Stair stepping may be just bad wood...

[BearlyRich]

I mentioned in another post that I got hit with a bad case of stair stepping on a project. Completely ruined the carve and made me think right away that there was a major problem with my machine. Sometimes curiosity wins out.

I took a real close look at that board. It did happen to have a small indent in the edge where the board position sensor rides. Made me wonder...

This was a nasty board to begin with. It was an old 6 foot 11 x 3/4 pine shelving that I had cut in half to make test carves. So I tried the other half which was just as nasty. But this time I taped the entire edge with blue painters tape (only thing I had on hand). I ran a carve and it worked perfectly.

Then I had enough faith to put in the 14.5 inch board I had made to carve the US coin map that Bladesmith had so kindly supplied ( http://www.carvewright.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2046&page=10 ). I had to make this board and was afraid of it being ruined. So I taped the edge on this one also.

Happy to say this project carved beautifully. Thank you Bladesmith! My little girl was just thrilled.

Anyway. I have carved several projects since, taping the edge on every one. Not a single problem with board position even on the ones with cut outs. And that US map would be a great test as it's all in vector so the board is constantly moving back and forth over 24 inches or so.

It looks like the machine is a bit sensitive to knots on the edge, slight cups or bows and of course indents. So far the tape has allowed some nasty wood to be carved with no problems and it looks like my machine is fine. Well, besides the CCM after the first five minutes :confused: It always runs fine after hitting the Enter button so I can live with that one...

[RC Woodworks]

That CCM is driving me nuts too!!!! I have replace everything CW sent me! The motor, rpm sensors, cover switch, motor switch and I still get the CCM !! Oh well now I can't finish a carving without a axis stall.

I am glad CW is open on Saturdays!

Rick

[BearlyRich]

Rick, I've read of your problems. You have the patience of a saint! On the brite side, it all makes me feel much better about my machine (sorry).

And I finally recarved that project that got ruined by the stair stepping. The back side went perfect with my blue tape on the edge. While it was carving, I was out tilling the garden in 100 degree hot Sun...

Came back in the shop to do the front of the board. Pulled the tape off the back, put the new tape on, put the board in, hit Enter and watched the board measure. Then I relaized I was looking at blue tape! Yep, I put it on the wrong side and there was no way to stop the machine because it had already measured the board. Thank goodness I had a good edge on the wood and it turned out fine anyway.

We really need a way to start/stop/pause a double sided project in a case like this. What would happen if the board was put in wrong? Or anything else? Once the machine does the measure after the "Hit Enter", it's done and no going back... It should have an option to stop the process and return to placing the board in... Unless I missed something very important?

[Dave-Carve]

Hi Rick CCM error
Ive Used Start Stop Pause Many Times .
Just Open cover is 1 way ,Press Stop is another way,
Any way I used to get error after apx 1 min into carve.
sence i have put a work light over opening In top of machine shinning onto board for some reason???? I have not had Any errors since.
If I Move light or start with light off same error apx 1-2min into carve.
put light back no error .:confused:
Maybe CW should have put a light on sensor ??? Or inside machine ?
Try it Maybe fix your problem too!!

Also Noticed no error when Carving outside in sun light ??
For some reason it seems the sensors work flawless with bright light ??
My Machine has over 60hrs carve time:D with that being the only problem.

Hope I didn,t Jinks It With Info :!: :!: :!:

[BearlyRich]

Dave, interesting about the light. My machine is not well lit at all, so I'll look into lighting it up to see what happens.

Yes, you can start/stop/pause in general but there is no way to back up. Once you put a board in and the machines does it's measuring, it's done and there's no way to go back. If you think about a two sided project and having to flip the board for the second side. What would happen if you flipped it wrong and then hit the Enter key so the machine did it's measuring? You can't go back to the pre-measure state to fix the board position and there would be no way to salvage the project. That's what I was talking about. Many times I'm just not that good at explaining things...

[Dan-Woodman]

Only thing you can do is go back to designer , delete the back side and reload just the front.

[BearlyRich]

You know, that's not a terribly bad idea and I never thought of it. In a pinch, it would work. Be a hassle, but it would work. Thanks!

[Digitalwoodshop]

I have used the stop key after pressing center of board, frustrated over the snail pace. For some reason after pressing enter it walks you through all the steps remembering that it already measured the board and lets you then select center or jog. Try it.

I even had put the wrong bit in yesterday, putting the shorter carving bit in vice the longer cutting bit. I stopped it by opening the cover after the bit flag check and changing bits. Let it find the surface and it cut normally.

AL

My stair stepping was so bad I am using a template to cut the outside plus it's faster. Blue tape would have fixed it.

[BearlyRich]

what if you don't select center?

Unfortunately, I haven't had time to work with the machine for a while. Sometimes life is unkind...

Hopefully, I'll explore a little more and see if there's a way aorund it. with the long carve time of the project I was doing, I didn't want to take any chances. Next time, I'll set up a simple two sided project just as a test to see what I can do.