I have used the Center Finder option within LightBurn several times and it is a great feature for getting to the center of a circular work piece. I have tried it several times on a 3" blank that I have and on the last step to go to the center, I get the error “Cannot move to calculated center”
To try to get around this, I have turned off my soft and hard limits and that doesn’t do anything. To continue with my project, I did take the center calculation it comes up with, do a little math, and key in some g-code on the command line and and reset my XY zeros. That at least worked so I could cut my part.
Does anyone have any ideas what this could be or things to look into?
I am using the pre-release version of Mill Mage 0.9.0 R2.
It is no different than MillMage (docs link below). 3 points define a circle, and the circle has a center. You do have to perform the steps in the proper sequence, like A-B-C. A-C-B will define an entirely different circle, typically huge when I did it wrong in other software. Something like that would define a center outside the workspace.
Give us your X,Y corrdinates (from the Move window) of the three points in the same order as you do them, for the situation that gave the error message.
Give us your X,Y corrdinates (from the Move window) of the three points in the same order as you do them, for the situation that gave the error message.
Machine coordinates
A -168.12, -56.65
B -151.74, -120.65
C -108, -62.99
Working coordinates
A 129.88, 122.35
B 146.26, 58.35
C 189.65, 116.01
The coordinates I would use would be the machine size + machine coordinate = working coordinate
X 298 + (-140.80) = 157.2
Y 179 + (-83.8) = 95.2
Those coordinates put me in the center of my circle.
No, it won’t - it’s 3 points on a circle - any 3 points, in any order, as long as they are on the circle and relatively evenly spaced. (closer points work, but the measurement error is amplified)
We might have to verify this tool works in “workspace” mode instead of absolute. LightBurn would not allow jogging to negative coordinates, or reporting them, and the tool is shared between them.
We might have to verify this tool works in “workspace” mode instead of absolute. LightBurn would not allow jogging to negative coordinates, or reporting them, and the tool is shared between them.
The feature works great in LightBurn with the machines I have but they all have factory homing switching. My 3018 Pro has limit switches I added myself and I only added the limits for XY being the near left corner and Z is all the way up.
My guess is this is the issue. The numbers are all there, I just need to do my own math and key that location in. In that regard, the Center Finder is very helpful. It would just be nice it it would do the math for me.
And why would you. I didn’t just pull them out of thin air. The 289 and 179 are my working area limits. Very close to the 300 X 180 the machine actually is. I use these numbers to be safe on my limits due to poor limit switch placement.
The -140.80 and -83.80 are the numbers calculated by the Center finder. There seems to be a conflict in how machine coordinates and working coordinates are used for this feature.
It might be time to add more limit switches so I can have the upper right corner be the home location. Not sure if that will help me more than it messes with my brain.
The front left corner puts you in the first quadrant workspace. It appears your machine corrdinates are 3rd quadrant (common for CNS mills). Just remember MillMage (and Lightburn) only operate in the first quadrant (+X,+Y).
I suspected that, but I needed you to confirm it.
If you want to mess with it, try getting those machine coordinates positive with the workspace corrdinates. Personally, my recommendation is that if it is not broke, don’t break it.
