Troubleshooting

CauseThe bit sits too high in the collet, so the head has to go very low to reach the copper. The mill's Z ends at −55 mm in machine coordinates; the through-cuts of the drill and the cut-out go 1.7 mm below the surface and keep hitting that end.

FixWith the bit on the copper, machine Z must stay above −50. Check it by switching VPanel's coordinates from G54 to Machine, or read the Z in SRM-CAM's bottom bar, which always shows machine Z. Too low: loosen the collet and refit the bit so it sticks out further, then zero Z again (back on G54).

CauseVPanel lists the files alphabetically, so _cutout.nc lands above _drill.nc and _traces.nc, and VPanel runs the list from the top. Everything after the cut-out is machined on a board held by four 1.5 mm tabs.

FixAfter Cut › Add, look at the list before Output: move the cut-out to the bottom with the arrows. The list must start with the drill or the traces (the lab prefers the drill first), never the cut-out. The dry run, if you add it, goes at the very top.

CauseZ was set with VPanel on Machine or User. The exported files are NC code and move in G54, so they run from whatever G54 zero the last person left. Machine's origin cannot be moved at all; User is the RML origin, which NC files ignore.

FixSwitch VPanel's coordinate list to G54, lower until SRM-CAM reads Touch, and press Set Origin Point › Z. Leave X and Y at the machine origin. See Zero Z on the copper.

CauseThe copper foil is 0.035 mm and the cut 0.15 mm deep, while a clamped sheet bows by about 0.13 mm. Where the sheet dips, a flat cut never gets through the foil.

FixLevel the bed: jog to the first marked point, set the final Z zero there, then Probe over the link; the finished probe switches on Warp the exported cut to this surface. Spots missed on a board already cut: rework them.

CauseTwo nets sit closer than the 0.8 mm bit. The cutter physically cannot pass between them, so the gap stays copper whatever the depth.

FixBest: more clearance in KiCad (Board Setup › Net Classes, at least 0.8 mm) or a narrower bit. If the design can't change: Interface › Pro, then Isolation traces › Cutting parameters and tick Cut gaps too narrow for the bit, which trims both pads.

CauseA hair or strand of copper the mill didn't clear, lying across a channel. Burrs from the cut and the sanding do the same.

FixInspect the board closely after sanding, and check with a multimeter on continuity: every connection you want beeps, and no two nets beep. Scrape a strand out along the channel with a knife; a real uncut gap needs rework.

CauseThe sheet springs under the bit. The light probe touch measures it floating; the cutter pushes it down.

FixPress on the copper there. If it gives, tape it down under the board area. Then recut in boxes at the check, or use Start at.

CauseVPanel's command set is not NC Code. The machine holds in pause with its error light up.

FixIn VPanel: Setup › Command Set › NC Code, then press Cancel to clear it.

CauseSomeone set a G54 X/Y origin in VPanel. Nothing has been cut: the run checks this first.

FixIn VPanel, set G54 X/Y back to machine 0, 0: in Machine Coordinate System move to X 0, Y 0, then set the G54 X/Y origin there.

CauseThe board isn't on the stock outline, or it doesn't fit with 3 mm margins.

FixCheck the W and H you typed. Drag the board onto the outline, or use a bigger piece.

CauseThe clip is off the copper, or it, its wire or the bit is touching something it shouldn't. In the bracket, it can also mean the stock isn't in the corner the page says.

FixCheck the clip and the wire. Check that the bracket drawn on the bed is in the holes the real one is screwed into, see The bracket.

CauseThe jog pad and arrow keys don't lift, so a sideways step would drag the bit through the copper.

FixPage Up, then jog.

CauseArrow keys on the jog pad isn't lit. It goes off by itself on STOP, on disconnect and when a run starts.

FixLight it again. In a box being typed in, the arrows stay with the box.

CauseThe extra depth for a board held at points: a quarter of the arch the map shows, capped. With the warp off, the whole range is charged.

FixMake sure the map is applied. If it is still too much, untick Work the extra depth out from the probe map and set Cut deeper by yourself, on Set up the job › The copper. See Holding the copper.

CauseVPanel's command set does not match the file (.nc needs NC Code, .rml needs RML-1), or a coordinate is outside the machine's travel.

FixSet the command set in VPanel's Setup dialog. For travel, the Off the bed check names the cause; move the job fully onto the bed.

CauseThe job is not where the copper is: the sheet's corner on the stage is wrong, or the board was placed off the sheet.

FixStop it: nothing has been cut. Find the copper's corner with the probe and press Set up the job › The copper › Set the corner from the tool, then place the board on the sheet (Centre it on the copper) and export again. Never move the XY origin in VPanel instead.

CauseA new bit sticks out by a different amount, so the old Z zero is wrong for it.

FixRe-zero Z after every bit change and after the flip, with VPanel on G54, and check the machine Z is still above −50. Never re-zero X or Y. The lab's one-bit profile has no bit change at all.

CauseThe Arduino IDE's Serial Monitor holds the port, the wrong port is picked, or the cable was replugged.

FixClose the Serial Monitor; pick the right port; replug and Machine › Rescan the serial ports. Only one program can hold the port.

CauseThey were outside the machine's travel.

FixThe grid is clipped to the reachable copper when it is built; if points still fail, the job itself is off the bed: see the checks.

CauseThe clip is off the copper, the copper is dirty or oxidised where the bit lands, or the bit started too high above it.

FixReseat the red clip on the copper (it is the only wire: the bit is wired inside the machine), clean the copper, and start the bit a couple of millimetres above the surface.

CauseA flaky contact.

FixClean the copper and reseat the clip, then probe the failed points again.

CauseBoth touches descend from where the bit is, so they cannot start on the copper.

FixRaise it a few millimetres with Page Up, then try again.

CauseThe grid is measured from where the tool is standing, so the position readout has to be alive first.

FixGive it a moment after connecting, and try again.

CauseA flaky touch at that point.

FixClear that row and probe it again.

CauseSTOP drops the move in flight and stops the spindle; the bit stays where it is.

FixRaise the bit with Page Up before the next move.

CauseThe machine link runs on Windows only.

FixExport on Linux and send the files from a Windows PC. Your own laptop at the mill works for the link and for VPanel only if it runs Windows.

CauseOverlapping boards are one shape and cannot be cut apart.

FixMove one, or Set up the job › Where it sits on the bed › Lay them side by side (4 mm apart) or Butt them together (one shared cut).

CauseIts edge is on the sheet's edge, so there is nothing to cut there.

FixIf that is wrong, set the sheet's real size and corner on Set up the job › The copper.

CauseThe sheet ends before the travel does, or the boards plus a gap are wider than the sheet.

FixMove the sheet, butt the boards, or cut them one after the other.

CauseThe board was turned the other way than the plan expects. A fiducial fit cannot catch this.

FixBefore cutting the top, select the top step and jog to a distinctive board hole to check. See Double-sided boards.

CauseThe measured board is too far from where the plan put it.

FixRe-seat the board and probe again; Find it for me is repeatable. The files are not written under a bad fit without asking.

CauseThe Gerber folder moved, or the file is from the first interface with something this one cannot read. It says what.

FixCheck the job before you cut; point it at the folder again.

CauseThey live in your Documents.

FixDocuments\SRM-CAM\exports and …\sessions; File › Open the export folder opens it. Dialogs reopen the last folder used.

CauseA startup failure, often the graphics driver.

FixRead Documents\SRM-CAM\gui2.log. On Linux without a GPU driver, run with GERBER2RML_GL=software.