I was doing a two stage cut with a 1/4 rough bit and a 1/8 detail bit. The rough cut was perfect, performing exactly as I thought it would. But when I started the detail cut, the tool behavior was very different than anything I have seen before.
The Easel project I was carving has lots of small holes all with a diameter greater than the 1/4 inch bit. The rough cut had cut all the holes and I expected the detail bit to only clean up the text that is also in the project. Instead the 1/8 inch bit began “pecking” at the holes. I took some video to show what it was doing.
In each hole the bit was positioned just inside the edge (not touching the uncut wood) and then lowered, it was then lifted move a tiny amount around the hole and then lowered again, it would do this 10 or 20 times around the circle. A very time consuming task with no wood being cut.
This is the project it was cutting
The detail cut also made a unscheduled cut across the top of the 'V" for some reason, It was doing a nice job cleaning up the lettering and then for some reason as it completed the top of the left side of the “V” it left the bit in the wood and move to the right hand top of the “V”
Looking at the toolpath there is not even a path from the top left to the top right so I have no idea why this happened. But I am at least 99% certain it was not a mechanical error.
So that was was my evening, any and all ideas, comments and suggestions are welcome.