Stair Stepping Revisited....

[Digitalwoodshop]

I have been cutting some custom patterns today at different depths and settings that Michael at www.carvebuddy.com did for me a few months ago. I am still a beginner in Pattern Making and needed this right the first time.

So I cut some clocks and plaques with this same pattern and tonight I swapped to the 1/8 inch cutting bit to make this plaque into a circle. Three others went fine today....

I am watching it cut and after the first pass 360 back to the area above the Brass Roller I hear the X Drive Hesitate a second when the depth changed... Then watched it cut long on end or 12 O' clock position and short on the 6 O' clock position.... Because it was cutting extra material on the start of the 3rd pass it did the same at the 9 O' clock brass roller position... A slight hesitation.... Then a even Longer cut at 12 o'clock position so I shut it down. I could hear the cutting stress and would rather cut it manually tomorrow than break a bit.

I had blown all the sawdust at bit change plus have a dual dust collection so that was not an issue. I removed the board expecting to see a dimple in the Masking Tape at the position that the Brass Roller had been at when it hesitated..... Nothing.... Clean smooth tape..... No right guide problem.... The Carving looks good, no errors....

I looked at the board position relative to the input and output tables and no problems seen.....

So.... I will cut it again tomorrow after I meet up with my buddy Chisel Me Timbers and look at his machine problem and hopefully Chris will stop by too with some of his goodies he has carved.

I am thinking it was a Software Glitch with that pattern not a mechanical problem for the first time... This is usually a mechanical problem....


Just had to stop..... I am watching the TV PBS Special about the US Navy Carrier....

http://www.pbs.org/weta/carrier/full_episodes.htm

And the Squids are just visiting Western Australia.... WOW does it bring back memories.... I have been there twice in 78 and 89 on small Tin Can Destroyers.

Liberty Call, ( Logging Off and watching TV for the Civilians...)

AL

[deemon328]

I'm discouraged by all things vector on the CW. I hope that someone with your vast experience can come up with a solution.

Do you think that the Y and Z belts can get a memory(for lack of a better way to describe it) from sitting idle for too long or from going from cold to warm often like they do in the wintertime? I definitely notice the effect on the Z-belt when I move it up and down by hand, but the Y-belt is less noticable.

I'm just at a loss as to why I can't even cut a straight rectangle without getting an uneven edge. What's more puzzling is that jointing and edging functions work perfectly, so why can't I cut a straight vector path along the X or Y without those little hiccups?

This may be less about stairstepping, but I thought that it might somehow be related, expecially in regards to poor circle cutting ability.

[deemon328]

Too bad you guys are 4 hours away, that sounds like it would have been a fun time!

I went all ChrisAlb(meaning cleaning) on my CW today :) I found a deposit of corian in 4 or 5 teeth on the Y-belt idle pulley (part 136) that wasn't obvious unless I shined a flashlight on it while moving the Z-truck up and down a little. I used some old dental picks that I got from an auction to clean them up. Corian really creates some clean-up headaches; I don't think I'll use it too often in the future. At any rate, that fixed up that weird sticking sensation that I mentioned earlier.

I've also noticed that wood chips will sometimes embed on the X conveyor belts. I used the rubber belt and disk cleaner to rub them out.

I'll admit that I need to be more careful about the infeed/outfeed tables. They do not keep their setting very well for me. I might work up some kind of bolt and locknut assembly and place it under each outside corner of the tables. That way I can micro adjust them to perfection, then let the infeed/outfeed leveling screws down. The assembly would serve the purpose of keeping the table the correct height as well as supporting it from the outside edge where it's most needed.

Good discussion. It's nice to go beyond the basics :)

[deemon328]

How far is Muncy from you guys? I'm sure you know why I'm asking.

I wonder how Grizzly would feel if we camped in their parking lot? I bet it's only a matter of time until they offer a competing product. They seem to be very proactive with new tool development. Since the owner's a big guitar guy, I bet he'd love to see one of our CW guitar maker's projects.

I think a video teardown series will become the most important support tool we have after we're all out of warranty. Your 'anatomy of..' posts are already legendary, IMO.

I attended a meeting of the Blair County Guild of Craftsman a few years back. There wasn't much woodworking going on, mostly quilting. But, what they did have was lots of craft show circuit experience, something I'd really like to learn more about as well.

[ChrisAlb]

Too bad you guys are 4 hours away, that sounds like it would have been a fun time!

I went all ChrisAlb(meaning cleaning) on my CW today :) I found a deposit of corian in 4 or 5 teeth on the Y-belt idle pulley (part 136) that wasn't obvious unless I shined a flashlight on it while moving the Z-truck up and down a little...... :)

Wow! My name in lights....LOL. :eek:

I firmly believe that well earned reputation is what keeps my baby humming along with no issues.

It's amazing what a chip here and a speck there can turn into. Very cool Dustin. I'm glad you got her running nice!

Chris (Mr. Clean.....the darn thing) LOL