my testing:

  • The same DXF File was used throughout all my testing (the one shared above).
  • The DXF file uses holes that are sizes 1.6mm and 2.7mm. This means WAM will automatically change the 1.6mm holes to auto-pierces when using the Outside Cut Path.
  • When using the tabs feature, the auto-pierced holes (1.6mm circles) are omit in a random fashion.
  • When using the no tabs feature, all circles are present and correct - the 1.6mm circles are successfully auto-pierced.
  • When using the manual tab feature and only placing tabs along the perimeter and internal feature (no tabs along any of the 1.6mm holes and 2.7mm holes), all circles are auto-pierced successfully

With that said, it appears the automatic tab placement is causing a bug which is telling WAM to omit the auto-pierce holes when it should not be. I will try and take a further look into this and share the feedback with the Dev. Team!

Moving forward, I recommend regenerating your cut file in WAM and when reaching step 5, the tab section, make sure to remove all tabs by clicking the no tabs feature, and then manually placing tabs along the paths you would like them on by using the manual tab feature.

At this time, it appears the combination of tabs and auto-pierce functions is causing a bug in WAM. I apologize for the issue - please let me know if the workaround mentioned above helps to resolve the issue!

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5

Alex,

I am living with this bug and getting the results I need. I ust have to check the gcode w/ ncviewer.com and often closing WAM and starting from scratch is the best solution.

I estimate I am getting gcode from WAM w/o certain holes about 40% of the time, even when following your guidance here.

Hopefully your team has a ticket for this w/ a near term fix.

Thanx again,

Jim

1 Like