Thermwood Software and DXF Export Decimal Places

[Jason Wilson]

Hello,

We have been doing extensive research into an on going issue that we have been experiencing with Arc to Line Compensation Errors on the router.
We will have parts that have arcs that will post an error mid cut and just stop the operation dead.
There is no way around it but to stop cutting and either skip the part and re-cut it later or to have CAD redesign it.

After talking with Thermwood and Rhino about this issue the information we are getting has to do with the amount of precision and amount of Decimal places used between DXF and Thermwood.

Apparently DXF files go out to the 13th decimal place as where Thermwood rounds off at 4 therefore causing discrepancies when the router is rounding numbers.

The DXF precision cannot be adjusted in order to keep the flow of our design but what we are wondering is if anyone else is experiencing these same issues and

Is there a way to adjust Thermwood software to be more precise out the 13 decimal places to match the DXF export file ?


Any help pr information would be greatly appreciated

Thank you
Jason W.

[Daniel Vonderheide]

Jason,

There currently is no way to change the precision on the Thermwood control. Can you please provide me with the company name and the THM software version that you are currently running? If you could email me an export from your machine along with a dxf file that you have seen this with it would help in the process. Thank you.

[Will Williamson]

I've had this same problem on many occasions, but not recently. The solution was to use a shorter file name. In my case my file name had 26 digits or more I reduced it to 12 to 16 digits

[Jason Wilson]

Hello,

Will,
I am pretty positive that it isnt the name, it has happened with all lengths of names.
But thanks for the idea.

Daniel,
No offense but I have been going back and forth with Thermwood about this issue for about 4 months and have sent dozens of exports, CNC and DXF files with no resolution.
I have dealt with at least 4 of your techs, including you at some point or another and noone had any clue as to what the do to remedy the situation.

The issue I am referring to is the fact that Therwoods Software is rounding off the DXF file at .0000 places which in certain situations will cause an error and stop cutting all together.

Our CAD software is precise to the 13th decimal place.

So we have taken this issue to the software development firm that is responsible for Rhino. The CAD Modeling software that we use and he was able to grasp the matter.
He had us send him some key pieces of information, which we did this morning and he is going to work with his people to see if it is possible to add an option to dial down the precision but it may not be possible.

But throughout this process over the past few days we were able to analyze the data based on this theory and have discovered a pattern in this error.
The Thermwood software is in fact rounding numbers up or down where lines meet arcs causing a break in which confuses the router and will stop the operation.
it is usually in a group of 4 coordinates where the router has changed one of them up or down by .0001
This difference is enough to throw the whole operation off.

I have discovered a way to Work Around this Error on the Fly but you have to know what to look for.

If you can pinpoint the difference in the code from the prior and following "i" coordinates

You can simply use TAB, change the "i" Coordinate number to match the others, hit ENTER, then START and it should continue on just fine.

it seems to work in our testing of this theory today.

But the true problem still exists and we are in need of a more permanent solution

Thanks
JMW

[Will Williamson]

What you describe appears to happen with my Auto Cad DXF files also and yes I have gone in changed the code slightly and got the machine to continue. Stalls when it gets to the arc. What is crazy is that you can run a file, it will run OK, then when you regenerate that same file it will have the error. Yes enough to drive you crazy.
When this happen you go Hey is it time to go home yet.

[Daniel Vonderheide]

Jason,

I apologize for the inconvienence but anytime we have any issue reported to us we will ask for the latest files to make sure we have all of the information up to date when we try to resolve the issue.

[Jason Wilson]

Oh yeah Will,
Trust me, I can sympathize.

Very, very frustrating and a huge waste of time for sure.

But the next time this happens try the work around I mentioned above.

I tested it again this morning and it was able to get us through the cut.

It wont work every time you have this error if it is some weirdly shaped part but it can work.


Thanks