Gerber Sabre 408 issue

[Stefan]

Hi all,

I have an issue with our Gerber 408 router and ARTpath (version 2.6.0.17).
The issue is that the router doesn't seem to accept the "Z Lift" option in the Job Output window. Default value in that window is ~6 something, and no matter what I type in there, the router won't lift the spindle any higher than default.

This is what the help section says:
"The lift height range is 0 to 12 inches (0 to 30.48 cm). We recommend that you type a Z Lift height in the text box 0.25 inches (.64 cm) above the thickness of the material. For example, setting the Z Lift height to 2.25 inches raises the tool 0.25 above a 2-inch thick material. This results in the minimum lift height to clear the material (which saves time) while avoiding tool or design damage."

Any idea what I'm doing wrong here?

 

[chadorama]

Your lift is set at 10"... You have 4 available... Why would you want it that high anyway? The most I would ever use in that box is 1"...

 

[Eric H]

You don't need to add material thickness to z height if you set it at a .25" it goes .25" above the material. Are you new to machine did it work before? I did use one before that stayed at .25" and I couldn't change it, never figured out why.

 

[Stefan]

Thanks for your replies. I'm not new to this, we've had the machine for about 8 years or so. For this special scenario, it's because of a template we made that holds another material in place, with screws and things sticking up above the surface of the actual material that needs to be machined, so it was actually the first time we had to consider this setting. Unfortunately, no matter what value I put in, it still only raises the tool to the default value. So even though I put 10 in the example above, it still won't lift the tool any higher than the default value of 6 (?), that's the reason I asked about this.

 

[Auronotcs]

I've got a couple of theories on what is going on. Are you using the table as your surface reference or are you using your material as a surface reference? I see you're cutting material in the range of 1.35 inches or so. Depending on how you have your spoil board and vac table set up, you could be pushing the maximum Z height already. What is your tool stickout?

 

[Stefan]

Could you just lie to it?
Tell the machine you are cutting something 4.5" deep, even though it is .5" thick, single pass. This should trick the router into retracting 4"+ the default height. Kinda sloppy, but it ought to work...

Yes that should work as a workaround for this.

I guess the feature mentioned in my first post must be bugged, or that I simply don't understand what it is supposed to do.