Steps carved in wood

[Timeless-Creations]

Hello,
I am trying to use the cutout tool to cut a 1" thick board.

It made several passes, however ever pass was slightly off from the last creating the steps in the wood. I have a picture attached.
I used the 1/8" straight bit to make the cutout.

What would cause this? How do I fix?
Thank you for your help,
-Lee

[eromran]

It would be a little more helpful if you could also post the MPC file.That way everyone could see if there was some setting that may be off.

[Timeless-Creations]

unfortunately I can not post the file because it is a copyrighted Lyre that I am producing.

It appears that every time the machine goes to make another pass it is off by about 1/16".
-Lee

[eromran]

If this is happening away from the copy right design can you just delete it and post the remaining file.

[mtylerfl]

Hello,
I am trying to use the cutout tool to cut a 1" thick board.

It made several passes, however ever pass was slightly off from the last creating the steps in the wood. I have a picture attached.
I used the 1/8" straight bit to make the cutout.

What would cause this? How do I fix?
Thank you for your help,
-Lee

Hello,

It appears the board is shifting or binding during the cutout process.

Possible causes...
1) you failed to add the additional 7" length to your project board (you MUST keep board under the rollers at all times)
2) the board is slipping on the traction belts
3) the sliding plate is too tight against the board causing intermittent binding
4) the board does not have parallel sides, causing intermittent binding
5) the brass roller sensor is losing contact with the board bottom edge

[Jeff_Birt]

Do a search for 'stair stepping'. This is caused by your board slipping on the board tracking sensor. It can be caused by a cupped/ twisted board, incorrect down pressure, a really hard slick board, a missing o-ring on the sensor, etc. Al a.k.a. Digitalwoodshop came up with the idea of running a strip of painters tape along the bottom edge of the board where it contacts the sensor. I found this works really good with MDF.

Try the above search I mentioned for even more information. 'Search' is your friend...

[ncamp]

I usually fix it with my oscilating belt sander.

I believe this is caused by the wood slipping slightly on the roller when it is cutting. Masking tape on the edge of the board helps some. This does not explain why it sometimes only happens on one side of the cutout.

p.s. Sorry Jeff, we replied at the same time.

[Timeless-Creations]

The lyre design itself is copyrighted.
I have a contract as the only provider of these lyres to the company.
I can not post the file because others would then be able to produce the lyre breaking the copyright and possibly opening up myself and others for legal issues.

I can answer questions as to settings in the Carvewright designer software.

Basically I used the software arcs, ect... to draw out the lyre.
mirrored it and joined the two halves together. With a lot of work I managed to get the arcs back to where they belong due to the bug.

I use the "Cut Path" tool to cut out the outside of the lines.
I do not do the "flip cut" or "hide cut-out"

My board settings are exactly 1 inch thick and the exact dimensions of the lyre. The ACTUAL board was a bit wider and over 7" longer (3.5 on both left and right)

I used the 1/8" straight bit to do the "cut path."

I just noticed the depth is set for .062
is this the depth used for each pass? doesn't seem right...
It appears the machine used 5 passes to cut through a 1" piece of wood.
This would be 1/5 an inch or .2 inches.

could it be the machine losses tracking? The cuts from the top to bottom of the board appeared good. The cuts on the left and right were off every pass.

Hope this helps more and sorry I am not able to post the original file.
-Lee

[Timeless-Creations]

Ah.... a few replies came in as I was typing my last message...

Thanks for the advise...

Tomorrow I'll check the down pressure and the belts.

The wood I used today was a piece of pine for test purposes.
I know it was not cupped at all... ran it through the drum sander a billion times.
The sides were all squared up too.
Also had more than 7" to work with... a bit more than 3.5 on left and right...
Can't use the oscillating belt sander due to several tight inside curves.

Thanks for the help and I'll look at things tomorrow.
-Lee

[Jeff_Birt]

Lee please see my first response....the board is slipping...