Bit .124, but kurf .149? What's up?

I have been running my xcarve 1000 with a dewalt 611 for the last two years. I am on my second set of brushes and I am using an upgraded collet. I had been mostly doing signs, but now I have been working on joinery and my parts are not the right sizes. I have reset everything per other discussions and with the ruler test, I am spot on over 30 inches.

When I cut a two inch square, I get a 1.96 square. I changed the bit and same answer. I measured the bit kurf and it is 0.135 for a 0.124 bit. I changed my bit diameter setting and through trial and error, I have found that a setting of 0.149 inch for the bit results in a two inch square cut.

Is this normal?

Perhaps experiencing runout(wobble) on your spindle?

I just did a project using the adjusted larger bit size and it is perfect in both directions.

Makes me wonder if something within the 611 can cause the wobble.

I am going to try the un-upgraded collet and the 1/4 inch one to see if this is consistant.

Thanks for the input. One trick I learned as part of this journey is that I can fine tune my joinery fit by changing the bit size. I am designing and cutting all in Easel so I don’t have all the tools that others have to adjust the cutting layers.

@PhilJohnson has a bit size calculator that will help better dial in on the adjusted bit size to use. I forget where it is but a quick search or look on his website will find it. It’s helped me to get within a few thousands on dimension critical cuts.

1 Like