Regarding the chip fan: Several times I have pushed the chip fan onto the collet thinking it was fully seated when, in fact, it was only partially up the collet nut. This does exactly as you describe, fly loose and end up spinning around my endmill during the project.
Now, I make a habit of holding the fan on the bottom of the collet and then spinning the collet until I feel the alignment partially seat. After that I can fully seat the chip fan all the way to the top of the collet. Using this method I’ve never had the chip fan come loose.
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ve made sure the chip fan was seated all the way up as far as it would go, but it’s so loose, it would slip right off. Support has contacted me and is sending a new chip fan. I was also contacted about the door and have some steps I need to take to show them the issue with pictures and video.
I’ll report back when I’ve got the answers to the questions I’ve asked.
I put a bit of blue tape on the right side of the door for the door to connect to the base. It doesn’t stop me from opening the door, but provides just enough hold to prevent the air pressure change from opening the door.
I had a very nice discussion with C3D support this afternoon. Turns out the door issue is known and there isn’t an official solution, yet.
One suggestion was to move the door sensor closer to the front of the machine (it’s currently all the way back on its mounting slots). I haven’t tried that, yet, but I’m not sure it will solve the problem.
I have a couple of ideas which I’ll prototype on my own machine and, when I’m satisfied with one, will post what worked for me.
My chip fan drops off after long jobs. My suspicion is the plastic expands more than the ER11 colltet nut.
Luckily the air flow seems to keep it in place when spinning.
I’ve been thinking about ways to help keep the door from moving and will be trying to prototype the following sometime this weekend.
I’ve experimented a little with a magnet around the door sensor and found that more than about 1/2" is sufficient to prevent any interference with a magnet. My first plan is to put a small right-angle bracket mounted (temporarily for the experiment) to the wall of the machine and a small strong magnet attached to the door located about 1" above the door sensor. This should supply enough force to keep the door closed.
I’ll report my results when I’ve done the experiment.
Question: Is it possible to upload a picture of this when I’m done?
My Nomad3 door wouldn’t stay closed. The interlock sensor was already all the way out. They sent another door that was exactly like the original and the geometry of both seemed fine so I thought there must be another reason the door wouldn’t stay shut.
Removed the left side panel in order to pull out the aluminum clad polyethylene roof and found that the roof panel was bent down along the hinge side. Tested how that affects the door position and it does push the bottom of the door out.
The al/poly panel is easily bent so I straightened it. Maybe gave it a little crown I don’t recall. Door works fine now.
If you don’t want to do the above you could just glue a low height stop to the al/poly floor. Plenty of flexibility in the door to lift above a low stop.
I found a solution. It dawned on my cabinet doors have similar issues and there are ready-made magnetic catches you can buy an any hardware store. I temporarily placed the body to the side of the machine and the catch plate to the door. Now, it closes with a distinct click and the door will NOT vibrate open. Pictures attached.
Carbide3D kindly sent me new chip fans and they work well. I can’t tell what happened with the original one, but it refuses to stay on unless I put a couple of small pieces of tape to act as shims on opposite sides of the fan. I’ll keep that one around, just in case, for the future, but the two new ones have a snug fit and don’t come off until I take them off.
My Nomad 3 is slightly older and the door hinge broke completely. I now attach the door using painter’s tape… I guess I should look around for similar hinge material.
The spindle fan is totally worn out and I have to carefully put it on so that it stays on. I usually rotate it at little bit, so that it doesn’t go on as designed, but slightly rotated, with friction. I think I’ll add air blast (from a compressor) instead of the spindle fan soon — the spindle fan is amazingly effective, but I had it fall off during machining and it’s not pretty.
As for the door-open detection switch, this thing gives me so much grief that I’d really like to get rid of it completely. I ruined jobs because the machine stopped and I thought it was for a tool change, so I changed the tool. The switch was also being triggered by the door sliding slightly because of vibrations, so I taped the whole area with painter’s tape, just to get a tighter fit. I need to disable/remove this switch permanently, I just don’t know how.
Well, hints very much appreciated, thanks — but anything (e.g. magnets) placed on the sensor means that the door no longer fully closes. I was looking for something more permanent (AKA wire work).
I add a few drops of rubber cement to the inside of the fan, and let it dry before reinstalling. That lasts about 10 - 20 removal / replacement cycles, before I have to add more rubber cement. I’ve had no issues regarding vibration.
For the door, I use a medium sized binder clip on the jamb. It holds it shut, and I can still pop the door open if I see an emergency and panic to shut it down quickly.
It’s $12 plus shipping, and you’ll get enough to cut into 4 pieces. The original hinge broke within the first month of owning the machine. My replacement has lasted 2 years so far, and I have 3 spares now
I was figuring that, if I needed to, I’d use a brass piano hinge, available at most hardware stores, but it down to the appropriate length, and put a backing 1/4" strip of wood on the opposite side of both the top and the door and use short screw to mount it. That would solve the hinge issue forever more. I had used one on a previous enclosure on a now-defunct CNC machine and it worked very well.
The spring clamp I was using worked the same way, but the Nomad is on a cart and , when I put it away, the space is just wide enough. If I happen to leave the clamp on, it will catch. With the magnet, I have no such worries.
I guess I should look around for similar hinge material.
— but anything (e.g. magnets) placed on the sensor means that the door no longer fully closes. I was looking for something more permanent (AKA wire work).