Final step - cut-out, but

[ND-Hound]

I have the six plagues on the board done except for their cut-out. It called for the 1/8 cut-out bit, I blew out the dust & installed it and it went through the calibrations. When it started, the bit was about 1/4 inch above the wood and continued down for a few laps and into the trough under the 1/4 round edge rout and then while it was cutting about 1/16 into the bottom of the 1/4 round it left the tabs and then moved on to the next plaque. I then opened the lid to interrupt the cut.

Either I set a depth wrong or the bit didn't calibrate correctly after it was installed. Is there a way to stop the sequence and reinstall the bit for it to calibrate again? I thought the cut off bit automatically used the wood thickness to decide the depth of the cut.

The plaques look good and I can always cut them out with a saw and sand 'em, but want to figure out what I did wrong.

[Amonaug]

The cut path command should automatically cut through the board and leave tabs. It sounds like maybe when you put the bit in and it went through the calibration moves it didn't touch the bit plate.

If you haven't unloaded the board or anything you could go back into designer and delete everything but the cut paths and then upload that to the card.

Also make sure the Actual board has at least 1/2 inch at the top (closest to the keypad) from the cut path to the edge of the board or you may damage the brass roller underneath.

[Jeff_Birt]

As others have mentioned your board needs as least 1/2" extra space on top for the board tracking sensor to ride on. The machine not cutting all the way through to keep material there for the sensor to ride on. That is why you got the warning when you uploaded to the card. Also, I would tend to create two separate rectangles for the ledge and the cut out. That neither I nor the machine will get confused about what I am trying to do.

[DrBob]

Amonaug/Jeff_Birt
I have noticed that since the up-grade to .126 LHR has put in a safty code to the cut path that if you dont leave the recomended 1/2" the code will leave a larger/thicker uncut portion in the area of the roller about 1.5"L x 1/4"D.
Yes it should still be done with the 1/2" at the top but just in case nobody has seen this yet it did it with a couple of my projects.

[ND-Hound]

Board is still in the machine and it appears that it did not cut at all on the side near the roller. I can't see the entire first plaque as I stopped everything.

I can let it run at least another plaque just for the sake of science to find out what it's going to do. It only cut about a 1/16 into the board and left the break away tabs so it should show what will happen over the roller. It would still have about 1/4 inch or so to the bottom of the board so it won't hurt anything. I'll post the results.

Otherwise if I duplicate the file, remove everything except the cut path and since the board didn't leave the machine it should just cut the plaques out?

[ND-Hound]

I closed the cover and it made a couple of laps in the air but then it stopped and "Fatal error" "3 " "Reboot" came up. The bottom of the plaques are very near the edge of the board so about 1/4 of the cut out bit is overhanging the edge. I shut it off and if the new file doesn't cut them out it's time to dust off the saw.

[ND-Hound]

I took another look and the cut off bit was about 1/2 off the wood so the machine shutting down probably saved me a broken bit.

Gotta love it! Frustrating, but oh, so neat, and worth the wait.

I'll post a picture when my official wood finisher figures out the finish. (which will happen when I get some more "honey do's done)

[Digitalwoodshop]

You must watch the bit after installing a 1/8 inch bit and be sure it touches the bit plate. If it stops before touching the bit plate then you have a Z problem. Sawdust in the Z Belt, Bad Z Encoder, Bad Z Cable.

Knowing the answer to "Did the bit properly touch the bit plate" is KEY to understanding your problem.

AL

[ND-Hound]

So if it doesn't touch the bit plate and the project isn't done, the project is over? Anyway to stop things and check belts, etc?