not carving deep enough

[bamaman315]

I have been trying to carve a pattern on one of my three machines and the carving does not go deep enough it just reomoves a little bit of wood , does anyone know what the problem could be?

[eelamb]

You may want to post the pattern so it can be eliminated before looking into the machine problems.

[bamaman315]

I have been running the same pattern on all three of my machines, it was working fine then it would barely carve into the wood

[badbert]

There are several possible causes for this problem. And all of them revolve around bit calibration. Did the bit touch the bit plate? Did the bit touch the tracking sensor? And did the bit touch the wood? When the machine senses a rise in amperage, it assumes that the bit is touching in one of these three places. It then remembers the position by the position the encoder is at. But it also assumes the Z-truck is moving freely. If the Z-truck binds during movement, the amperage increases, and the machine assumes it is touching. Unplug power from the machine and let it rest for a few seconds. Now try and move the Z-truck up and down. It should move freely with normal resistance. If it feels clunky, or gritty, then the problem is in the rails, bearings, or gears. If it moves freely from bottom to top, then the problem is the encoder.

Also, if what your saying is that the carve changed depth during the carve, then you skipped a tooth on the drive gear. Pull the Z-motor and check the gears. Make sure the big gear does not move sideways. If it does the bearings need to be replaced. If the gears look good and there is no sideways movement in the big gear, then check the belt and the Idler pulley on the truck.

[Digitalwoodshop]

I got nothing to add.... Good post... :)

AL