2 Stage Carve Issue

I looked through the forum but that last post about this issue was over a year ago and not really solved. I do mostly 2 stage carves and when I do the detail pass sometimes its off less than an eighth. The only thing i can think of is the spindle moving slightly when changing the bits out. About my setup:

X-Carve (purchased this year, so all the new stuff)
Use probe
Use last XY when doing second pass

I trying my hardest not to move the spindle at all and if it does move even if a little I put it back and try to ensure its in the same position as the rough pass. If anyone has an insight I would be grateful! Its very discouraging when you spend 2-3hrs on roughing then detail pass ruins it. I will snap some pictures next time.

Thanks in advance community!

  • Make sure your GRBL parameter $1=255 (Value is in milliseconds but 255= infinite, stepper driver never enter idle state or reduced power)
  • Inside your controller box you have three red switch blocks on the main PCB, set switch #4 on all three to OFF. (but the GRBL parameter above should override whatever #4 is set to)

Depending on the design and work flow, you could break the design into separate projects (Duplicate) so you can treat each stage independantly. Then you can re-home the machine between stages if you suspect misalignment during tool changes etc.

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I home and then note the X and Y offset to the corner of the workpiece and set the Z of the first bit to the top of the workpiece. The finish pass I home, apply the same X and Y offset as the first and again set the Z to the top of the workpiece.

This method has several advantages. 1) No one cares if the router moves during the bit change. 2) if I break a bit, I can replace the finish bit and start the finish pass again. 3) you can batch projects out by running 5 roughing passes on 5 workpieces and then change to finish and run the 5 finish passes on the 5 workpieces. This is faster than going back and forth between bits 5 times.

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+1 to this. I’m new to the X-carve, but so far this workflow has worked.

  • Home machine
  • Set Z Height
  • Set XY origin on material
  • Roughing Carve
  • Change bit
  • Rehome machine
  • Set Z height
  • Use previous XY origin on material
  • Do detail carve.