I’ve had my Xcarve for over three years now. Never had any serious problems with the machine or Easel that weren’t user error until recently.
Last week I waited over an hour for a simulation in Easel. Finally gave up. Tried again later and it worked as it should right away.
Today I’m halfway through a simple 2D carve and the Z axis decides it wants to go to the center of the Earth. Before you ask, the pulleys and/or the belt did not slip. I have indicator lines on these and check them regularly. Also the bit was still secure in the collet.
I may wrong, but it seems to me that ever since Inventables added V carving, the basic simple functionality has become very erratic.
In any event I will no longer be using Easel for the simple, quick stuff I do occasionally.