Hello Shopbot friends:
When recently cutting a V-carving, I noticed line widths that should have been even, were not. As carving proceeded in the increasing X axis direction, the lines got narrower when they should have stayed the same width.
Being in a rush, I put a shim under the low end of my plaque to raise it up about .030" and that made it so I could finish my V-carving. After that carving was done, I decided to re-flatten my table top using my 2 1/2" Amana planing bit.
The next time I did a V-carving, I noticed the same problem, and thought maybe my planing bit had slipped in the collet. So I flattened my table top again, and made sure the collet was tight. Well, the problem still exists, my table is still not flat.
I did some measuring of the area on my table top that I use the most, from (2,5) to (36, 30). Those readings are in the attachment. (I measured the gap using a set of "feeler" gauges. I didn't want to try and measure right on my table edges, lest I drop my feeler gauges onto the floor.)
The summary of what I found:
Moving along the line from (2,5) to (36,5), the table drops .010"
Moving along the line from (2,15) to (31,15), the table drops .036"
Moving along the line from (2,30) to (36,30), the table drops .049"
Any suggestions as to how I can fix this? I have no idea how this could happen,,,,,, as even if the rails were messed up, the gantry should have held a fixed distance from the table top.
Thank you, I hope this makes sense....... Chuck