The quality of my letters with a v bit is not very good. the edges are not even. attached is a picture of the issue and file.
I also have a shapeoko 3 xxl
When the 3D preview:
and the actual cut don’t match, the problem is usually something electromechanical — check the machine per the Machine Operating Checklist (there should be one in the assembly manual for your machine) — if there’s nothing obvious to address, let us know and post a photo of your machine and we will look into this with you.
Check the belts and belt tension, and make sure nothing is mechanically interfering — if everything checks out, look into feeds and speeds.
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The parameters in the toolpath look pretty conservative, even for hardwood.
These spots in the path make me think there is some slop somewhere…
With the machine powered on, but the spindle off, can you move the tool side to side or front to back?
Try to note if it’s just the spindle in the router, the whole Z axis assembly, or even the Y axis moving.
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i can move the entire z axis forwards and backwards but not side to side. i cannot move both the x axis or y axis
If you feel slop in the Z-axis, check the V-wheels to ensure they are engaged properly with the vertical rails. I believe there were some eccentric nuts on the Z-axis V-wheels for adjustment.
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On each end of the gantry at the bottom are 4 v wheels that are adjustable. The same is true for the bottom two v wheels on the Z assembly. To test if they are tight enough power off the Shapeoko 3 XXL and push on each of the 6 v-wheels one at a time to see if you can physically move the gantry a small distance. If the wheel just spins and does not move the gantry and/or Z then adjust the v-wheels. The v-wheels are mounted on an eccentric. To adjust use a metric allen wrench to slightly loosen the bolt. Then use the hex shaped eccentric to move the v-wheel until it makes a good contact with the bottom of the rail. Then hold the hex shaped eccentric in that position while tightening up the bolt. If you fail to hold the eccentric position torque from tightening the bolt will change the eccentric position and may make your v-wheel too tight or too loose. After testing and adjusting all 6 v-wheels try your project over on some scrap wood and see if it fixes your problem. As others pointed out it looks like there is slop in the mechanical movement making the text move around. That is usually v-wheels but could also be tightness of the belts. To check the belts move the gantry all the way to the back and lift up in the center of each belt and see if both sides feel the same. For the gantry move the Z to one end and repeat lifting the belt and put your finger under it to feel the tension. The belt should be a little bit difficult to lift less than a half an inch. Do not tighten up the belts so tight that you cannot lift the belt. The SO3 is very reliable and the belts are not likely the problem but just check them. Lastly each of the 4 stepper motors has a pulley with two set screws. One on the set screws is located over a flat on the stepper motor. Make sure those small metric set screws are tight. After checking them put a black magic marker across the pulley through the center of the stepper motor shaft. That will give you a visual indication if the pulley is slipping during cutting because the line will not be aligned like it was when you make the marks.
For future reference the photos appear you have an SO3 XXL with Belt Z. You have a 66MM Makita router. On the SO3 the router mount was a 69MM hole big enough for a Dewalt 611 router and there is a ring to size it down to 66MM for the Makita/C3D router. So you have a belt in the back of the Z axis, 2 belts that are on each side that run the gantry front to back and a belt across the top of the gantry to move the Z right to left. There are 12 total v-wheels and 6 of them are adjustable. The 6 on top are not adjustable and the 6 on the bottom are adjustable with an eccentric. All of the v-wheels should be clean as well and the v of the extrusion they run on. A stiff nylon brush can used to clean the v-wheels and the v shaped extrusion.
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i tightened all my wheels and still having the same issue
Are your belts properly tensioned?
what amount of slack should be in the belts?
I also set up my laser recently and had a few issues that led to the cnc grinding on the rails a few times. Would that have caused the issues im having?
See the instructions for your machine for the specifics.
There’s an informational post at:
which you may find helpful.
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