Having deepth control issues

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I have a Shapeoko Pro, I use Vcarve pro to create projects and send gcode to Carbide Motion to run my cnc. I was having issues with my Shapeoko cutting too deep, I called in and your support person suggested I contact Vectric because your support staff say the problem is with the software.

I sent Vectric the “crv” files and all the gcode for a project. They ran everything through their support staff and showed me that the crv file and the gcode files match as far as depth of cut.

I pulled out 4 different pieces of wood and set my z to the top of my spoilboard, I then raise my router and slid the 1st piece of wood under it and using the round pin instead of a cutting bit lowered the router to the top of the material and wrote down the “Z” measurement shown on Carbide motion. I repeated this process for the other 2 pieces of wood. Below are the measurements that Carbide motion showed for the thickness of the wood pieces as well as the actual measurement as taken with my digital calipers.
Z for the top of spoilboard is 0
All measurements are in inches
Carbide measurement calipers measurement error
thin plywood 0.139 0.368 0.229
piece of trim 0.061 0.281 0.22
3/4" barn siding 0.389 0.798 0.409
rough cut plank 0.86 1.44 0.58

Thanks

Dan

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Somebody needs to walk you through displaying your Grbl configuration settings, and find out what value is set for $102. However, you’re not showing a consistent percentage of error, so I’d be looking at your machine’s Z carriage mechanicals, and electricals. Check the stepper motor connection and the setscrews for the motor coupler.

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Do you have the correct Z axis type defined in the configuration you sent to the controller? There are options for the original (belt), Z plus (lead screw), and HDZ (ball screw). They have different resolutions and entering the wrong one will make the Z axis move too far or not far enough. If you have a 1 2 3 block try zeroing on the spoil board and measure the block with the machine.

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+1 to @Steve.Mc 's suggestion. I also have a Shapeoko Pro that was experiencing errors on the z-axis. It was the result of a loose connection in the z-axis stepper motor cable connection harness that was a known issue with a batch of machines produced for some period of time. Before this was diagnosed, I spent months thinking that it was something that I was doing wrong as this is my first CNC. Since the replacement parts have been installed, my machine has performed flawlessly. It’s nice to finally have a reliable machine that I am beginning to trust.

This may be something else, but I recommend contacting Support to see if your machine was potentially part of the flawed batch of Shapeoko Pros.

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