have been making a new waste board for better clamping system and noticed with the new design that the x-carve seems to be quite a few mm out on the right hand side, both new waste board and x-carve are sitting on the table top but the cut depth on the right hand side is 2-3 mm shallower which i can only imagine could be caused by a large difference in the machine itself from one side to the other, I think anything up to 1mm is an acceptable manufacturing fault, but 2-3mm is a bit much to pass any sort of quality assessment. before anyone says its the table top wouldn’t the fact that both machine and waste board are mounted to it mean any fault in the table would be passed on to both waste board and x-carve resulting in said fault canceling it self out?
If you’re ever planning to cut something like aluminum, anything >0.2mm will likely break your bits.
The fault could be caused during assembly, it’s possible to get a bit of wiggle on the Y plates during assembly which would allow you to mount one side slightly higher. In addition, there’s the same issue with the X plates.
The wasteboard and small metal rails could (somewhat) easily conform to a non-flat tabletop, especially during assembly. It would be hard to transfer the same problem higher though, since the makerslides would have to be purposely bent in order to maintain the same shape. Any non-flatness of the level would only stay with the wasteboard, although it’s possible to have your Y axis rails not parallel across the top. Ultimately, the inherent stiffness of the makerslides prevents the upper half of the machine from adapting to a non-flat tabletop.
I won’t say it’s the tabletop because there’s a little room for slop, but on a good tabletop it’s possible to get cuts accurate within .1mm depth. As long as your X-carve isn’t binding anywhere due to misalignment, all you’d have to do is level the wasteboard with a wasteboard cutter or other large bit. If you find that hour materials are rocking back and forth on the wasteboard after that, you know your Y axis makerslides aren’t parallel.
table top seems fairly flat, my 2m level doesn’t show any dips or bumps. the problem was also an issue with the old waste board which was mounted to the rails, the odd thing is it wasn’t an issue after i flattened the original waste board but seemed to get grow over time and so far have not been able to find any measurements that are out anywhere near as much as the cut difference from left to right
Wood will naturally expand and contract over time, it may be that one side was expanding more than the other, and expansion of the table materials was contributing. In order to keep a perfectly level wasteboard, you’re going to have to resurface it every once in a while. Probably wouldn’t hurt to hit it every couple months, if for no other reason than to milling marks.
True. I have an MDF spoil board and used the same milled pocket for a month testing my aluminum machine. Broke a bit, wondered why. When checking it, my pocket was no longer flat and true to the machine. Part of the problem, I think was that I screw my work down. The screw, going through the spoilboard, into the wasteboard as the effect of pushing the two layers apart - even if you tighten the screw down. Plus, the surface seems to change over time. I guess it is best to mill your spoil board flat before precise jobs, milling aluminum or when you are using your last, favorite etching bit.
I am having somewhat the same issue.
If I cut 1/4" (.22) acrylic from the lower left corner and set the depth of cut to .26, the left side does not even cut through.
I mover to the center of my 1000mm table with a 10" x 10" piece with the same results.
Each time I used the Z-Probe in the lower left corner of the material. Makes me wonder if I Z’ed out in the upper right and still had Zero in the lower left what it would do.
I am going to use my dial indicator tomorrow to see it the waste board and X rail are parallel.
Already order the 1.5" leveling bit.
And by the way, my machine is only 1 week old.
I watched a video about trying to level your spoil board. The space between a large router bit and the spoil board can change just by loosing the screws that hold the rails and corner brackets in place. There is some slop how ever small can add up. You can take business cards between the router bit and spoil board. I used a credit card or two (harder surface). find the high spot, loosen the other corners and pull up on the rail until you get the same height and re-tighten.Do this at all four corners and middle of board. You will be surprised how much difference there is. I would think that after taking the Top most surface off of MDF it may be more suspect to moisture even all so small…Everything adds up.Just my 2 cents worth.
I’m having the same problem. Top right of my wasteboard is lower. Material isn’t being removed uniformly across the board. Machine is 3 weeks old.
Do a skim cut of your waste board (or on a 2nd layer waste board).
No, just draw a simple rectangle, set it to “Fill” in Easel.