Is my bit skipping?

[JVallario]

During my last carve I noticed that as the carving bit got closer to the front of the machine (keypad being the front) and only on the widest portion, the bit sounded as if it were skipping.
What I mean here is the sound changed from a constant to more intermittent. The Carving looks to have come out ok but I'm wondering if this is a potential problem waiting to bite me on the butt. If it were the QC I would expect it would occur no matter where it was carving. The bit looks fine and sharp.
I'm thinking the flex shaft may need re-lube as it got warmer than usual and seems to happen when the shaft is in it's tightest bend. Am I on track or am I missing the mark?

FYI the material was red oak and I don't see any areas where the wood would be harder than the rest of the carving. I use Gunk Crane Cam with Moly on the shaft.

[Wilbur]

I had this and found the Z truck loose on the rail. I tighten the bearings and it fixed that but I think there could be other things that could be wrong. This is one thing you could check along with the bit being loose.


Wilbur

[JVallario]

Thanks I'll take a look.

[Ike]

During my last carve I noticed that as the carving bit got closer to the front of the machine (keypad being the front) and only on the widest portion, the bit sounded as if it were skipping.
What I mean here is the sound changed from a constant to more intermittent. The Carving looks to have come out ok but I'm wondering if this is a potential problem waiting to bite me on the butt. If it were the QC I would expect it would occur no matter where it was carving. The bit looks fine and sharp.
I'm thinking the flex shaft may need re-lube as it got warmer than usual and seems to happen when the shaft is in it's tightest bend. Am I on track or am I missing the mark?

FYI the material was red oak and I don't see any areas where the wood would be harder than the rest of the carving. I use Gunk Crane Cam with Moly on the shaft.

I too have had this problem and it gave me a clean the Y axis message. It did skip carving. I think every time the message came up it started at a different point. What it was a chip of wood in the cover over the top rollers and I cleaned the Y rail really well. The other possible cause could be the Y motor, the plastic teeth may have broke one tooth.

Of course it could be the loose rollers too!

Ike