So when I’m cutting out the stars the top left come out sharp and Crisp but the bottom right come out deeper what could this be project is clamp down level never had this problem before did a test cut came out fine
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First off, cool project.
Second if the workpiece is level, the the y-a is must not be. Easiest way take a 123 block and place it on the bed, remove the bit, then jog z-down until the face of the collet is close to the top of the 123 block. Jog y straight forward. Does the gap get smaller?
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Thank you I’ll try that
Probably just a bow in your wood, you can see where you have the clamps the stars are good. The clamps are holding it down to the waste board. Then as you get to the center of the flag where no clamps are the stars get bigger.
Russell
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While it appears from your photos that the piece is clamped well, I have found that it is pretty crucial that all CORNERs are clamped down, not just pressure from the side to prevent X Y movement. In many cases, I have just resorted to “screwing” down the workpiece in all four corners, trimming to size later. And, as mentioned by Russell, there is no guarantee that the board is uniformly thick. I have the luxury of having both a drum sander and thickness planer so I often start with a little thicker board and then plane to thickness.
Making a test carve is often useful for finding big errors but sometimes the results are not all that predictive of the final carve. That’s because I tended to use cheaper pine or plywood before going for score with a hardwood. Using Vectric’s fine design s/w, I pretty much skip the test piece which saves time and wear and tear on the bits.
Assuming that you have checked the Z calibration steps, it could still be that your waste board is not level. Even if perfect from the factory, it might still get “bent” depending up how you attach it to everything else. You should “level” your waste board by skimming a little off the surface. Of course, no one wants to destroy the original X Carve waste board, and there are a zillion screw inserts to be avoided. I added a layer of 3/4 high density particle board to the surface and skimmed that.
Also, maybe your X gantry “ends” are not the same distance above the waste board. Or, maybe the 2 Y axis gantries are not in the same plane meaning that Z could wander up or down as the Y axis position changed.
Getting all this alignment stuff right is not a trivial job but it must be done if you want consistent, precise, results. Good luck, but rest assured that many have successfully used the X Carve for a couple of years.
Gary
The only think that I don’t understand is that I made many of there with no problem and now the last 6 have came out like this . thank you and will try what you have said.