Most of my errors are due to mental/knowledge mistakes! I was cutting out a design in a 1.22â thick round wall sign. I was anxious to try my new 1/8â 1/4â shank dc IDC bitâŠI didnât realize at the time it would not make that deep of a cut without âburningâ the top of the pocketed holesâŠI had to change mills to 1/4â dc but that change some tolerances in the design so I improvised, and it worked until the last hole. In aâhurryâ I forgot to turn on the router before I hit the resume buttonâŠâŠboom and thats where it went southâŠ.
@IDCWoodcraft has a check sheet. I printed it and stuck it in a page protector and keep it close. My best friend who died almost 10 years ago said âJake, you do your best work when you take your timeâ. Those words roll around in my brain anytime I am using ANY of my power tools. Remembering eyes, ears, respirator, dust collection and a quick safety glance before operating any of my tools, CNC included.
Yea, you messed up a nice project, but hopefully you have your fingers, eyesight, hearing and the ability to breathe. Lesson learned I guess.
Best of luck on redoing your project! Be safe!
Jake
Jup, brains. Sometimes I feel like a zombie in search of themzz aswell.
I try to mitigate them by installing visual reminders or obstackles.
Turning the router on and starting a carve without zeroing the z axis was a big one for me, so I carved a little cover I put over the switch of my router to stop myself in my fast tracks and review if I did âthe thingâ. As an extra I always retract my z hight to 25mm.
If its not on 25mm, its not set yet.
If I go out and call it a day but need the same xyz zeroes to be used the next time, I throw a sign on the project reading âzero before moving, you moron!â
These measures have saved the day more than I can count.
That doesnât mean my talent to bleep up isnât used on a regular basis. Iâm a natural.
I recently used my LongMill after being away from it for awhile. I had a couple of âoopsiesâ.
I wanted to zero to the center of my spoilboard with Z at the spoil board surface. First I set the Z 0 then I swapped to a workspace that has XY 0 at the center. I used goto XY 0 and then decided to check the Z without swapping back to my âworkingâ workspace and the Z promptly crashed into the spoil board. So now I needed to start the whole process over and the first thing I did was re-zero the Z without putting the magnet on the router leading to crash into the probe block.
Then I took a couple of deep breaths, tried to relax, and be more careful. I guess using my CNC is a perishable skill. My takeaway is that I shouldnât go too long without using it!
Your biggest oopsie was being away from your loved one for a while.
What were you thinking! Itâs not a bicycle you can leave for two decades and jump on to wheely your way out into a sunset with two fingers parked in your nose and the other ones making a peace sign hailing a taxi cab playing piano ironically, youâre not ice dancing in a pink tutu, swirling out a triplle flipflop backwards while whistling the good bad ânâ ugly theme song, nor skydiving from a hot air balloon targetted by a squadron of F35âs because of China⊠maybe⊠somehowâŠ
Youâre trying to be a clearvoyant without being clearvoyant. You need to keep seeing your c and c machine to keep it easy. Itâs a mans best friend!
Mine wiggles when I open the door. I need to address that someday.
Anyhoo, what was my point, ohyeah, the moment we think we know that we know we think, a cnc will proof us otherwise. Turn your back on that and it will proof it twice.
CNCing is a roadtrip to the outskirts of Humble in the southern tip of Closecallerado!