Vision 16 Series User Manual page 29

Troubleshooting 29
4. Table tolerances may not be able to maintain the accuracy level you want.
5. Table may not be on a level surface.
Hint: While it's true that you can do non-nose riding engraving, it's not easy to hold any controlled
accuracy on the depth. This takes flat material, a very flat bed and some degree of skill and confidence.
It also takes an application where some amount of uneven engraving may be tolerated.
Problem: I'm getting "tails" or "swirls" in the corners of my engraving.
Possible solutions:
1. Your cutter speed is too fast relative to your x-y speed. Slow your spindle speed down or increase
your table speed.
2. Your cutter is worn or damaged.
3. Turn down the dwell speed.
Problem: I'm getting "fuzz", "fur" or can see lines in the bottom of my cut showing each cutter
path. I can even see steps in the bottom of my cut.
Possible solutions:
1. This problem is tough. Sometimes caused by dull cutters, the wrong cutter, or not enough overlap for
each cut. Try changing cutter size slightly. You may get better clean up.
2. Try taking a second pass cut at .001-.002 deeper. This may clean up the roughness.
3. Resharpen the cutter. There are various cutter angles that can cause these kinds of problems. There
is a relief angle that if too great can cause noticeable ridges in the bottom of the cut.
4. Ensure that the spindle is square in the mount or block. An unsquare spindle means an unsquare
cutter to the material surface.
5. Turn spindle speed up.
Problem: Poor letter quality.
Possible solutions:
1. You may be engraving too fast. Engraving quality improves with the right engraving and spindle
speeds.
2. If you are diamond drag engraving, you have too much down pressure or you are engraving too
deep. Also, check the grain of the material; it should be left to right.
3. You may have a worn or dull cutter.
4. Your material is not securely fastened to the table.
Problem: Ragged Type.
Possible solutions:
1. If the quality of cut is ragged or exhibits steps, you may have play in the cutter. This could be in the
gap between the cutter and the spindle shaft. Maybe the shaft is worn or the spindle bearings need to
be replaced. Once a shaft starts to wear and a cutter is loose, the problem can worsen quickly.
2. The spindle is loose in the housing or block.
3. The carriage is loose or has excessive play, check the z-axis bearings or slide.
4. Lubricate lead screws with recommended lubricant.
Problem: My baseline is off.
Possible solutions:
1. You're not at the mechanical or software home. Maybe the table or carriage was bumped during set-
up. Maybe the previous job was cut short and the system did not return back to its mechanical home or
limit switches. Move the table, bridge or carriage physically to home or send it home via the software.
2. Check your software layout for keystroke errors.
© 2013 Vision Engraving & Routing Systems