X Carve/Vectric Aspire/UGCS "Home" Questions

X-Carve Troubleshooting
1

I am having some issues with my latest trial cuts. I am cutting .75" MDF. I have a 3D Model in Vectric Aspire that is .6" deep on the Z axis.

When I was cutting earlier, everything was going fantastic until I got towards the end. It got to the point where it was cutting through the .75" thick MDF! I had my bit placed right on the top of the board when I started, universal G code sender showed I was zeroed on the “workspace” and “machine”.

I don’t understand what I’m doing incorrectly. I am very new to this!

2

After touch your bit to surface, also you must use piece of paper until bit catches it, then you have to click set Z zero. Did you do that.

3

Here are some ideas:

It seems that the Z axis is losing its position either through mechanical slipping or missed step pulses to the stepper motor, or you may have a Z axis calibration problem.

Check the following items on the Z axis -
The pulley set screws on the motor and vertical motion screw (either M8 or ACME).
The adjustment of the V wheels (may be too tight)
The tension on the Z axis belt

You may have to adjust the current limit for the Z axis.

4

You may also want to check whether your bit started coming out or not. If you’re using a downcutting bit and the spindle nut isn’t nice and tight, it’ll try to pull itself down and out of the spindle.

5

Thanks for all of the replies! I just now was able to get on and check them. I was actually able to fix my problem by finding another post on the forums with UGCS settings (pulled up by typing in “$$”). I just happened to look through them line by line and saw that my $102 (I believe) was not the same. Essentially, it appeared that the number of mm’s my machine was counting per step was too high. I lowered it to what the forum user posted and it works fine now!

To check this theory, I used UGCS to move the Z axis from on the board to 1 inch up. I measured the movement physically and it was close to 1.3 inches. After adjustment a 1 inch movement in UGCS yielded a 1 inch physical movement.

1 Like
6

Ok, it was calibration (sort of). Thanks for the update. That helps for when the question comes up again.

7

Here is a copy of the forum post that helped me…
Continuing the discussion from Universal G-Code Sender not talking to X-Carve?:

8

Here is a reference that can help with tuning grbl.