Radical depth problems...

[bearpause]

I've been wrestling with this compucarve machine since I bought it... the newest failure is as follows:

The piece begins to carve and about 20% in to the pattern (a graphic) the bit depth triples and carving becomes coarse.

There is only one object in the file and one line of software-generated text below (which renders just fine)...

This is the SECOND time this has happened - after the first time, I replaced the original artwork (a JPG) with a PNG and re-imported the art, so it ISN'T the file.

I'll attach the file and a photo of the failure.

[rjp736]

I'm having the same problem. I truely believe it's version 1.20 that's doing it. Since I updated I have had nothing but problems. Called Carvewright this morning and was told I would get a call back.....never happened. I'll call again in the morning. I've been hearing that many people are having this problem and hope the address it SOON. I'm making way to much firewood and not enough carvings. My question is, are all these problems using up my warrany hours? Just bought $75.00 worth of wood and trashed half of it......ARG !

[Sarge]

Okay guys, I have 1.120 installed and have not encountered this issue. I would venture to say it's in your photo. If you save it as a JPG, JPEG, TIFF, GIF, or PNG they "should" have more than one layer. This "could" cause some errors when "Importing" to Designer. This would explain why the text came out nice, and your graphic was trashed.

I save all of my stuff as a Grayscale BMP, then "Import" it to Designer. I've never had any issues with the graphics, just my brain cells sometimes.

[Jeff_Birt]

The depth in your .mpc remains constant at 0.00 in Z, so it look slike your image is OK. You might try to do a simple carving of some recessed text accross the board and/or a carved rectangular area (done in Designer) to see if you have the same problem with the depth changing. If the depth stays the same this would point to the machine being OK and something in the way your project is being 'posted' (converted to the machines language) is going wrong (an error in Designer itself)

[rjp736]

I carved a simple square region with NO carving in it and had the same problems. By the time it got to the end it was more than a 1/8" deeper and it raised and lowered the depth through out. I say it's the software.

[Sarge]

OKAY.... now with that presentation, I'd be convinced it's within your software. I haven't experienced this issue. Maybe a loose connection during upgrade is the culprit. I"m not positive, but it would provide an answer.

Sorry I wasn't a big help.

[Digitalwoodshop]

I believe the answer is a dirty Z Encoder.... See my post on Z Encoder theory.

I don't believe 120 has anything to do with it, it's just part of the encoder is clean and working fine and one segument is dirty at a lower Z position and that is when the problem shows up.

Just a "Theory" while I kick back and smoke a big dog poop cigar.....

LOL....

AL

Next week on Doctor Phill, "Dogs want to know what all the fuss is about smoking dog poop."

[pkunk]

I'm having the same issues, never had 'em before 1.120 was introduced. CW hasn't given me any answers either.:confused:

[GSchm87408]

Pkunk,
Did you say in a different post somehere that you flashed your card back to that last software rev ?
Did that help?

[Digitalwoodshop]

And the weather report in New Mexico is? Are we getting warmer....

Wouldn't it be the dog poop's if I am right and as it gets warmer we see a bunch of Z problems....

AL

[rjp736]

It's not the weather. My shop is between 65-70 degrees with humidity control. A bit cool for me but the machines love it. I love my machine....just want it working right !

[liquidguitars]

you can try lowering the font depth a tad more then photo. It could be that setting the same depth of font and image is not working well in this case.

Liq

[Hawg_man]

At one time I had a similar issue with depth and had also checked everthing I could think of (had carved the project once before with no problem).....it turned out my bit was loose in it's holder.........had already checked this out..I thought. I put a high intensity work light while it carved and could then see the bit moving up and down....I took out the bit and could not move it with my fingers but took it out of the holder and then put it back in and used thread lock and it cured my problem.......just a thought.

[Kenm810]

Carving deeper at ends of project

Board setting 11 x 8
Carving 8.534 x 5.574
Type 9.707 x .982

Are you telling the machine not to keep this under the rollers

Just a thought

[bearpause]

Thanks for all of your responses...

Here's an interesting development...

I am running the same project again... the first two tries, the machine/software did the graphic (which it trashed) and then did the typeface perfectly - it ran the two parts consecutively as separate carvings.

THIS time, it is doing the entire thing as a single graphic, both art & text...
and the result is....
failed - no cut areas that should be blank this time, but the depth and fineness of cut got worse as the carving crossed the wood - and this includes the typeface.

I DID take Kenm810's advice and oversize the wood to use the "Stay Under Rollers" setting.

I have just reset & lock-tighted the bit - just in case...

Yet another try appears to be working (60% done) and this time it did the name first and is now doing the graphic - which MAY mean that the problems are in the compiling of the design (i.e. software), since it does not appear to compile the same way each time - anybody home in the software design department????

[liquidguitars]

failed - no cut areas that should be blank this time, but the depth and fineness of cut got worse as the carving crossed the wood - and this includes the typeface.

I think your cutting depth is set a little thin,try setting the photo to .25
and the font .24 set your bit optimization to "off" and flash at best.

I know some fonts just do not cut well. but yours looks good...

Liq

[Greybeard]

........
Yet another try appears to be working (60% done) and this time it did the name first and is now doing the graphic - which MAY mean that the problems are in the compiling of the design (i.e. software), since it does not appear to compile the same way each time - anybody home in the software design department????

Just for the record, and to give me something more to think about, are you always using the file as you originally saved it, or have you made up the (apparently) same file each time, text plus graphic, with the possibility of doing things in a different order yourself ?

Regards

John

[bearpause]

Ahhhh... success...

set all to .25 on a piece of .95 thick hardwood.
I will try these further suggestions on my next few jobs.

Thank you, one and all.

[bearpause]

Just for the record, and to give me something more to think about, are you always using the file as you originally saved it, or have you made up the (apparently) same file each time, text plus graphic, with the possibility of doing things in a different order yourself ?

Redid the art based on some suggestions, like using a png instead of the gif had originally used, though that version failed, too. Made sizing changes based on the wood I have here.

It appears that too shallow a carve MAY have some effect, though I am not sure why that would be so.

Question: If the actual wood varies from the design thickness, would that cause a problem - I don't think is should since the machine checks surface height and at no time was the depth anywhere near the total thinkness of the wood. OTOH, the thickness might have been as much as 3/16 less than the design. Whaddya think?

[BoardSilly]

Or it could be a formula error in the software when it calculates cut depth. Some software errors only present themselves under certain conditions.

[rjp736]

I was hoping to have an answer to this problem but nothing yet. I called CW on Monday, they said they would call me back....never happened. Called again today, they said they would call me back....never happened. I give up.