Good afternoon,
I’m in the middle of a cut. The job completed, but due to the slight variance in the wood thickness. Is there a way to make the cutter go slightly deeper with a second cut?
As you can see the 2022 didn’t cut deep enough.
You could just set Z Zero so it is slightly below the surface of the project. You would only want to lower it though by an amount less than your retract height.
To do so, just jog so the machine is not over your piece, then carefully lower Z until it is slightly below zero, then just zero out Z so that becomes the new zero.
The other thing you could do would be to save the “2022” as a separate toolpath and export G Code with just that element, then set Z Zero right in the area where it will cut. rather than somewhere else on the piece.
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I’m seeing it is sooo critical to have exact thickness of wood. This piece I’m using is live edge. I ran it through the planer several times and then sanded to 240 grit. And it “seems” like the thickness is uniform, but you can’t see the difference in thickness until it actually starts cutting. I may have sanded more in some areas more than others.
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This is why I now run a surfacing pass, on the machine, before running any v-carve job. That way you are guaranteed to have a flat surface (as far as the machine is concerned), and it enables fine/shallow details
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I use Michael Hotchin’s method all the time. I’m doing tracings and carves in Baltic birch plywood and the thickness varies enough there that I have shallow areas. It’s also hard to hold a 30x30 inch piece of plywood stock completely flat on the work table. Here’s a horrible admission that will appall even the greenest novice: I’ve been known to jam a screwdriver between the table and the stock to raise it up “just a tad” when the bit is cutting in an area that is too low.
That’s funny!
When it was cutting yesterday I tried to grip the side of the board to lift it a little, but stopped. My hold-downs were properly doing their job. And knowing my luck, I would have shifted the board laterally and REALLY messed up the design. smh
At this point everything is a learning lesson. I’m just trying to glean some tips and techniques from the more experienced here. I’m always grateful that people reply quickly in response to questions.
I don’t know if this is true, but I’ve heard that some people loosen the hold down where they want to wedge the screwdriver.
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