Cutting too freaking deep!

X-Carve
1

Argh… so frustrated. I’ve been carving simple signs for a few months on my Xcarve. Ever since the issue with Easel a few days ago nothing works right.

I had terrible problems with machine shutting down for no reason this morning. This afternoon that problem stopped with no change to equipment or anything. I know EMI is usually blamed for this, but where is this EMI coming from for 4 hours and then disappearing?

So, I cut a sign and it’s cutting 30-40% deeper than desired. Haul out the dial indicator and check the z for accuracy. No apparent issue out by .07mm on 10mm of travel. Maybe a bowed or warped piece of wood… sure, most of the stuff I do is jointed and planed first but ok. Try again, this piece was dead flat and secured using glue and tape method. Hauled back the DOC to 1.4mm instead of 1.6mm that I typically set to. Still getting a depth of 1.8-2.3mm… it’s killing the detail on my project.

I’m so sick of this machine. Works great for a few weeks and then goes to hell. Pretty much ready throw the POS in the river across the street.

2

Have you checked the mechanical side of things, like set screws / pulley on Z?
Do the bit slip inside the collet?

Since the depth discrepancy is not uniform => indication of either steps lost or mechanical factors.
(If it were uniform/consistent in terms of discrepancy the main culprit would be the probe height offset value)

3

No idea on the depth problem, but my machine just started shutting down so EMI ? been using the same dust collection unit for months, put shop vac on no problem… ???