It might be related to the grain in the wood. The hardness of the wood changes as the cutter passes the grain lines. The machine may not be rigid enough to overcome the cutter deflection as it goes across the grain.
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With a ballnose, for a nice smooth finish, you may have to decrease the stepover to get rid of the lines. What stepover did you use?
Also, very nice!
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Step over: 10% (.375mm)
*Feed Rate: 4392.1mm/min (173 in/min)
*I realized that RPM should have been at #6 but still was at #1 from the rough cut - oops.
Depth of cut: 0.7mm (machining allowance from rough pass)
*climb cut
(*Feeds and speeds calculated by GW)
I have been a little hesitant with the feed and speeds numbers that GW has been coming up with but have been getting good results so far. Other than the ripple issue of course. My results have been pretty good. And much improved from some of the random numbers I was throwing at the XC.
Using the Dewalt router? I usually do my finishing passes with a ballnose at 1.5 or 2 on the speed dial. And for feedrate usually about 120 IPM, I’ve never gone that fast with mine. In oak, I would go even slower about 85ipm for a smoother finish.
This is just me and my settings.
Yeah that was more in line to what I was running before but I have been running test with the GW calculator and scanning CNC cookbook.
And these are the more conservative numbers. 
Example: at the most aggressive, GW says I “should” be able to run my 1/4" endmill, 24"deep at max feed (5000mm/min 196inch/min). 
(Though it does want a slower RPM that the dewalt can do.)
Maybe I am pushing the machine too much.
But the rest of the carve comes out great. If the whole carve was affected I would not think twice and just adjust the numbers.
This is so dam subtle, and it is not happening in the more challenging areas of the carve. (Where the depth is a bit deeper because the roughing bit could not clear it, or a knot hole, etc.)
This ripple seems to happen in the smoother areas (consistent thickness) and if anything in the areas of softer wood. 
Ultimately the answer may be “cut slower” but even so I would like to know what causing this. I was hoping someone would see it recognize what was causing it:
“Oh yeah you got your (blank) set way too high”, etc.
Oh well. The best way to learn is to keep doing!
I get the same ripples when I go too fast. I had a belt that got caught by the smooth idlers once and it caused that, and damaged the belt. I ended up replacing and tightening the belt.
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Thanks for the tip. I will take a hard look at my bets and axis movement.
Yeah same thing, and in the relatively smooth are of the carve.
Brainstorming…
In the more detailed areas there is more Z movement. The Z axis plunge speed is significantly slower so could it be slowing down the whole cut? Reducing the average feed speed in that area?
The areas on mine that are affected are spots where the is little to no z movement, so max feed speed?
They also seem to happen in corners of the spiral pattern.
Maybe the change in direction is loading the bit more?
So things for me to try,
do a control carve,
carve one with raster rather than spiral pattern.
carve one at 90% feed speed.
Worth a shot.
That dragon is sweet. Can you share the STL or is it a paid deal?
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wow, spectacular.
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Can someone make a tutorial on how to make a 2.5D carve? I can’t seem to find a good tutorial anywhere and a dragon would be a great starter project!
Btw, they both look amazing!
What software do you use?
VCarve pro
The shield is part of the clipart that came with the program
The dragon I purchased in stl format from 3d model club.
Do you mean 3D carve?
2.5D is the kind of carving Easel does.
If you are looking to just setup 3D carve Vectric has a lot of good tutorial videos even if you don’t use their software. So does Design and Make.
If you want to sculpt your own 3D models I am looking to learn how to do that myself.
I can do basic modelling with Sketchup, nothing more complex than that really. I’m looking for a walk through with what software to use for loading the model and exporting to the xcarve.