Just got my Shapeoko Pro XXL router and wondering if the Table should be faced for optimum flatness.
Or should I wait and run a few jobs first to see if cutting thru is hitting the waist boards.
I’m a retired Tool and Die maker of 43 years so I know tight tolerance’s make a difference to squareness /parallelism/flatness of a finish project.
New to the wood working CNC world so what are the choices for bits to surface the table.
Also what are the speeds/feeds and is there a program out there already to “load and go”.
The newer Hybrid Tables are much flatter than the older SO3 machines. So if you have some straight edges you might just see if the slats are even to each other and use a level to see if the bed is level.
When I tram my router I put pencil marks in an S shape around the whole board vertical and horizontal. Then I run a pocket with a 0.010" depth. If there are any remaining pencil marks I rezero in that low area and run the job again.
Since you were a machinist likely it would be a good idea to verify the flatness and level for your peace of mind.
One note of caution is on the Hybrid Tables you cannot surface the entire surface and you will leave a ledge around. This is not a problem unless you tile projects. If you tile your project it will not be level from front to back with the little ledge sticking up.
On the Hybrid Tables it might be advisable to use “Bottom” instead of the top of the material when designing projects in CC. The reason is if you are worried about cutting through the mdf slats and hitting your t-tracks that will help stop the problem. However your material thickness must be accurate or the first cut can cut too deep if the material is higher than the Shapeoko thinks it is. This can happen when you use masking tape and super glue. You measure the material, mount it and you just made your project slightly thicker. The size of the tape and super glue is not much but some tool paths like vcarving is very sensitive to height differences.
If you decide to use the bottom as your origin then you can still use the BitZero to corner set X Y and Z but that would set the height on top of the project. After the X Y and Z zero go back and move the BitZero on the spoilboard and just Z zero. Then your X Y and Z are set correctly according to CC.
I use the center more than any other origin because if I made any material mistakes in measurement the project will be centered and I can trim the material post cutting.
I use a Whiteside 6210 1 inch 3 wing cutter to flatten my spoilboard. I set the DOC at 0.010 and set the pocket depth to 0.010 so I get a single pass on leveling. C3D sells the McFly and there are a lot of cheap 1 inch 1/4" shank fly bits on amazon. They all work well and you will likely never wear one out on an occasional tramming of your spoilboard.
Thanks for the reply my friend.
I was concerned about the MDF slats because as I was assembling the table, the countersunk
screw holes in the aluminum leave the flat heads raise above the surface,
I did take a 1x2x3 block and ran it across the slats. 3 are a bit higher than the rest.(might flip then around the see if that makes a difference).
Appreciate the info on the fly cutters. I will use the Bit Setter and use the bottom as my Zero
Oh, and I do use digital Calipers/Micrometers/Depth Mic’s. I never did trust a tape measure.
Fractions have bit me in the azz more than once…LOL
I am in same boat and need to replace my hybrid XXL slats. I know XXL “working” area is only 33x33 so Is there any harm in inserting new slats that measure only 33" long vice full 40" since I will be able to resurface them without having the “lip” afterwards? Will there be any lose in rigidity or instability if put shorter slats in place?
