Drag chain mounts

Has anyone got a clear photo of the drag chain mounts on the left and right hand side of their machines. I was running through some tests with my 4x2 this evening and I’m not happy with the proximity of the gantry and the chains. I’m beginning to suspect I mounted the brackets on the wrong sides. I placed the smooth side towards the rails, with the ribbed side facing in towards the machine bed.

Try this. It’s on a 5 Pro 4x4.


Thanks for those pictures, does your limit switch overhang the gantry end blanking plate. I’m wondering if mine is too far over.

If I home the machine and then try to lower the Z axis when it’s at the back , it will collide with the drag chain. At the front, when locating the bitsetter it’s also pretty close to snagging.

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I’m prefacing this with me only having my machine since last Tuesday, so the blind are leading the blind. Look at my pictures. If I were to lower the Z-axis any further, my end mill would hit the table.

Just a wild guess, but is it possible that your spindle is mounted too high in the bracket?

For reference, my spindle protrudes 33.1mm or 1.3in below the bracket. I measured the cylinder only.




Ok so your limit switch looks like it’s in the same position as mine and the drag chain proximity’s (especially in pic 2 ) also looks the same. I’ve using a trim router so I can’t lower it any more but I didn’t have a bit in mine I was just jogging. I’ll take some more measurements when I get to the workshop today.

Ok, I have 55 mm below the base of the spindle mount.

But there’s definitely something not quite right this isn’t even triggering the X axis limit swithch and lowering the Z the spindle mount meets the drag chain.

I took the end mill out and this is as low as my Z will let me jog.


Can you still jog to the right whilst that low ?

No. That’s as far as it goes, even trying to move right and lower by hand.

I just checked one more thing on my machine that could potentially give you another reference point. I jogged my Z all the way to the left, then set X to zero in CM. When I jogged it all the way back to the right, I see 1236.00mm on X.
I’m not sure if you have the 2x4 or 4x4, so yours may be different.

Ah great idea, I have the 4x2 so the x travel should be the same. Will trst that out tomorrow.

Something is off here, your drag chain shouldn’t be hanging over the edge at all or your machine would not only hit it but crash into the side of the machine which I cant see because of the pictures but your machine does look about .1" or so too far to the right. I would contact support with more pictures of the right side of the Z axis and from the left side looking through towards the ballnut. Someone probably mis-mounted or a QC was missed somewhere.

The drag chain isn’t hanging over the edge it’s flush with the inside of the rail (red line). The spindle mount back plate is colliding with the drag chain - ie the plate can move past the inner side of the Y rail.

screenshot1111

I get 1236.825

On the left hand side there’s a gap, albeit small, between the drag chain and the z assembly on the right there’s a 2mm overhang over the drag chain…will upload pictures soon…

OK, here is a thought. Can you move your limit switch on the X-Axis further left? I can tell from your picture that you have about 2mm or so left.

If the limit switch triggers ‘earlier’ it would tell the x-axis it’s at the right limit and may give you the clearance you need.

The small pic is your machine, the large pic mine. There is still something else at play here, as mine is all the way to the right and still clears the drag chain just fine.

image

Something else that still bugs me is the proximity of your drag chain, where it’s mounted to the bracket on top of the Y-Right. Just for kicks, can you send a picture with a side profile please? I’m wondering if the chain is not mounted a little too far forward, i.e. too close to the z-axis plate’s travel. Also, see if the bracket has a letter ‘R’ on it and not potentially the left one in reverse, which may move it too close.

My machine limit is 1cm back to the left from your guys machines in this axis, interesting.

Wait, those brackets have an L or R on them? :thinking:

I’ll double check tomorrow when I go back there but I have the ribbed side facing towards the bed, the smooth side against the plate it mounts to.

Support have been in touch they think the brackets might have been damaged during shipping. They’re going to send me some

I’m curious, did you ever get this resolved? Were the brackets on the right, i.e. correct, side?

Arrived on Friday, I’m aiming to fit today. Will update after that.

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