[kjk2002]

I finally got motivated to tram my machine this morning. It's a custom build with original pro components - 24 in gantry and 48 in bed (nominal). I used the dual indicator tramming tool I previously used on my mill which has a 6 inch space between the indicator points.

The good news (good-ish anyway) is that the machine was perfect in X to start with, so I didn't have to worry about finding shims. I was a long way out in Y, which was expected because my tests had the kind of artifacts you get from an out of tram condition.

The first problem was finding an allen key that would fit behind the Hitachi router, I didn't have one that would fit, so I cut one down to fit. Once I got the mount loose I moved the machine into tram and tried to tighten it up. This didn't work - no matter how I rotated through the cap screws or how little I tightened them each time, the machine went out of tram as I got the cap screws tightened down.

Eventually I skewed the machine out of tram in the opposite direction by the amount I kept losing when I tightened the cap screws and using this method I got to within 2 thou over 6 inches.


How did you tram your machine?

[vbgraves]

Basically the same way you did. I mounted a dial indicator in the spindle on a horizontal rod that gave me about a 4 inch radius. I also had to cut an allen wrench to fit behind my PC router. The only way I could think of to perform the tramming was to keep the router in its clamp, manually move the spindle, take measurements, make adjustments, repeat. I ended up shimming the router clamp front-to-back using soda can stock and adjusted side-to-side using the allen screws. You're right in that it takes some fiddling to get them tightened down without moving the router out of plumb.

[BuckNaked31]

Having your cutter square to your table won't do you much good if your Z isn't moving up and down perpendicular as well. You have to square everything. On the CNCRP machines that means shimming between the Y axis carriages and the high Z plate if necessary in addition to the router clamp, although on my machine, once the Z was trammed in relation to the Y, everything was dead on and I didn't need to do anything...

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[kjk2002]

Thanks Guys for the replies. I've been thinking about how to improve the process and I think I will do the following:

1. Make a larger tramming tool with a 12 inch arm giving me a 24 inch sweep.
2. Make a pin wrench that operates on the through holes in the front of the router mount - that will allow me to apply counter rotation when I am tightening the mount down and hopefully eliminate the problem of losing tram when tightening up the cap screws.
3. Lastly, I think I will try replacing the cap screws with hex bolts making it easier to access them.

I'll post the results one of these days.

[kjk2002]

Closing the loop on this thread: I discovered that the reason I was having so much trouble keeping tram when tightening the mount up was that the bearings on the Z carriage were not properly snugged up. Using the eccentrics on one side I was able to get this done and afterwards I had no difficulty tightening up the mount while keeping tram.