Started noticing occasional cut issues. Somehow straight lines were suddenly cutting skewed as seen in the pic with the rule. This is obviously not acceptable so I started to ponder the cause. Is it the toolpath, the tool, feeds speeds, belts, etc…? After thinking about it for a while I realized it was happening with Whiteside 1026 (.5" CD 1" CL) which is fairly long compared to other cutters. Was this added length creating enough leverage to skew the machine? I’d used this bit 100’s of times on a S3XL with no issue whatsoever.
Long story short I took a look at the Z carriage and discovered one bolt securing a vertical rail was missing allowing the router to lean when pressed. The bottom bolt on the right-hand rail was missing, THE BOTTOM BOLT OF THE LEFT-HAND RAIL WASN’T EVEN FINGER TIGHT, both top bolts are fine. I looked all around the machine but could not find the missing fastener. I pulled out my bag of extra hardware and found the M4x14 fastener but also noticed it is not listed in the contents which means I picked it up and put it in the bag sometime in the past. Who knows how long ago it fell out! The machine has only been in operation for 3 months.
I use no loctite on my machine. I mark on the calendar every three weeks to check my machine. Never found a loose bolt. But I check it to be sure. Every six weeks I check the tram also. That has shown signs of moving unfortunately.
I would tend to agree Endmill but the Loctite I have on hand is a few years old so I skipped it. I can always go back and add it in the future as I’ll def keep an eye on these.
If anyone else encounters this issue be sure to square the silver rails when securing the fasteners. Those rails will sway almost 1/8" when not tightened down.
Not to be a fly in the punch bowl but did you check the calibration of your square. To check the squareness of a square use a straight edge on a piece of wood. Mark a line down the blade of the square. Then turn the square over 180 degrees and place the square blade next to the line you made leaving a short distance. Then mark down the blade of the square again. If you lines are parallel then your square is square. If the lines converge or skew out then you need to adjust your locking head. There are videos on youtube for that adjustment.
The heads and blades of square are subject to being misaligned by dropping them. Since they are easy to drop it is always a good idea to check your squareness before taking a critical measurement.
A similar thing is if you use multiple tape measures in your shop. First check the the little L on the end of the tape measure moves freely. The movement of that piece is the distance that the tab sticking down is thick. This is to compensate for inside and outside measurements. Make sure the piece moves freely.
Pull the multiple tape measures all at once down from a straight edge. Line the tapes up at 12 and 24 inches and see if they match. You might be surprised that some tape measures dont match up. This can lead to wrong measurements in the shop because you use one tape measure then pick up another and if they do not match it causes problems. Always check the end to see if it is bent or otherwise not straight. You can straighten them carefully but dropping a tape measure on the floor can cause them to be off.
Yes, the square is accurate as is every square in my shop. They are all checked before use and if one doesn’t check out it gets pitched. Luckily I’ve never had to throw out a Starrett which is what was used here
Still looking forward to any thoughts or advice from the C3D crew on this one. I discovered the issue just before cutting into a fairly expensive piece of black limba. That one little fastener could have become very expensive very quickly…
Loctite stored at “normal room temperature” can be usable up to a decade after it’s expiration date. Just keep the bottles capped so they don’t dry out.
I shake my larger bottles of loctite now and then to keep them aerated, since it is an anaerobic adhesive.
The only time I use threadlock is on my race engine.
Where I can access the fasteners a schedule has been setup to check the tightness. Even my flipping skill saw. When threadlock came out, yes I am that old, I thought is was a god send. After pulling threads as well as stripping bolts even with blue, I stopped using it on accessible fasteners.
I use thread locker on very few items. I don’t use any on my Shapeoko machine. The reason for this is the aluminum threads on these machines are not the thickest of threads and when you apply thread locker to aluminum it can damage the threads on the aluminum when you go to tighten, check or remove the fastener.
After I assembled my machine and started using it for a few months I started to have cutting issues and when I checked the fasteners that were factory assembled I found nearly all of them lose. At that point I removed the waste boards and started squaring and truing of the machine again. This time I checked every fastener on the machine as I made adjustments. This included belt adjustments and checks on the wiring harnesses.
I still check the fasteners but nearly a year later I have not found any that have backed out.
If you do decide to use Loctite use the 222, 242 or the 243. These will release better and should reduce possible thread damage.
