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Hey all, I have had my X Carve for about a month now and I’ve created a couple of cool things, but I’ve thrown away a lot more than I’ve thought about keeping. Which I expected as a beginner, but it’s starting to get frustrating. Tonight I was trying to carve a pocket for an inlay project. You can see from my picture that the corners of the logo I was carving are not very sharp. I carved my name as my first project and didn’t have this problem. Now it’s happening more and more. I was using the inventables 60° bit with 1/8” shank. Feed rate 60in/min. Plunge 9in/min. Depth/pass .0625” any help is greatly appreciated!!
How are you setting z zero? Looks like you’re setting it too low. Most of the time this happens with a v-bit that had a flat tip. Try zeroing .2mm higher than the surface of the stock. If you can measure the diameter of the flat, try out my Google sheet that’ll tell you how much higher you should set zero.
Also, get yourself a quality 1/4" shank v-bit. Those Inventables ones with the 1/8" shank aren’t great. The angle might be 61° or 62°.
I am using the Z-probe to set the Z zero. I also checked to make sure the work surface was level and it was all good. How do I set the Z 0 higher .2mm higher than the surface when using the z probe? Or do I just need to manually set the Z 0?
I also tried using the 1/4” shank 60° from inventables and it also didn’t do great for the carve. It loses a lot of detail compared to the 1/8” shank. Any recommendations on a good 1/4” 60° bit?
You can adjust your zero by using a G10L20 command.
For example, if you want to raise zero by 0.2mm, you could use your probe to set zero as you’re familiar. Then jog to Z10, and send G10L20Z9.8 through the console in the machine inspector.
Yeah, It looks rough. Some how the P and the U have become mixed up together so as to resemble the Indiana University logo. I recommend slowing things down and to add a graphic, such as a train, to give the image context. Finally, your choice of materials is important. Perhaps a stave from an Oaken Bucket would be a good choice.
