Not cutting all the way through in entire workspace

X-Carve Troubleshooting
21

@SethCNC Never too many flags imo.

I noticed it looked like you were using a 1/4" bit for surfacing. Any reason not to use a 1" like these?

https://www.amazon.com/Spoilboard-Surfacing-Diameter-Flattening-NITOMAK/dp/B07ZP5RXRP/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2F4P0E32LTHVI&dchild=1

1 Like
22

Actually it was a 3/4" straight router bit from a pack of general router bits used for surfacing, it might look smaller in that giant spindle :stuck_out_tongue: I’ve used it many, many times before it started loosing it’s edge…
.

But the day after recording that video this arrived in the mail. :+1:
https://amzn.to/3kfJb37

AND it uses the same $7 inserts as my Amana RC-45711 90degree V-Bit which can be rotated multiple times if it takes any chips.

23

Thanks again. Got the area I carved all surfaced off to try again on the same stock. But that’s a 2 hour carve I’m not starting at 9:21 PM. Hopefully tomorrow morning is a good morning trying to get this thing carved well!

1 Like
24

image
image1920×2560 692 KB

Okay. I’ve learned my lesson. I’d hoped to be able to add color to the boards off the machine work ahead but with this detail work that doesn’t seem possible.

Thanks again.

1 Like
25

So you’re thinking the paint was the main issue?

1 Like
26

@RonnTrevino No, the factory MDF wasn’t perfectly flat or at least perfectly level to the cut path of the cnc.

I set a surfacing path to clear out the area from the previous bad carve down 0.07". Then I set that inner carved section as the zero Z-axis. No changes the drawing and it went from output like the zoom-in on the wing above to this latest picture. I painted by brush in between the surfacing and the carve w/o any issues.

@SethCNC Would a quick 220 grit sanding (like 15-30 seconds per square foot) after surfacing but before painting/staining/carving likely have much impact on the levelness of the stock to the cnc? I’d love a cleaner paint coat after the surfacing path and painting after the carve would take hours on something like this.

1 Like
27

actually I usually surface and then use a large sanding block to hit the top parallel to grain if its a real wood. something like this: Amazon.com HD and Lowes have them from 3M too for a few bucks more… OR if I’m in a hurry I’ll run an orbital real quick and as lighthanded as possible to keep it as even as possible. But you’d have to be pretty unevenly aggressive to get it nearly as non-flat as the first carve you did :slight_smile:
.
.

I use stain a lot, but I’ve also used a high quality smooth foam roller for laying on paint quickly without brush strokes & that works well… IF you want to paint off of the CNC, then using the shimming method will not get it as perfect as you did on this last one, but it is usually good enough for your typical client to never notice the small imperfections.
The biggest issue with shimming is that if the board is too large it might start to bow down in the middle, so you would want to keep it stored flat until just before clamping onto the CNC with the shims…

I like to find the highest corner, use a couple playing cards to set the bit slightly gapped up so it doesnt scratch the top of the board, then move it to another corner, count out how many playing cards more the corner needs vs the high corner. and repeat for the other corners (& any area you are placing a hold down clamp)

Lets say you used 2 cards at the high corner (#1), then used 4 cards at the next corner (#1) … you would actually place 0 cards under the corner #1 and 2 cards under corner #2… make sense?

28

It does. I think I’ll just bite the bullet and use a fan on the paint in place when doing that. Stain dries fast enough to not matter. Alternately I’ll surface late in the evening and paint before bed to prep for long carves the next day.

Thanks again for all the advice. How do I mark the topic resolved?

1 Like