Machine trimming off top

[blakeyoung59]

Aftenoon Everyone,

I'm having a slight problem with my machine today and I was wondering if anyone could help.

I'm carving an 1/8" piece of Masonite, mounted on a 3/4" piece of mdf... to use as a printing block for a poster. Unfortunately in the areas that the machine is carving it is trimming off about 1/32" (in areas where a pattern is placed) of the top of the Masonite. Usually this would not be a problem... but in this case I would like to keep the smooth surface of the Masonite intact.

I thought this might be a calibration issue... but it seems that the machine is doing it deliberately... as blank areas inside and aroud the pattern are left untouched...


so I'm not sure what to mess with... software or hardware.

I am attaching the MPCs of my project

thanks for any help
-Blake

[Bubbabear]

change your height setting to maybe 200 or 250

[hotpop]

blakeyoung59

Did you create the patterns? Assuming your paint file is white with black lines then need to make sure the fill area of the patterns are pure white. Set the color to 255 (white) and repaint. If the fill area is just a shade or two off the CW is going to skim off the top of your pattern.

If the paint file is black on white then paint it with color 0 (black) and repaint.

[hotpop]

blakeyoung59

Just had another passing thought. Check your bit and adapter and make sure the set screws are tight.

[Router-Jim]

I think the easiest fix is to add 1/32" to your board depth in designer. In reality your double stick tape can account for that much.

[blakeyoung59]

I made the files in adobe illustrator... so the default swatches I was using were pure white and black... I'm gonna try another carve tomorrow by raising the pattern height to 200 and adjusting to board thickness... but it seems like in the past the board thickness has never really effected the cut... I can remember using a 3/4"board at the machine when I had specified a 1/2" board in designer... didn't seem to affect the cut

-by