Board movement in the X when it should not be.

[fwharris]

I had a strange thing happen yesterday that I do not recall ever seeing before. I was doing some straight bit cuts using the 1/8 and 3/16 bits. I had one board that the cut out was offset in the X direction and the cut out did not go all of the way through the board ( I did get a prompt asking how to "cut through, project?". I had already done around 15 of these without and issues. I was using 4" blanks on the ends of the board to save wood and stay under the rollers. During the set up of the next board I kept getting a check tracking roller error. On one try instead of aborting out I continued just to see what would happen. I went into the load bit step and while loading up a bit I notice the board slowly moving to the right with out any sound from the X drive.

I aborted out and started over and the same thing happened with the very slow movement of the board. It drifted almost 1/2" before it stopped. I did a measure board to trouble shoot and I got the same check tracking roller error. I let it do one measurement to see what it showed for the board length and it was about 1 1/2" short. After removing the end blocks I ran the measure board again and got the error and showed 1/2" short. I loaded up another board (18") and it ran without the error but it showed about 1/2" short.

My carving board had a slight twist to it so I am saying that was the cause for the check tracking roller error. My head pressure was in the high 60s to low 70s. I got that back up to 75-80 by doing a clean and relube of the corner posts, lead screws and clutch plate. I did a X calibration as I was almost .75" off on a 34" board. My board thickness checked showed .820" on a .75" board and I got that reset. I also re formatted and refreshed the firmware on the card.

I switched over to using side rails instead of the end blocks as they rails are very flat and straight. This helps to compensate for any small board twist. I've since ran about 20 more carves with very constant results and no errors.

No clues what so ever on why the calibrations were so far off and will probably do a check on them more often and especially if I ever see a unusual error or prompt. The board movement might have been to the board twist and loosing contact with the brass roller and the system trying to make adjustments.

[bergerud]

Could it be that your machine calibration somehow got reset to defaults? I swear my machine has done that in the past on its own. (I really do not think I did it but I would not stake too much on it.)

Were the calibration numbers the defaults?

[fwharris]

When I started up the calibration the numbers were what I had on the last calibration I believe. I recorded some numbers on the print out sheet from the last one and the ones displayed was some that I had written down. Both of the numbers were the same value so now you got me thinking it might be back to the defaults. I should go back and look at my sheet as I do have some other numbers written down for my calculation on the last one. I just made the adjustment as I knew it was off.

[SteveNelson46]

Floyd,

I have had that happen during the calibration process on a rotary carve many times. It makes the normal three revolutions and then started turning back in the opposite direction. One time I just let it go to see what would happen. It never stopped so after about 3 or 4 minutes I stopped it and started the calibration process over again. It still happens randomly. I'm glad to see that there isn't something wrong with my machine. The error is probably in the firmware.

[henry1]

Floyd,

I have had that happen during the calibration process on a rotary carve many times. It makes the normal three revolutions and then started turning back in the opposite direction. One time I just let it go to see what would happen. It never stopped so after about 3 or 4 minutes I stopped it and started the calibration process over again. It still happens randomly. I'm glad to see that there isn't something wrong with my machine. The error is probably in the firmware.

Sorry to bud in steve you have a private message

[bergerud]

Floyd,

I have had that happen during the calibration process on a rotary carve many times. It makes the normal three revolutions and then started turning back in the opposite direction. One time I just let it go to see what would happen. It never stopped so after about 3 or 4 minutes I stopped it and started the calibration process over again. It still happens randomly. I'm glad to see that there isn't something wrong with my machine. The error is probably in the firmware.

I have had that happen as well. I remember thinking that I had not followed the normal order and had confused the firmware. If you can get it to happen consistently, it should be reported.

[SteveNelson46]

I have had that happen as well. I remember thinking that I had not followed the normal order and had confused the firmware. If you can get it to happen consistently, it should be reported.

That's the problem. It is intermittent but, happens quite frequently. I would like to think that if it has happened to you and if you are a beta-tester that it has already been reported.

[bergerud]

I only report things that I can reproduce. (If its not broke, it cannot be fixed!)

[SteveNelson46]

I only report things that I can reproduce. (If its not broke, it cannot be fixed!)

Sorry Dan, I didn't mean any disrespect. It is a difficult problem to reproduce and I hope the Carvewright people are aware of it as well as all of the other difficulties with the rotary calibration. Once it is calibrated everything seems to do great.

[bergerud]

Sorry, I was not offended at all. No reason to apologize. I was just stating my bug "policy". I have had many crashes and malfunctions which I could not recreate. If I cannot tell the programmers how to recreate the problem, they cannot even begin to fix it.