Howdy Tom, I have been fighting an issue very similar to yours.... for weeks now. discovered my "fix" tonight. I am using the keling controllers...but they say it requires the sherline half step mode (ie 40us pulses). I found a thread on here where someone finally explained how that actually works. You only get the 40us pulses at 25khz. The pulses are shorter as you select a higher kernal speed. I am cutting a 3d model now at 34k lines...looks perfect. Give that a try.