I have been noticing each time I cut a part and insert new stock and cut again the Z axis resets and raises approximately 0.5mm. Has anyone else been having this? It is happening constantly and after a few cuts on new parts I have to reset the bit Z height back down.
Belts seem to be tight enough
Any help appreciated.
are you using easel?
if so it might be that you are hitting raise the bit instead of use last home position when you start the carve
Im using Easel, but no I am careful about that. It is just slightly rasing itself each time
hmm I am not sure exactly what you mean by it rasing up each time do you mean that it is cutting in the air one the next x-carve
IOW when you confirm the home position, the next time it returns home it changes the Z height slightly higher so that when I place the next part in to cut it starts the cut higher than the last time. (I am cutting the exact same part over and over, so I place a part in the jig I made, make the cut, remove the part, place in a new blank, and re-cut)
oooooo okay so you mean when the toolpath/carve finishes and the tool returns to the zero position it is not at the z zero position it is slighlty above the stock
This is the way that easel is programmed and can be changed with your saftey height position but I am not sure that you would want to do that because anytime the machine is trying to move around the stock to carve in different places the tool will be at the z zero position
so your saying when the first carve finishes and the tool returns back to the zero position you then change out the stock and then push “use last home position” then hit carve it will not go back to the proper position and carve correctly?
Yes to a degree.
I am using “use last home position”. I dont want to mess with the safety height as I know the bit must raise to travel back and forth.
What I am saying, and I dont think it is programmed to do this, is that once it returns to home position the bit has raised approximately 0.05mm from the original home position, so that when it is time to cut the next piece instead of just touching the material it is now 0.05 higher than the material, rinse and repeat and it is now 1mm above the material etc, etc
well thats just werid isn’t lol
sound like you might be losing steps when the machine is cutting to a degree
Yes indeed,
now, is it fixable or not fixable, that is the question…
Check your collet nut and see if your bit is slipping up inside a little bit each time.
hey robert glad you joined in
do you think that your calibration test methods could help in this situation?
I don’t think it’ll help with this, the calibrations are only good for scenarios where there’s no unknown changes. I’m thinking that this has got to be either lost steps in the Z axis or a shifting bit.
werid that it only increases by .05mm each time and exactly that amount each time you would think with loosing steps it would be different every time and according to the op its not loosing any steps or alignment in the x and y direction
@KurtBartels Is this 100% Easel? Or are you designing elsewhere and importing g-code?
If it’s 100% Easel, I’d recommend aircutting the project a couple times and see if it continues. If the bit is the same height, then you’re either losing steps or your bit is going deeper into your part. If the bit continues to move up, it’s either a code issue or you’re losing steps. If it may be a code issue, you could probably send the project to @Ruwan or one of the other programmers and they can take a look at it.
When was the last time you adjusted your Z pot?
Thanks Robert. I tightened the collet to be sure and will report. Thing is I don’t remember it doing this in the past. I am only using easel
.It has been a couple months on the voltage adjustments, Ill try when I get a chace
One thing I did not mention that occurred to me, is that there were a coupe times it was accidentally driven down into the waste board on the z axis pretty hard requiring an emergency shut down. Could this have effected the plastic thread on the Z mount?
I am wondering more now whether it i just slowly occurring over the time allotted for the part as it travels up and down the Z. If the z plastic thread is loose perhaps that is the issue.
Nice! Thanks Phil you are a true Xcarve guru
I would love to see a new z-axis set-up on the x-carve I have so many problems with mine
I think like you where saying @PhilJohnson for 150.00 bucks for a linear z-axis its well worth the investment I would love to see those standard on the x-carve