This is meant to be used along with the following Artisan CNC mod: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6586754
This script will take a luban generated CNC G-code file and modify it in the following 2 ways:
1: Will remove all M5 and M05 lines disabling the spindle from starting
2: Will grab a portion of the beginning lines of code for each shape and append it to the end in order to completely close the design. Since CNC G-code accounts for the width of a bit to complete a shape, it often cuts short of a completed shape.
However if you are using the cnc in, such as in this case; as a plotter or knife cutter, the point of these are often too thin and wont completely cut out a shape unless you add extra steps at the end.
Create a tool with the following parameters:
Create a toolpath for each shape with the following parameters:
Jog height must be set to 5mm the following script uses that number to reference the beginning of the gcode shapes.
If you need multiple passes lower the step down by a fraction of the amount of passses you need. For example if target depth is set to 1mm, two paases would be .5mm, 3 passes would be .33mm etc.
Open the GCODE_Cricut script in a terminal. On a mac simply drag and drop.
Please enter the file name: Enter the complete path of your luban exported cnc file.
Offset in mm (default is 6): this is the amount of overlap you would like the shape line to have (in order to completely cut out a shape)
Once you press enter it will read every line and perform the required operations. It will export a modified gcode file in the same path as the original file.
Send this file to the snapmaker artisan and continue as you usually would with a cnc job. With the following exception:
1: After setting the work coordinates and the tip of your knife or pen touches the surface, lower the z axix by 2mm. This is to ensure that differences in bed leveling dont affect the cut/plot.