Hi, I did my first cut with Goliath to days. I’m really impressed by the machine! I worked well, the noise level was lower than I expected and it’s really nice that there was no sawdust left on the board!
But I see the Slingshot software is still quite limited and has a some bugs. Right now I can’t Goliath for many of my CNC projects because of this. Can you please tell some more about the plans and the development process of Slingshot? (features your going to implement in near future, when are next version coming etc., what are the limitations in the svg import etc.)
One bug that’s already mentioned is the closed path bug. It seems like Slingshot doesn’t like that the first line segment has the same coordinates as the starting point (<path d="M1220.4610176,-870.3169556 L1220.4610176,-870.3169556…). And Slingshot had problems understanding bezier curves I made in Inkskape, so I gave up using bezier curves.
Other features I’m missing:
Reuse the same shape for multiple cuts, eg. with to different bits like upcut and downcut or v-cut)
Start a cut lower than on surface of the board so I can use both upcut and downcut bit when I mill in plywood
Continue on next cutting operation without having to restart Goliath and Slingshot and do the panel detection again
Cut out just some of the shapes in the drawing
Mark shapes in the drawing that’s already cut out, so Goliath can avoid the holes in the plate
Make full depth pockets (why is this not allowed?)
Adjust z0 after calibration, so it’s possible to calibrate against a sheet of metal or hard plastic on top of the board
As I wrote here it seems like it’s just quadratic bezier curves that Slingshot don’t understand. Cubic bezier curves worked fine in Slingshot when i tried. (here is more info about the Bezier curves in svg files)
Be able to generate cutting paths without being connected to the machine, in order to check if the paths are possible. Right now I have to wait untill the machine is done, which is a huge hassle.
+1 for the cutting out some parts. Especially if you have a lost connection to a tower, it would be so useful to mark certain parts as already being cut!
+1 on the “continue next cutting operation”
The error state recovery of the goliath + slingshot is a bit spotty, I have to restart the machine quite often. If that would be reduced a bit I would greatly appreciate it.
We confirm that we have fixed the open path and the quadratic curve bug, and you will see improvements as early as the next SW release at the end of August.
Regarding full depth pockets, what do you mean specifically? Why do you wish to carry out this type of machining?
About all other issues we are working to solve them and they have already been taken into consideration by technical theme for future releases as well as your suggestions to increase Slinsgshot features.
It’s nice that you have fixed the bugs i mentioned and are improving the Slingshot software!
Full depth pockets is nice when you make relatively small holes and you don’t want to bother with the tabs. I tried to make circular holes with 15mm in diameter, and Slingshot didn’t allow me do that with pockets. And it was neither possible to place a tab on the small circle. I found out later that I could first make the circle bigger, place a tab and then make it smaller again, but I would prefer making a pocket instead.
If I reduce the depth with 0,1mm I get a Yes/No option in the warning message box instead of only the “Ok” button I got with full depth, and if I press “No” I’m allowed to make the cut. So this is kind of a work around. It would be nice with a question like “Do you want to continue?”, making the Yes/No buttons more understandable.
Is it possible to remove tabs? I found out I can undo by pressing ctrl + z, but I havn’t found a way to remove tabs I have place earlier.
And when I cut at full depth the cut is approx 1mm deeper then the board. Is this due to calibration error or is it defined that it should cut 1mm extra?