[grc]

Just got my 135 last week and tried it out. The one question I have is the bottom of the spindle is over 2 inches above the bottom of the plexiglass guard. If I use my drill chuck adapter its fine but if I use a collet the bottom of the tool is still above the bottom of the plexiglass. Am I missing somthing?

I haven't played much with the software but if I had to cut some round and rectangle holes in a plastic box 10 " wide and 12 " long and my Y axis is only 6 " can I somehow split it into two drawings so that I can to one half of the box, then turnit around and do the other half. I don't need super accuracy.


Thanks
Geoff

[Frogblender]

I, and I think pretty well everyone lese, removed the plexiglass cover.

To get more than 6" travel - I repositioned the home switches to get the maximum travel possible. I also removed a (useless?) washer and screw on the right side of the table which stopped the X travel. I might have done a few other minor things too, and now my total travel on the 135 is 7.89 x 14.3

For parts bigger than the travel, get or make a toolplate with 1/8" precision-drilled tooling holes, for 1/8" tooling pins (I drilled mine directly into the milltable, although some make balk at this). Similarly drill "sets" of tooling holes in the bottom of your workpiece, such that you can "index" the workpiece.

[grc]

Boy I wish I could get 7.8 inches of Y travel, the limit on mine is set to 5.9" and from hardstop at one end to hitting the retractable guard on the other I only have 6.2 inches. When I bought the machine the specs were13.75 x 6.5 x 11, when I received the machine and looked at the inspection report it showed 12 x 5.9 x 10.6. I called them and the first story that I got was they use a different controller in china to test and that "Our advertised specs are correct" . When talking to tech support there later I was told that that is only the limit switch settings, when I checked the hard stop limits I got 14.1 x 6.2 x 11 still shy on the Y. I would like to increase my Y somehow.


Regarding the plexiglass cover even if I take it off and bring my Z all the way down I still have 4 inches between the bottom of my spindle and table. So even if the tool is sticking 1.5 " out of the collet I still am 2.4 iches from the table.

Geoff

[Frogblender]

Boy I wish I could get 7.8 inches of Y travel,
Geoff

You probably can, since I can, and we both have the 135. I had to snug my zeroing limit switch to within less than .1" or so of the hard stop, and remove the (more-or-less useless) splash guard, and maybe one or two other things minor enough for me to not remember now.

As for the Z, check what is hitting and preventing lowering the head all the way (check the Z bellows, an improperly-positioned limit switch, or some wayward screw. Pop off the rear cover and have a look). I use ER20 quickchange tooling (highly recommended), and even short 1/8" EMs will touch the table (however, the same 1/8" EM's won't touch the table if they are installed directly in a 1/8" R8 collet).

[grc]

How close can you get your Z to the table? I wasn't planning to go to the quick tooling at this time but it looks like i might have to so the tool will go down far enough. The tormach tooling is a little more than the novakon but may be a bit better, which do you use?

When you removed the splash guard did you put something in its place?

Overall are you happy with your 135? I'm just getting into things, cutting on mdf for practice. Documentation on the machine is very poor compared to tormach and I see a few people that have had a lot of problems.

Thanks
Geoff

[Frogblender]

How close can you get your Z to the table? I wasn't planning to go to the quick tooling at this time but it looks like i might have to so the tool will go down far enough. The tormach tooling is a little more than the novakon but may be a bit better, which do you use?

When you removed the splash guard did you put something in its place?

Overall are you happy with your 135? I'm just getting into things, cutting on mdf for practice. Documentation on the machine is very poor compared to tormach and I see a few people that have had a lot of problems.

Thanks
Geoff

With Z all the way down: Bottom of HEAD to tabletop = 5.56". (By "head" I mean the grey cast iron box, into which the spindle and motor is bolted).

I would highly recommend the quickchange tooling, so long as you are willing to build a power drawbar (easy, cheap, also highly recommended). Without the drawbar, the quickchange isn't that quick, since you've still got to grab wrenches. I use mostly the Novakon tooling, which seems OK, especially for the price (somewhere in another post, IIR someone published runout data on Novakon vs. tormach)

Splash guard was removed in lieu of a fully sealed enclosure (sealed (but ventilated, of course) for both noise reduction and flood coolant).

The 135 performs well; it has built 1000's of production parts for me so far. My regret is not having a shop big enough for the NM200. As for documentation - the only things I've needed are electronic schematics for the controller and mill, and novakon will email them to you if prompted.

[grc]

Mine measures 6.5 when its hitting the bottom stop, so that inch is probably making the difference.

When you mentioned the splash guard I thought you were talking about the metal bellows thats covering the Y axis. The bellows is restricting some of my Y movement. My machine never came with the splash guard around the table, thats I guess what you are referring to.

Do you have collasping metal bellows on yours also?

I've seen two articles on a drawbar one uses a impact driver and the other uses spring washers and a pancake air cylinder. Which method do you use?

Put on one of those Shuttle Express controllers, boy that sure works nice. Wonder how long it will last until oil seeps inside or gets a few drops.

Thanks
Geoff

[Frogblender]

"splashguard" was a sheet metal thingy that screwed to the table, and has since gone to the metalwreckers.

Mine too has metal Y bellows; my Z bellows are black accordion canvas material. Try removing both sets of bellows and see what happens. You want to remove the bellows as a test anyways, to make sure your oiler is oiling all axis.

I use pancake. Cheaper, easier to build, low-profile enough to not hit the ceiling of my enclosure. Drawbacks are: weak grip strength (OK for small-dia tooling, not OK for larger dia).