Why did Letteres SHIFT

[gwizpro]

See attched :

Why did the letters shift on this one line only.
( The line that says " I am faithful to a proud heritage")

All other lines are fine.

[gwizpro]

Machine is a C model, Has Rubber belts, I tried it twice, each time on a different card, there were no machine errors.
The rubber o ring is on the tracking roller. Area with error is beyond the 7" rule.

[bergerud]

Was the board under the rollers at all times? If the board movement allows the front roller to drop, the x tracking can get shifted. Maybe the board moved far away from the line in question (letting the front roller drop) and then came back to carve the shifted letters?

[gwizpro]

bergerud, the board was under the rollers the full time it was carving. Only thing I can think of is machine coding error...

[badbert]

It appears you have a tracking problem. Are you using masking tape on the bottom of your board, not just the edge for the sensor. But all over the board to improve traction? Also turn the machine off, and unplug it. Move the y truck back and forth the full length of the rails. Does it move smoothly with no grinding, clicking, popping noises. If it is jerky, you need to check the Y drive gears. Try a different project and see if it repeats the problem.

[bergerud]

I would still think hardware. If there is no rubber belt- brass roller interference, I would wild guess a missing x gear tooth.

[CNC Carver]

Did the shift show on same lines both times you carved? If not possible board warped. If same line then I would look more at MPC.

[Digitalwoodshop]

I know if I type text and go back and change some letters in that line of text the machine gets confused.... Because in my opinion that it skips letters normally then comes back and finishes them... And as we see.... It's all about the Brass Tracking Roller as the board shifted position as it was doing stuff in the X Direction... And when it came back to fill in the missing letters.. It was slipped in the X Direction...

SO I Highly Recommend 1. Dust Collection, and like posted above...2. Masking Tape on the bottom of the board and especially along the brass roller track... You WANT to see the little lines from the brass roller in the tape when your done... The Tape acts like a mini Rack and Pinion TRACK.... Trust me... it will make a difference...

And I would type the text over and slowly without any skips or coming back... Because I think... (WAG... Wild AL Guess...) that when the text is Compiled... As in when you load it on the card, a "You went back into the middle of a sentence and changed a letter" is seen by the Compiler turning the project into a non liner cutting file...

Worth a try...

But even IF it did skip a letter and came back... It's all about the Brass Roller and it lost track of the Position... SO TAPE to prevent the board from slipping, and Dust Collection.. IF the board has a pile of wood chips on the board and the rubber rollers need to drive up and over them, the board could slip....

The Brass Roller HAS been known to touch the Rubber Belts when the board is cranked down on the board... Like a Radial Tire.. The Rubber Bulges out as it goes around the belt roller in the center of the machine... I would do a measuring check... Measure a Long board 10 times and see if the readings are the same..

Good Luck,

Let us know...

AL