- Joined
- Jan 3, 2015
- Messages
- 400
When I first got my CNC Sherline system running (2006?), my goal was to machine wax to make jewelry through lost wax casting. I would disconnect the Y axis and plug it into my rotary table so that the X axis went back and forth and the rotary axis would step in 1 degree increments around a ring. My first practice piece was to engrave on a cylinder of wood, and the last X pass was like an inch and change farther down the axis than the first pass. Every change of direction, the backlash would hit, and even though my backlash wasn't terrible (it was worse than yours at .003 or .004), when that gets added on 360 times, it moves a lot. I measured the backlash with a dial indicator, set up compensation in Mach3, and the next piece came out with the first and last cuts matching. It was a vivid lesson, so I remember it.
I wish I still had that first piece.
I wish I still had that first piece.