I am trying a very basic carve… A simple circle. 1 11" circle in the center of a 24"x24"x1/2" piece of plywood.
When I started the first cut I used the “rough” setting, but it gave me a message saying there’s nothing to carve with the current settings. The current settings were the default in easel.
I updated the drivers, same issue. I tried the “detailed” carve with the same exact settings and bit size, .25… It started the carve but plunged too deep causing the router to burn the wood and cut crooked. I figured since it was Home Depot plywood and knowing it isn’t completely flat I adjusted the settings to not cut as deep and move as fast… It managed to plunge even deeper.
Everything looks ok, it homes normally and all of that, but I don’t understand the message about nothing to carve or why it’s suddenly acting all funky. I’ve used this project before with no problems.
Any clues as to what the issues may be?
Can you share the project.
David, typically the “nothing to carve” warning is when the bit you have selected is too large to carve any of your project. As Chris says, if you can share the project we can see what settings you’re using and get you going.
Here’s the project link, Easel - 1X12
Odd, it never had a problem with the bit before. I guess I could try a smaller bit tomorrow.
Not sure about the “Nothing to Carve”; MechanicalGoose is right about that one, but it didn’t pop up for me. The Depth per Pass though…, see first image, seems just a wee bit too much for my liking…
Basically, if your material is 0.5" thick and you tell EASEL to do a Depth per Pass of 20" then EASEL will try to make the cut in one swipe. Check out the second image below of the simulated roughing tool path.
The finishing tool path is the third image and looks to be three passes.
Large Depth per Pass for Both
Roughing Tool Path
Finish Tool Path
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Brandon Parker
Take a look at the recommended settings, wouldn’t that be more than what I entered? It recommends a plunge rate of 9" and depth per pass of 28"
Or am I looking at it the wrong way?
I think you are missing some decimal places in your Custom settings…?
Last time I check 0.028 was over 7 times smaller than your Custom setting of 0.2 for the Finishing Pass and 714 smaller than your Custom setting of 20 for the Roughing Pass.
The Plunge Rate is smaller yes which will cause the bit to plunge into the material at the slower rate, but the Depth per Pass is the problem here it seems.
Recommended Settings
Your Custom Settings
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Brandon Parker
Oh crap… Yeah, I definitely missed that!! Thanks for pointing that out.
No problem…
Everyone has those types of moments…
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Brandon Parker
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To be honest I don’t do a lot of carving and right now I only have the 2 bits that came with my machine. Other than the obvious problem above I do believe the root of the whole thing is a dull bit. So on the plus side, now I have an excuse to buy new tools…
I switched it out to an 1/8" bit and it worked like a champ. Luckily, the successful carve was just outside the messed up bit removing it completely.
Thanks again for the help.