Howdy. Shapeoko 3. When I cut a round pocket the cutter makes a little Z axis jog down below depth on the cut when it changes to the next pass… then picks up to the correct depth. This results in a cutter wide trail from center out to edges of the circular pocket. Very shallow… a thousandth or less. I’ve run the file a few times and tightened up everything so I think it’s in the program. Any insights?
Most likely it’s being slightly out of level / square — when moving the machine will dig in on diagonals and so forth resulting in the problem you describe. We have a bit on this at: https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Calibration_and_Squaring_the_Machine
Best solution is to leave a roughing clearance and make a finishing pass which doesn’t have such extraneous moves.
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