Z axis stall: E06-0313, board thickness

[a-abrown]

I get the error code E06-0313 after "finding surface" (all other setup/measurement maneuvers normal). The bit lowers (twice) to find the surface (as normal), then reads "finding board thickness", moves the bit past the board, lowers to the sliding plate and gives the error. Have reformatted the card and re-uploaded the project with the same results. Have not seen "finding board thickness" before (in 250+ carving hours). Advice??

[cestout]

Blow off the Z rails and rollers with compressed air. Wipe them down and lube them. Move the Z truck up and down full travel several times. If you don't have a binding roller (worst case) it is probably dirt (sawdust) impeding the travel. You can check the rollers by removing the dust covers and and watch to see if they all roll.
Clint

[zora]

I have5 compucarve. One on spare parts. The same error on 1. Replacement z track does not give anything. After power unit replacement, cut out 2 projects and again the same error. The сnc not bad, but electronics not the suitable. I will put the step motor for max3

[zora]

I replaced the encoder and its working
the one before had burned diod .
right now its working on a project
will see how it'll turn out

[Capt Bruce]

For what it's worth I was having the same problem recently on repeat attempts of a project I'd carved before. Tried all kinds of suggested fixes before I ran across the thread with new info on the bit length needs for the new CarveTite friendly bits. I checked and found my carving bit was less than the suggested 1.5" below my Rock Chuckhaving slipped deeped into the 1/4" to 1/2" adapter I use. Corrected same and the problem disappeared.

[chkorte]

I get the error code E06-0313 after "finding surface" (all other setup/measurement maneuvers normal). The bit lowers (twice) to find the surface (as normal), then reads "finding board thickness", moves the bit past the board, lowers to the sliding plate and gives the error. Have reformatted the card and re-uploaded the project with the same results. Have not seen "finding board thickness" before (in 250+ carving hours). Advice??

I had this problem twice in the past The first time I had this problem was because of the length of the bit beyond the end of the rock chuck. Once I readjusted the bit it worked properly. The second time I had this problem because there was a wear spot where the bit touches by the brass wheel. Apparently at some point or over period of time the bit had wore a small indentation into that spot and when the bit went to touch that spot it went slightly below the normal level and when it went over to the sliding plate and it touched the sliding plate it registered as the bit being too long and gave you the error. What I did was fill in the indentation by the brass wheel using any epoxy filler and that solved my problem.

[myshop1044]

This is the answer I got from the Cw guys for my z stall problems.
The Carvewright machine requires a board with a minimum of ½” thickness, therefore a project that carves less than ½” deep does not require the board to be measured.
The combination of a 0.75” board with a 0.375” jig (1.125”) poses problems for the software in determining whether the bit actually touches the aux plate or the bottom of the Z truck. Each machine behaves differently.
You have two choices to fix this:
Convince the software to skip the depth check by setting the project depth greater than it can cut. Set the “board thickness” to 1.25” or larger and it should skip the measurement. Note that this will not work for projects that “cut” or “pierce” the board.
For projects that “cut”, set the “board thickness” to the depth of the wood to be carved, but make a thicker jig. I would suggest a 0.75” bottom thickness for the jig.
I hope this helps
Perry

[Digitalwoodshop]

Yes, the old Bit Length Issue.... Since LHR has Tweaked the Z Window to the CarveTite Length the FIRST thing WE must check when getting a Z Error is Bit Length with a Rock Chuck or a After Market CT Bit Holder.

AL

[a-abrown]

Your "wear spot where the bit touches by the brass wheel" was, indeed, the problem. I filled in the hole made by previous bits with plastic wood, the machine got the correct reading and I'm again carving away. Many thanks. (I'll look for a better, more solid filler for the next carving. This "finding board thickness" must be with the latest software. Now aware, we can anticipate it.

[unitedcases]

Opening this one back up. I am trying to carve a pierced carving into a half inch piece of aspen. It goes through all the motions by at the very end it does the board thickness check and z stalls when it comes down for the final homing. There is over 1 1/2 of bit coming out if the rock chuck. This has to be a pierced carving. Any suggestions?

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[Digitalwoodshop]

IF it is stalling then the bit is touching the board LONG before the Current Sensing is turned on... The Current Sensing is what tells the bit that it has touched the board and reverses the direction. SO if the bit is TOO LONG then it will touch the board long before it expects and will be like driving a car into a wall... Something must give..... Shorten the BIT.... OR something to do with the bit not touching the bit Plate and the computer has the tip of the bit WRONG.... Watch the Bit Plate touch too...

AL

[unitedcases]

Bit plate touch is good. I originally started with the bit under 1 1/2 inches.

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[unitedcases]

No joy. Shortened the bit as much as I could in the rock and it did the same thing.

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[lynnfrwd]

And your 1/2" aspen is truly 1/2"?

[unitedcases]

Yes. Should I try putting a business card or something thin for the bit to touch?

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[lawrence]

I recently had problems (and broke my first bit!) when cutting out the checkers. The wood was .52 thick, but kept giving me errors. I think that the machine was measuring it as less than .5 because when I added 4 strips of masking tape onto the bottom to thicken it up a hair, it worked fine. I also covered the hole by my brass roller with a dime and gave everything a good clean. I also shortend up my bit length in my rock chuck.

Not sure which of these fixed my z-axis error, but it did.... time for a good cleaning session methinks.

The info available on this forum was invaluable for fixing my error.

[unitedcases]

Ole girl just got a 250 hr pm done. But, I went into designer and changed the thickness to 7/16 and it is carving away. I chose project when it asked for cut thru depth.

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[bergerud]

Maybe you need to follow the "Calibrating the Depth (or Board Thickness)" procedure in the user calibration pdf to recalibrate the depth.

[unitedcases]

Right now it is working great. The aspen is a shade under 1/2 so that was probably the problem.

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[Digitalwoodshop]

COOL !!!!!

Another Happy Carver....

AL

[hobbycentral]

First I broke a bit after the z slammed into the board while measuring. Cleaned the Z encoder wheel and cleaned and reseated the ribbon cable. Then I got oval drill throughs instead of round holes - cleaned the chuck and used a new 1/8 cutting bit. Now it measures the board and after plunging to the board twice and then twice into the hole on the right of the board it hits the plate and gives a Z stall. I cleaned and lubed the Y and Z rails, tried a different bit, thicker board and no luck. When I increase the board thickness to 1" from just over .56 it measures the board and gives a thickness of 5" vice 1". I haven't tried building up the area where the bit hits on the left of the board (keypad side). Quite honestly I'm fed up with taking this machine apart considering it only has 65hrs on it. I suspect that the Z encode could still be a problem, but before I take her apart again (and possibly throw it in the dumpster) - any ideas?

Thanks
Bill

Bill

[Digitalwoodshop]

IF the bit is stalling when it goes down next to the keypad then the problem could be that a hole has drilled itself into the plastic holder for the brass roller. I had that happen to me for the first time this week. A credit card thick piece of plastic and some double stick tape fixed it.

The bit must hit something solid at the brass roller holder. IF it goes through or into the plastic it will stall.

Remember the machine really does NOT like thin wood like 1/2 inch... IT can cut it, but the wood can also SLIP because it is too thin and give you the Oval Holes... I recommend you invest into some 4 x 8 sheets of Hardboard and double stick tape to add thickness to the project board. OR even something thicker and when the machine asks "Project" or "Board" select "Project" as that is the thickness of the board in Designer... Select "Board" and the machine will want to do a Cut Out in the 1 inch or what ever you pick and it will but through the lower board OR fault out due to thickness...

IF you have Sand Paper Belts you may have a rolled under belt at the brass roller raising the board from the brass roller.

Head Level?

Head Pressure?

How Many Hours? 450 Plus? Have you replaced your Y Gear Box Bearings? Could be a Y problem or by Simply adding Masking Tape to the bottom of the board and the Brass Roller track AND other places on the board could solve your Oval Problem..... It's ALL About the Brass Roller...


Good Luck,


AL

Hope this helps...

[hobbycentral]

Al, it goes down by the keypad/brass roller once or twice and then it hits the board twice, then moves to the other side of the board and plunges twice into the thumb (hole) area of the slider and then moves towards the right a little bit and then hits the metal slider and stalls. I undestand that it doesn't like thin boards and usually I only use the machine to cut balsa which are in sleds. The machine only has 65 hours on it and at least 50 of that is cutting out balsa airplanes from 1/4" and 1/8' balsa. The other 15 hours is routing a few signs and sleds. It sure seems like there is 1.5 hour of maintenance (replacing X gears, checking head pressure, removing/disecting/cleaning board sensor, cleaning and lubricating, playing with chuck) for every hour of cutting time. Slight exaggeration LOL. The oval drilling was caused by the QC Chuck/bit wobbling - I cleaned the chuck and changed to a new bit and there doesn't seem to be any play. Every singe hole drilled was egg shaped and all the lines were straight in both the x and y.

I looked at the plate near the brass roller and it looks like it like honeycomb and where the bit hits it is broken. I will place a piece of card over it and see what happens. I love what the machine is capable of, but it takes a lot of work to make it happen. I put a small piece of plastic there and it measured the board - albeit slightly off I think

Thanks
Bill

[hobbycentral]

The credit card fixed the depth issue. But, I was wrong about the ovals - the bit had no wobble when I started the project, but when it was fininished there were 32 oval drill throughs - 16 3/8" partial drill holes with concentric 1/4" or 3/16" drill throughs for bearing holders. All of the holes are ovals and the bit has about 1/16" of wiggle at the end of the cut. The bit was also difficult to extract - I'm guessing that the chuck may be shot. I will start searching the threads again for the QC problems.

Thanks
Bill
Hobby Central

[fwharris]

Bill,

Sounds like it is time to be looking at the upgrades for the chuck. Your only option right now would be to replace the adapters on the bits as the ones now probably have indents on them from the BB in the QC.

[chief2007]

With the QC, if by chance the bit was not fully seated in the chuck, the bit adapter will damage it.

Upgrade to the carvetight spindle as Floyd said, and I second that, or replace the QC are the only fixes unfortunately.

[hobbycentral]

There are no BB indents in the bit adapters. The bit that I just used was brand new out of the package and it was it's first cut. I examined the adapters and looked at the photos that Al has posted with the indents and I don't seen any marks at all. I'm not sure what is happening. I hate to say it, but all of these latest problems occured after carving some pockets into MDF and I know the dust created from MDF seems way more invasive than regular sawdust. I have a extractor and down draft table, but no add on dust collector. I vacuum the machine after each use and blow it out as needed. I'm hoping that I can get at least a couple of more hours out of the QC - 65 hours doesn't seem like much.

Thanks
Bill

[hobbycentral]

With the QC, if by chance the bit was not fully seated in the chuck, the bit adapter will damage it.

Upgrade to the carvetight spindle as Floyd said, and I second that, or replace the QC are the only fixes unfortunately.

I don't think that happened - but anything is possible at this point. If I have to I wil upgrade to the CT or RC. I will say one thing, this forum is an excellent asset for Carvewright/Compucarve - answers are fast and explictit no matter what time of day LOL.

Thanks
Bill

[Digitalwoodshop]

IF you installed a new bit holder and after one project the new bit holders now Wobble then the real problem is a bad QC and the only true fix is to replace it with a ROCK or a CT. But you CAN replace the QC and ALL the Bit Holders NOW.. If you don't replace the QC and ALL the bit Holders at the same time then the worn bit holders will wobble in the new QC and destroy it..

The Money you spend for the new QC and Bit Holders is money GONE... As you will be doing it AGAIN.... Buy a ROCK and END the QC Money Pit... OR buy a CT...

Good Luck,

AL

[chief2007]

Look at the inside if the QC itself. That is where I found the damage when it happened to me. I then upgrade to the carvetight

[hobbycentral]

Thanks guys, it's the QC. I looked at the bit adapters again and it looks like there is the beginning of one indention on the adapter. I also think the Y gear or bearings are shot as I slid the Y/Z carriage to the center and it was grinding this time. Is there a major advantage of one chuck over the other? It looks like the Rock is easier to swap out. Thanks again for all of your advice/help.

Thanks
Bill
Hobby Central

[lynnfrwd]

Here's a link to the CarveTight Installation video

http://www.carvewright.com/support-page/getting-started/tutorials/accessory-tutorials/carvetight-video/



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[hsilio]

thanks all. I was having a z stall issue as well..I looked at the new bits I just received against the old ones and noticed that the old ones were seated differently and therefore longer. I sat the replacement bit lower and the z stall issue was cured.