I recently fine tuned my stepper calibration on the X, Y & Z axis. It has been about 6 months since I upgraded to 9mm belts, as well as an upgraded Z axis slider and four 269 oz motors. I am pleased with the current accuracy of travel in all 3 directions but now my carves don’t line up with the work zero position like they should. I always start in the lower left hand corner but it seems like each carve is starting above where I want it to. It’s pretty accurate with how far over (left/right) it starts but the up and down are randomly off, usually by an inch. The attached pic shows where the text should have been ankered and where it was actually ankered once cut. In an attempt to eliminate variables I did a cut with a design made in Easel as well as one made in Aspire which I exported as G-code. They both were off in the up/down direction. I’ve been using Easel for over 2 years now and feel pretty savvy with all the things I’ve learned. With that said, I have a significant amount of distrust using Easel Pro due to how inconsistent the program is. Not sure if this is an Easel problem or a me problem.
Does anyone know why my work start position may be off?
Are you able to share the Easel files on these?
Here is the newest test carve. Same type of results.
Again, the cuts are lining up on the Y axis where I want them to be but each individual line of text is getting further away from where it is supposed to start along the X axis. In the newer pic the bottom text starts 1" away on the Y axis. The second word is 1 9/16 off and the 3rd word is 2 1/8 off. Disregard the quality of the text, that is from speeding up the feed rate to see where it would start.
You’ll have to share the file.
File–>Share–>Share With Link–>Save
Bottom text should have started at 2" up the Y axis and 2" over along the X axis. Instead it started at 3" up and 2" over. Then it got a little further off the X with the middle line of text and the top line of text. My stepper motors are calibrated on all 3 axis’. This just occurred yesterday after I “set up machine” to make sure everything was the way it should be. After I did that the $100, $101 & $102 values all changed to factory values even though I didn’t even go into the “advanced” tab and mess with them. I ran through the “set up machine” process 3 more times trying to figure it out and each time the $100 and $101 values remained the same but the $102 (Z axis steps) kept resorting back to what I believe is a factory value.
I didn’t save last time. Hopefully this works.
Post your $$ settings.
The machine setup assumes a stock machine…no reason to ever do it again.
Are your new belts still 2mm pitch or did you go to 3mm?
Looks like you need to calibrate your steps/mm settings, but, in addition, you might have something mechanical going on. The text in the bottom row is not aligned. The “thee” is higher than the others.
EDIT: Based on your measurements, I’d guess you have belts with a 3mm pitch. Every step gets you 1.5 times as far. I’m going to further guess that you’re current steps/mm for $101 are the default 40. Change that to $101 = 26.667
I figured it out. Every time I went to re-set up my machine in an attempt to see what was wrong it kept resetting my $101 and $102 but not the $100. I just assumed the $101 was correct because it was really close to the number I had set it to previously. Crazy how Easel just reset those with random values. I just re-calibrated and did a test cut that came out flawless. Thank you for taking the time to read my questions and try to offer a hand. Much appreciated.
Random or stock X-Carve defaults?
No problem.