Trouble with carving - hesitation and stutter?

Easel Easel Pro
1

Hi all - I have posted this in the updates forum but it might be more appropriate here so please excuse the double post.
I am a technology teacher and we are having problems with the x-carve machine in my classroom. We have had the machine for several years and have only encountered this problem since late October.

The problem is that the machine seems to hesitate and not carve smoothly on some portions of some carves. It a repeatable problem although it only happens on some portions of some projects. It does seem to be worse with v-carve bits.

We have tried: - using a brand new bit - checking every wheel for proper tension - re-tensioning every nut and bolt on the machine - unplugging and reconnecting every wire - and everything else we can think of hardware wise. We are running the latest version of the x-controller driver.

System configuration is: 1000mm x-carve, DeWalt 611 spindle, acme thread, x-controller, latest driver.

The video below shows the problem. I have it in slow motion because at normal speed it happens very fast and it is hard to see. You can really see it start at about the 27 second mark. The bit in the video is a brand new 60 degree bit from Inventables and the wood is hard maple.
Here is a link to the project shown: Easel - Untitled

The video is below. Please let me know what you think, this is driving me up a wall.
-Dave

2

Your project is not shared publicly.

3

Sorry. This is the link it is giving me:

Does that work? If not can someone clue me in?

4

Doesn’t appear there is anything out of sorts with your file, you may either have something loose on your machine OR can you tell if it is a directional issue? Does it only do it when the router is traveling in the opposite or same direction as to what the router is actually spinning?

5

What are the common factors in projects and parts of projects in which the problem occurs?

  1. Was design created in Easel, some other software, or is it a trace from an image found on the internet?

  2. Is there any indication that there are knots or hard spots in the maple (or whatever material being carved)?

6

If you have studder but design carve correctly its probably excessive amount of code OR some Z-motion that slow things down.

When doing relief/v-carve projects the threee axes work at the same time and if the feed rate or acceleration rate for the Z is considerable slower than X/Y any Z-motion wil slow down the total speed.

7

Thanks all for the replies!
I have answers to some of the questions:

  1. Was design created in Easel, some other software, or is it a trace from an image found on the internet?
    -The designs we are having issues with were all created in Easel. We have the issues with traced images and text or shapes generated by Easel. I have not tried using a different program yet as I am only familiar with Easel. I can try to learn enough about V-Carve to generate a carve.

  2. Is there any indication that there are knots or hard spots in the maple (or whatever material being carved)?
    - The maple is very clear, no knots or curly grain. We have also had the problem with poplar.

  3. Doesn’t appear there is anything out of sorts with your file, you may either have something loose on your machine OR can you tell if it is a directional issue?
    - We have gone through the machine thoroughly and made sure everything is tight. We did initially find some areas that needed tightening but we fixed those areas and everything checks out as tight. We are using the original belts. Perhaps it is time to replace the belts?

  4. Does it only do it when the router is traveling in the opposite or same direction as to what the router is actually spinning?
    - That is a good question. From what I can tell Easel makes all conventional cuts and avoids climb cutting (I think, not positive). The problem does seem to be more pronounced when the router is moving in the negative Y direction and/or in the positive X direction. You can see that in the video. From 0:00 to 0:18 there is a stop-and-go motion, then from 0:17 to 0:27 the stop-and-go is less pronounced, then from 0:27 to 0:36 it is very evident.

  5. If you have studder but design carve correctly its probably excessive amount of code OR some Z-motion that slow things down.

    • The design is basically carving correctly except for the stutter. Easel does essentially 2-D carves so the machine is not moving in the Z-axis at the same time it moves in X or Y, is that what you mean by Z-motion slowing things down? I am not sure what to do if the problem is excessive code as Easel Pro generates the code. Is there a way to check to see if that is the problem?

Thanks for the feedback,

Dave

8

Screen Shot 2020-02-07 at 17.34.25
Screen Shot 2020-02-07 at 17.34.25662×588 49.9 KB

It may be due to excessive nodes, Easel generate code that move in straight (small / incremental) lines between nodes. Each node = a phase of acceleration, feed rate and decelleration.
If there are a bunch of nodes you may never reach full carving speed?

(For X/Y vs Z motion, they are all done in sequence so if Z takes longer to perform compared to X/Y and will effectively slow things down during the buzy areas, think rush hour)

I suspect this is mainly a node thing however. I didnt get your video to play BTW.

9

Dave,
Check the 2 screw behind your router going into the delrin nut. You will have to remove the router to tighten them up.
Russell