Loosing z depth? M2 sled, stock

Troubleshooting
#1

Never really noticed it until I started cutting stars with a v bit.

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My first instinct was unlevel wood, but it shows up on baltic birch that’s been checked with a steel ruler for flush. It’s showed up multiple times and I just can’t pinpoint it. Any ideas? Ever seen it before?

Makermade m2 , all sock, dewalt spindle.

I’ve checked the order of which it’s cutting the stars, and the growth shrinkage doesn’t follow that pattern, so I feel like it has to be just variations in the board, but I can’t find any that would be this off.

Any tricks dealing with this?

#2

That would be my first hunch too, what do you see if you cut a long straight line with the bit down the whole time? That would tell us if it’s something about how the sled is sliding or something in the software.

#3

I’ll play with it more tomorrow, the vbit really shows the littlest changes in z depth. I made a rail.system.for it today and got a surfacing bit, will play with that configuration tomorrow as well. I bought another smaller machine for all these flags people want, at this point I think I’m just playing with this for.something to tinker with

#4

I’m noticing a similar issue with cutting jobs with multiple repeating pockets or holes.

My z axis calibration runs successfully to within .25 mm but my Z still seem to drift deeper and deeper over multiple cuts.

(makerverse 1.1.2)

#5

Due to mine’s depth changing based on location and not order of cut makes me think this isn’t the same issue. If mine was z axis was drifting the stars would either get progressively deeper or shallower based on the order the stars are cut, that or be random. The fact they got smaller towards the lower right even though my machine cut in a different order makes me think it was the sled changing pitch due to the wood.

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#6

honestly the more I play with it the more I think I was just pushing my bit too hard. too much depth per pass would give the sled the ability to move away from the material depending on where the edges of the sled were, etc, etc. Im running a slower pass on some extra pine now and it’s not looking to shabby, ill update the thread if my experiment proves i’m just an idiot.

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#7

check the balance of your sled (if you hang it by the chains, does it hang
straight or does it tip, with the router at about cutting depth)

if it tips towards the router, then as the chain tension gets high it will tend
to pull the bit out fo the wood

if it tips away from the router, then as the chain tension gets high it will
tend to tip towards the edge of the sled closest to the motor.

adjusting the ring height can reduce this.

if you can do a video of it cutting from the side, you may catch it tipping in
an area that has the depth wrong.

David Lang

#8

Thanks Dave, I’ve balanced the sled before, seems to be a little contention on here for is the sled should be balanced, slightly tipped forward, or tipped at 15 degrees. Figuring your the man, what’s ur recommendation?

Honestly the more I play with it the more I think I was just pushing the thing too hard, I cut 4 stars about 20 inches apart today and they look very clean. Gonna pick up some baltic tomorrow and see how it goes at a much more conservative approach.

I come from a laser background so of course the fact this actually touches the wood is what was giving me problems.