My 5.1 Pro just arrived yesterday afternoon. OMG, 7 boxes! They fully occupy twice the space my old machine did…I have to clear space to do construction!
Right now, my shop has large furniture projects on every table…I don’t have one available to set up the machine. So, my strategy is going to be to find the boxes with the leg set and do that first…that will (hopefully) give me a surface on which to assemble the actual machine. Does that sound like a good plan to those who’ve done it before?
100% what Will said. Follow the directions, and follow them in order. You will need a table that is taller that the legs of the machine. You will build the baseframe on your build table, then attach the legs. Then you lower it off your build table. Then you can finish building it. The directions ate very well thought out and doing things in the right order will save you many headaches. Congratulations on the new machine!
I do follow directions. Thanks Will, for copying them here - I would have had a fun time figuring out which of the 7 boxes (which are stacked by UPS and heavy) contained them.
I’ll write up an unboxing experience review as I go. I’m sure everyone will be SO interested in my experience (LOL)…but who knows, maybe it’ll help someone, someday.
Gary, if you got the 80mm spindle with your CNC, read the instruction manual for its installation before installing any of the drag chains. Trust me, it will save you a lot of frustration of opening them, installing the cables, closing them, installing them on the machine AND then get to the spindle and realize you must uninstall them, open them back up to install the cooling lines for the spindle. Don’t ask how I know this
Yes, it is pretty heavy at that point. Not too heavy, but enough so to be awkward and really should be a 2 person maneuver. My build table was a plastic topped folding table that wasn’t tall enough to build the machine with the leg kit on it. So i put collapsed steel sawhorses on the ground and put the build tables legs onto those for the extra height. Once the machine legs were on, I just held up one end of the machine and build table and kicked the sawhorse out on that side, then walked around and did the same on the other side. Probably not the best way to go about it, but it worked well for what I had to work with.
Hey Gary if the drag chain is the same size as mine it’s super tight putting the chiller lines in with the cables so I recommend you roll out the lines to give them time to relax. With the colder weather they are harder to fit in the chain. The hdm chain is bigger that is better fitted than the 5.1 for the chiller lines . Danny
Thanks, I have about a million of those metal sawhorses that I could leverage. Come to think of it I have a collapsible and expandable rolling outfeed stand. I could put a board on top and then roll it off once the legs are on. Keeping it from rolling around and being annoying while building the frame may be a challenge.
Which wheels did you use and do you feel like its stable enough with them on there? I have been concerned about wheels that are not retractable.
So, I found these on Amazon. They are retractable via a little ratchet system that raises or lowers the feet. They work great and the machine moves around like its on ice when the wheels are down. When the feet arw down it seems very solid. The movement of the machine doesn’t make ot wiggle or slide or anything. I would absolutely NOT use the machine with the wheels down as I think just the moment of the gantry would have this thing walking all over. Lol.
Aaagh! My drag chain assemblies came without the drag chain hardware bag! I’ve called support, but they’re closed (I’m guessing for Easter Sunday). Hopefully I can get replacements quickly. I’m kind of stalled.
It’s only e-mail today, (well, for the simple topics I can handle) — we’ll have folks in for the more complex stuff business-hours Chicago/California time after the holiday.
