Changing Bits during carving, but the xy set point not lining up

X-Carve Pro
1

I’m a newbie, so please bear with me. I’m working on a simple design (so I thought), but it requires that I change the bit for the detailed parts of the carve.

I watched several videos that said when I set the xy axis for the first bit, the second bit I should use ‘use last setting’, which I did. However when it went to carve it was off by 1/8". This is the second time this has happened. I know it’s user error, but does anyone have any advice on what I should do differently, or any other videos or instructions on how to get the second pass to line up with the first?

Thanks in advance.

Denise Gibson

:grinning:

2

Sounds to me like you may be loosing steps on the first carve. When you are done with the first carve does the bit come back to the exact place it started?

1 Like
3

I wonder if you moved your router during the bit change? You can set the dip switches on the board to lock in in really tight by turning off the 4th dip switch on each axis.

2 Likes
4

Most likely the spindle moved during your bit change. You can follow this procedure to enable torque locking which will make the stepper motors hold position properly while you perform the bit change.

2 Likes
5

Also, you can check your GRBL settings to ensure $1=255. This will force GRBL to send the appropriate signal to the drivers to supply full holding current to the stepper motors during IDLE (as long as the dip switches mentioned above are set correctly).

When both of these things are set correctly, you should be able to easily change bits without moving the machine.

{:0)

Brandon Parker

1 Like
6

I feel like most of these answers are for the normal XCarve, not the XCarve Pro. @DonaldGibson I assume you asked this on the XCP forum because that is what you are using?

I don’t have an answer for you, though, I haven’t had my XCP long enough to try a bit change.

7

Indeed, the $1 setting should still be relevant I’m pretty sure.

{:0)

Brandon Parker

8

Good point, i didn’t notice that :man_facepalming:

Either way the $1=255 setting should be verified :+1:

9

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.