the red LED on my unit is extremely faded to the point it barely changes color when triggered, it’s about 1/10 brightness. I don’t care too much, it seems to work from my initial test. just want to mention it to see if it’s potentially an issue that will affect functionality going forward. the connector clips seem to be pressed together firmly.
what’s up with the 0.5" minimum tool limit in the manual? is this just a general precaution? I tested a bit that was around 0.4" sticking out from the spindle before I read the warning and it seemed to be ok?
If this was new from C3D they will take care of it. If it is old stock or used then you may have a connection problem. LED lights either work or burn out. I have never seen an LED dim that was not a connection problem.
The .5" may be referring to stick out because some Z will only go down so far. If your Z will travel down far enough to trigger the BitSetter then it is fine to use a shorter stickout. However if it does not travel down enough to trigger the BitSetter then you need to move the router all the way down in the mount or extend the bit stickout.
A bit needs to be inserted as far into the collet so that the top of the bit is at the top of the collet. You would have to measure your collets but if they are .75" long then the bit needs to be inserted at least .75" for the best grip on a bit. The collet is cut in a kind of a W shape. The inside of your router shaft is an inclined plane. As you tighten the collet nut you are forcing the collet up the inclined plane squeezing the W together. Always use 2 wrenches on Makita and C3D routers. The button on those two routers are just to get the bit tight enough so it does not fall out while tightening with 2 wrenches.
When you loosen the collet on Makita/C3D routers the W in the collet tries to spring open and forces the bit back down the inclined plane and come loose. If you loosen the nut and the bit does not come out then tap gently with a plastic screw driver handle and it will come loose if the nut is loose enough.
If it works fine it might just be the led light pipe is misaligned. You could possibly adjust it.
If the LED itself is actually dim or it’s on when it’s not supposed to be, you likely have a wiring issue or a bad sensor.
It’s a new bitsetter that’s just been sitting in a box for around 5 years. I’ll triple check all the connections tomorrow just to be 100% sure. Maybe one of the wires isn’t firmly in the plastic housing or something along those lines.
I have the HDZ upgrade so maybe that gives me more motion, not sure tbh. The bit I tested is a 3/4" long 1/8" vbit, I put around half in the collet and half sticking out. Definitely should have ordered a longer bit but they were dirt cheap. Thankfully I’m only doing very light work with it, chamfering and light advanced vcarve toolpaths. Hopefully no slip outs in the future.
I have the dewalt 611 router. I’ll need to check if there’s a 2 wrench option for it. The thread on my collet seems a bit jacked up so hopefully I’ll be upgrading soon!
The new Carbide Motion assumes front right corner for BitSetter position.
It would be tedious in the extreme to position it anywhere else.
That said, the wiring length should allow putting it anywhere, though you might need to run the cable at a diagonal under the machine (just make sure it doesn’t rub anwywhere).
All bets are off for a non-standard machine — as I noted above, I don’t think you’ll enjoy putting the BitSetter in a non-standard position, and I don’t think the travel limits will allow for a further distance.
Might be able to work around this by:
configure for an XXL first
editing the JSON configuration file for a larger machine
if the BitSetter won’t reach, get as close as you can, set and save that, note the offset, then edit the JSON again
