Any suggestions why my profile cuts are not going to the required depth?
I am cutting 12mm Birch plywood and need to cut out profiles. However my 12.5mm cuts are stopping at about 10mm deep.
When the bit is supposed to ramp, it looks like it it actually getting bumped up slightly rather than lowering. My collet is secure and the bit is a whiteside 1/4 inch shank so no fitment issues.
Desperate to hear from anyone who has experienced the same?
Can you visually verify that the bit is deeper up in the collet after this happens? Early on I had a similar issue, and found that the router was actually moving up when the bit was lowered into the wood. On investigation, I found that I had originally dropped the router down to far when I installed it and had clamped down on the taper on the router body rather that the straight part. Repositioned and retighten and haven’t had the problem since.
It seems I’ve got a crack in my router. My red button broke a few weeks back when I was changing a bit - I didn’t think too much of it at the time and just switched over to using both wrenches on the router and collet. On further inspection, it seems that the crack was worse than I thought and has affected the main shaft of the router. I am guessing the entire collet assembly is moving up into the router during plunge moves. Really upsetting… I’ve had nothing but problems since starting out in Feb.
Kyle, I feel your pain. I had a few problems that were really frustrating. Even to the point I was entertaining the idea of selling the cnc. I’m glad I didn’t! My problems were with the machine, but support took care of it and my wife talked me down off the ledge. Now that all the initial problems are behind me, things run smoothly, well, until I do something stupid…
The router, even though it is $100, is really a wear part. It will need to be replaced from time to time. When I had a few extra bucks, I bought a spare - just in case. I have often wondered about the strength of the router button. Now I will only use it to snug the bit before using the wrenches.
Good Luck. Don’t let it beat you!