Hi
I am trying to cut a a single large letter from a piece of lumber 35 mm thick. I am using a 3 inch long 0.25 inch downcut endmill. For what ever reason my Z axis keeps saying it is over. The only way to get it to be the correct height off the work piece is to almost have the Z access touching the work piece. I have my Safe Z: at 60 and my Home Z: at 70. Any tips greatly appreciated.
Ive had similar cutting foam inserts. I reduced retracts etc to 1-2 mm. In my case if i clipped the foam it wasnt going to be the end of the world.
If you planning on doing this on a more regular basis then you will need to cut a hole in your table which i have done for milling numbers onto ends of skittles at 45 degrees. Similarly if you have a rotary 4th axis; lowering that in the table helps with bigger stock
Since you are using such a long cutter and thicker wood you will have to watch your heights very carefully in your software. The Z trave of the original series is only 5.25" (133mm). That said it should be easily doable for you.
What software are you using to make gcode?
Are Safe Z and Home Z terms in your software?
There should be a retract height where the cutter will start feeding down from ( maybe that is Safe Z ).
There should also be a rapid height where all rapids will take place. My first thought is that this rapid height is set too high and is going above the top of the travel of the machine.