I can’t find any instructions on how to activate the gantry shift on my 5 pro? It doesn’t jog that far.
You have to power down, unbolt the drag chain mounts (well, at least the right one), unbolt the gantry and remove the bolts at the front position, move it forward (you’ll want a friend and access from both sides), then resecure things.
Power up, connect to the machine, disable the BitSetter, initialize, then reconfigure the machine for the new (relative) Bitsetter location.
(Optional: cut ~81mm of the MDF filler strips almost flush with the aluminum T-tracks — if you don’t want to have a lip at the back of the machine which will interfere w/ tiling)
That sounds like a good candidate for a video
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I thought about moving the MDF strips back because there’s a place for the cross bar in the rear. I don’t understand the part about the lip in the back that interferes with tiling. I agree with James that it would make a great video.
I’m afraid I don’t do videos, and I’ve already done this on my machine, so that window is closed.
If anyone needs any photos, or has any specific questions, let me know — it’s pretty easy though, the only thing I missed was the front holes for the drag chain head (dimming eyes due to age and a dark basement), and I managed to break a couple of drag chain links — but really, only the right side of the drag chain needs to be shifted, so no huhu.
Sorry I meant video from Carbide 3D. If I change the Gant position will I still be able to tile? What would be the downside if any?
Yes, you can still tile — it’s just that the supported working area for tiling is reduced along Y and you have a section at the back of the working area which can’t be cut and will form a lip if you surface the MDF (I use it to register against using parallels).
I was just about to ask about this! Thanks
Do I need to extend the drag chains to move it? I ask because my machine came with a bag with drag chain extensions. Tia!
Yes, you need to extend at least the drag chains on the right side.
Thanks Will, appreciate your help
I just did the gantry shift on my machine, on my quest to cut vertical joinery. I couldn’t find any info from my searches so decided to wing it, since the original assembly wasn’t too difficult. After a few minutes I decided to write the steps down, so if anyone else wants to try it, this should help minimize wasted effort:
Make sure power to the machine is off and disconnected.
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Add links to right side Y drag chain. I couldn’t find mine, and as it turns out, I added them to the left side chain during original assembly, since I didn’t know what to do with them. So I popped them off the left, and added them to the right.
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Move the right drag chain mount forward on the x gantry. There are two holes forward of the drag chain mount. Moving the drag chain will keep it from binding at the end of travel.
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Move the left drag chain mount forward on the x gantry. Same on the left side, move the end of the drag chain mount to the forward screw holes.
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Remove the left x-gantry end-cap. Two bolts, one long one short.
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Remove the left front bolts on the top of the gantry base. These are placeholders that simply keep the horizontal nut from falling out. The gantry will relocate on top of these holes.
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Remove right x-gantry end cap. Make note of the ground lug, for when you reassemble.
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Remove right front bolts on the top of the gantry base. Again, these are placeholders to keep the horizontal nuts from falling out.
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Remove x stepper motor. I tried to skip this step, but I didn’t have an allen wrench that would clear the motor, and likely wouldn’t anyway once the bolt was up. You don’t have to disconnect the wiring as long as you have something that can support the motor once out. A tall pile of wood works fine.
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Loosen the right side gantry bolts inside the x-gantry. Don’t take them all the way out yet, just remove them about a 1/4" or so, so that the gantry can tlit freely.
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Remove the left gantry bolts inside the left end of the x gantry. These bolts secure the gantry to the housing that rides the ball screw.
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Lift the left side of the gantry up slightly, and push the left y-side housing on the ball screw back, so that you can rest the gantry back down, over the forward bolt holes. Use the long gantry bolts and replace in the front holes. Do not tighten, but make sure you have some solid threads grabbing.
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Remove the right gantry bolts inside the right end of the gantry. Lift the gantry up slightly and push the right y-side housing riding the ball screw back enough that you can place the gantry on top of the forward holes.
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Replace the right side gantry bolts, tightening almost all the way. Notice that on both sides of the gantry, there is a raised stopper which the gantry should be pushed against before tightening the gantry bolts all the way.
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Tighten the left and right side gantry bolts, while pushing the gantry against the stopper on each side. I alternated sides repeatedly, watching that the gantry didn’t twist away from the block as I tightened.
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Once the gantry is secure on the forward mount points, replace the short bolts in the rear mount holes on both left and right sides, so that your horizontal nuts don’t fall out and disappear.
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Replace the x stepper motor on the right side, being very careful that the mess of wires doesn’t sneak into the bolt channels. Tighten the four bolts that hold the stepper motor.
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Replace the right side end cap, short bolt on top, long bolt on the bottom. The green ground wire with lug needs to be outside the cap, on the lower bolt.
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Replace the left side end cap, making sure any wires or hoses are neatly tucked in.
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Since you have your allen wrenches out and the power is off, now is a great time to check all the bolts on the machine. Bonus points for oiling the ball screws and slide bearings. I found two loose bolts while checking everything over.
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Once you’re done checking over the machine, make sure nothing is in the way of the gantry movement, and power up the machine. Open Carbide Motion, and Connect to Machine. Do not initialize yet.
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Open the settings menu in Carbide Motion. Disable the Bitsetter if you have it enabled, by unchecking the box. Choose OK to close the settings menu, and then initialize the machine. The gantry should return to the home position, and stay there.
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Open the Jog menu, and move the gantry to the front of the machine. Put a bit in your router, and move the router above your bitsetter location, using the jog menu. The z value doesn’t matter, just lower it enough so that you can see if you’re close on the x and y.
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Once you are in the center of the bitsetter, open settings again, and in the bitsetter settings click on Use Current. It should change the numbers in the x and y fields. Put a checkmark in the Enabled box, and ok out of the settings window. One thing I noticed when aligning my bitsetter was that the router mount was rubbing on the right drag chain mount slightly. So I adjusted the bitsetter, and realigned in settings.
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Leave the bit in the router, and re-initialize the machine. This time it should re-home, and then measure the bit on the bitsetter. Done!
I didn’t do anything with my mdf slats, figuring I’ll worry about that when the time comes to resurface my bed. I haven’t tried tiling yet, so not a priority right now.
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