[ger21]

Do you guys shims your table and spoil boards?

The most important thing to do first, is to make sure both rails on each side of the table are parallel to each other. If they're not, your spoilboard will never be flat.
If the rails are parallel, then you surface the spoilboard to make it flat. Don't bother shimming .01, just route off the high spots. When cutting your parts, it's common to cut up to .01 into the spoilbard to make sure you cut all the way through your material. When the spoilboard gets a lot of cuts in it, you just remove another .01" to get it smooth and flat again.

[FoxCNC1]

I ran the spindle along the front most extrusion after removing the MDF I have on there, and it is higher on one end versus the other.
took several measurements to make sure the gantry is parallel to the table extrusion and it looks like it it. I also took measurements of the extrusion to their supports and they are also correct. I need to look at it closer, but I am not sure where to look.

[ger21]

The V rails that the gantry rides on should be adjusted parallel first.
Once those are parallel, then the gantry rails need to be the same height above those rails, so as the spindle moves side to side, the spindle is the same distance above the table.

Of course the most important part is that the rails are straight. This seems to be a big issue for you. Make sure they are perfectly straight when setting them parallel. You can check for straightness with a piece of fishing line or thin wire pulled tight along side the rail.

[FoxCNC1]

I just went back and verified some measurements and alignments.
I noticed that on the spindle is higher, it actually has a little bit of angle from being perpendicular to the top of the extrusion. It is tiny, but its enough to raise the tip of the bit 1/32" at the one of them of the table. This can also explain why circles are not 100% round at a depths of 1/4" or more,

[diyengineer]

Yup. This is called tramming your spindle. multiple ways to align it. Check out some YouTube videos for tips tricks, and various tools.

[FoxCNC1]

haha, man you really want me to buy some tools uh? hahaha.
Thank you though, on a serious note.


It more like tramming the steel rails! Because everything seem relative to that.

I have some levels and machinist square (that I bought from building models) but it they have helped a ton.
I do have a dia indicator, but other than measuring runout, I have not clue how else to use it. - I am almost there. At least it cutting straight lines along the gantry.


What do you guys thing about this ?

Pro Tram System - Edge Technology

[Bowes]

I spen 8 days aligning and realigning before I figure out how to do it in 15 minutes. One thing I did was disconnect y and see what kind on line you get on the x axis.

[FoxCNC1]

same here... what a learning experience.
I too disconnect the motors when I am aligning this thing.

[ger21]

What do you guys thing about this ?

Pro Tram System - Edge Technology

Buy a 6" length of drill rod, and chuck it into your collet. Use a small, accurate square to check if it's perpendicular to the table.
Dial indicator tramming devises are way overkill for a router, imo. Others will disagree.

[FoxCNC1]

thanks,

I am going to try what you mentioned with the blank I have from precision bits.
Its too bad they sent me a 1/8" dia.

[BuckNaked31]

I've got a couple of those calibration blanks, they aren't long enough to really dial it in. I would suggest using 1/2". Buy a piece of 1/4" too, you can use them to perform various alignment and indexing tricks...

Sent from my SCH-R720 using Tapatalk 2

[diyengineer]

As ger suggests longer is better as the misalignment will be far more noticeable and easier to adjust over a longer length. Ground drill rod is cheap so have various lengths.

[FoxCNC1]

I did a lot of work today, thanks everyone for the help.
I tried to "tram" by spindle with the tools at hand, or at least sort of the leveling issue which was cause by the spindle being rotated at it slid across the grantry.

I am happy to say that I was able to get the same distances on all four corners and all along the beams that will support spoil board.



I also added a temporary spoil board with t-nut, but its getting a bit too late to cut something.
Tomorrow I will try to cut some clamps and make some test cuts to test of straightness along the axis.

[FoxCNC1]

Gentleman,

Today I was running some code successfully for the first time in a long time.
However I noticed a small abnormality when cutting some specific features that required the machine to make a 90 degree turn or even a 180 turn "U"
The machine would "skip" or "cut corners" and therefore either cut too much (Exhibit B) or not cut enough (Exhibit A).

Exhibit A: 90 deg.



Exhibit B: U Turn




When I made these cuts, with the machine was running at 200 ipm.
However I, I was able to correct the problem by lowering the feed to 80 ipm.

Result:



I would like to know if there is a way to slow down the machine at it approaches a change in direction?
I have been reading about CV and ES mode. I know my machine was set to CV mode always and the CV control options were never checked or toggled.
I have since changed the STOP CV ON ANGLES > 89.9 but I have not had the opportunity to re-cut the part.

Do you guys thing this will solve the problem?
below are my current settings:



PS: I am running my motors at a slower acceleration than supplied and the machine seems to be cutting better. Before at 60 in/sec, the machine would shake when changing direction.

[FoxCNC1]

New CV features

longing reading guys but very informative, especially for those looking to buy controller software.