Missed steps or what?

Don’t see how it would be missed steps honestly since it was a full depth finished pass. It only did this at this end of the sign. Never had this happen before, and didn’t notice until I got it off the cnc to take a picture of in good light. It’s about .005" off a surface difference. I can get it to sand out, but it is still annoying lol

Did you do a bit change? Then it’s a probe issue. It looks like a tram issue. Is your spindle perpendicular to your washboard.

It’s odd that it moved both to the right and down, usually if it’s a belt, a pulley screw or something mechanical it would be on one axis not both. The one time I had this happen to me it wound up being that the power blinked on/off in the garage and the laptop was powered by battery, so the program kept running while the machine lost all steps for the split seconds that the power was out and continued again where the computer was up to when it powered back on.

The direction it is is due to the tool path Easel calculated. This was a finishing pass, so everything done with a single but at full depth. Finishing pass was set at .2 deeper than the initial 2 stage carve. Normally only do .02 deeper on finishing but wanted the pocket deeper than originally figured. That’s why this confuses me, not a probe issue, not a change of bit issue, it was a single pass set to full depth. Say it carved around the letters, then after that path, picked up and went over to clear what was left.

Could there have been some “spring” in the work piece I have seen cases where there is a little twist or warp that allows the work piece to flex a little.

A little plat in the Z axis would do the same, is there any play in the z at all if the belt pulley is not tight against the bearing this could happen. Also if there is any play in the X axis v-wheels.

Amos

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Board is solid, flat, and secured, but that is a good suggestion on what to check. Planing the wood is always my first step before carving.

The z is solid in every way. Just did a small similar test on a piece of scrap and had no issues.

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to me it looks like z-axis flex or a tool change and the zero was not set correctly

also its good practice when finishing the piece dont go all the way to full z-depth leave about .005" or so to prevent the floor finish from getting messed up

also remember the x-carve is a flexible machine so things like that will happen and also remember the positional/repeatability accuracy of the machine I think its .003" but don’t quote me on that

It’s poplar so I know it’s not the hardest wood, but it almost looks like it started to carve a tool path that was a bit deeper, then just stopped. If that makes sense. All pocket cuts before this piece and now after this one have been smooth. May have just been a freak thing, but it’s driving my OCD nuts lol. Z axis has very very minor flex that is just due to the design. It’s had that from the beginning and is why I’m upgrading the linear z soon.

@BrianJohnson

yeah the same thing happened on this sign I was making and my work around was to cut the entire pocket around the letters a little deeper and it fixed it but it took double the time to make it

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Another little spot on it I forgot to post. It’s just weird. Have a couple of other orders to do tonight then have an order for several signs with pockets like this. All tests have been fine…so hopefully it stays that way.

Also, all the marks you can see around the letters are barely visible and due to the direction the axis was traveling. Rub a finger nail across it and it feels smooth

@PhilJohnson downcut

So I am going to be completely honest with you

on a machine like the x-carve especially a stock one things like this will happen

its just not a precision machine the machine is flexible and very easy to get out of adjustment like that

I would not expect perfect flawless quality with a design like that

now there are things that you can do to limit the effects of things like that happening

like minimize amount of tools
staying off the floor of of pocket when finishing
feeds and speeds
type of endmill that you use
type of wood that you use
humidity in the shop
moisture content of the wood
etc

@BrianJohnson

also can you link the exact bit that you are using to carve these there might be better options for a improved floor finish depending on the tool that you are using

Its a kyocera 1/16" downcut. Order them from ebay, ive used several kyocera and they have been excellent. The 2 1/16" i have are getting a bit dull but I have several more that should be delivered in the next day or two.

@PhilJohnson just randomly doing cut mistakes like that before the upgrade? I’ll try to make a little video of the play the axis has tonight. Its minimal but enough to annoy me and in my opinion cause chatter issues on some carvings. Linear z is my first planned upgrade now, was waste board upgrade but not any more. The order I’m working on will pay for it and fund a good portion of a new computer for me.

Just messed around with mine before starting a carve. No vertical play any way I messed with it. The only play is maybe 1/32" and a clockwise type direction.