one wavy line of text on 3 line carve

[bergerud]

I agree that having the rollers drop even 1/8" is not ideal. It is essential for the measurement stage but it is not essential for the carving stage. Initial measurements on my machine showed that the carrier did not move at all as the rollers dropped the 1/8". On some machines, however, it has caused a small "snipe" line in carvings. (This is a very small movement which is far from causing a tracking problem.) To fix this, I introduced 1/8" thick shims to fit on the rails. With the shims, the rollers do not drop during carving.

My later ACB design does not have this problem at all. The board drops down into the carrier after measurement and there are no roller drops during carving.

[luckettg]

I had this happen on a 11.5 x 33" board while doing a carving with centerline text in the pocket, centered on the board, always under the rollers. Last line is wavy. My guess is something to do with the X axis feed. I then carved another one, different board, which came out perfectly. The only variances was the boards. There was not any error msgs to check the X axis, but I have seen some strange things since converting to the rubber rollers on the X axis. I have double checked the machine's assembly but found nothing amiss yet. This could be several things, from a software glitch not reading the board positions to the board slipping in the X axis. I will keep observing.

[SteveNelson46]

I had this happen on a 11.5 x 33" board while doing a carving with centerline text in the pocket, centered on the board, always under the rollers. Last line is wavy. My guess is something to do with the X axis feed. I then carved another one, different board, which came out perfectly. The only variances was the boards. There was not any error msgs to check the X axis, but I have seen some strange things since converting to the rubber rollers on the X axis. I have double checked the machine's assembly but found nothing amiss yet. This could be several things, from a software glitch not reading the board positions to the board slipping in the X axis. I will keep observing.

Are you sure the belts are not slightly (or occasionally) rubbing on the o-ring of the x tracking sensor? It is a common problem if the o-ring wasn't replaced with the thinner one in the belt upgrade kit. A high spot on the belt would cause the problem to appear random.

[luckettg]

I cannot say for absolutely certain what is happening when this occurs, as it is intermittent and I do not discover the error until the carving is finished. I can say that I have found nothing operating incorrectly on the machine itself. I have spent the time to run tests and to observe, and everything is working as it should be. Just every now and then, a carving goes whacky (Engineering term to explain things to marketing people?) is the best way I could describe it. I will, or someone else will, eventually ferret out the cause.

Are you sure the belts are not slightly (or occasionally) rubbing on the o-ring of the x tracking sensor? It is a common problem if the o-ring wasn't replaced with the thinner one in the belt upgrade kit. A high spot on the belt would cause the problem to appear random.

[Wood Art 1]

Thanks to all you guys, who have thrown in on my wavy line issue. Since my last post two weeks ago I have carved about 25 more of the same group of plaques. I had one instance of wavy text in those 25. The text was placed at 0.5" from the end of the board. I no longer place text that close to the end of the board. It appears that I have a tracking problem that only occurs when the text is that close to the end. Probably not a machine problem. My apologies to Dan for getting him sucked into this - - Probably because I am not using the UCB as it is intended.
In the future, when I want text close to the end. I will insert into the fixture, (a 4" piece at each end of the board, approx. equal in thickness and width) after it has completed the measuring sequence, so that the roller does not drop onto the fixture. Thereby convincing the machine that the text is really 4 1/2" from the end.
I have heard of lots of reasons, why I have the problem. Is there a solution?
PS> to Dan - so far the UHMW strips on the bottom of the fixture are not showing any wear, even the masking tape seems to last longer.