A long time ago… I raised my Shapeoko XY, and Z (rails) about 1.5625" (lol) inches. This was AWESOME because I run a lot of larger parts AND this ALSO meant that the Z would clear my 4th-Axis’ 4.0" (100mm) 4-Jaw, BUT this also meant that I could no longer reach my aluminum table.
When needed, I would place a 3/4" plywood on top of some 123 blocks…not great, but it worked; however, I longed for my beautiful ultra-flat aluminum table.
…then a few weeks ago I saw a post and @robgrz talking about a future ER(11?) collet on the Carbide3D router…and then a LIGHT BULB went off…and I started hunting…
What I found as the best solution was to buy and modify a C10 ER16 Collet Chuck. ($13.80 including shipping)
ER-16 collet on 8mm shank from Mafell by way of Timberwolf Tools: https://www.timberwolftools.com/er16-collet-chuck-adaptor (they were not kidding about 1 April price increases…) EDIT: Note that this is not available at the moment — should come back in stock when the PV unit is added to replace the manual one I bought
Note that this would limit speed to less than 16,000 RPM
While the TIR on the cutter is about 0.0001" there is that BIG Moment Arm just tugging at those oh so tired (6000+ hrs) bearings…on that little Makita…
As an engineer, I am fully aware of its potential to cause a RUD, but it is mainly for making little boxes and silly signs…so the load can be very small…((If the programmer is awake)).
That Z axis mod is very fascinating. Could you elaborate more on what you did to extend the height and how successful it was?
I run into this problem all the time on my Nomad, and I have a slew of projects that would be possible on my Shapeoko if I had the necessary verticle clearance to be able to mount a rotary table and tailstock.
Let me be clear(er) the Z mod here so just so I can now reach my table, since I raised it (the Shapeoko Rails) using these lift plates: (I talked about them on the forum somewhere…I think I even posted the files)
They were designed to (a) be easy to made (b) Single side machining (note they need to be c’bored on the backside which did at my drill press), (c) do not require ANY cutting of the Shapeoko, but does require drilling/tapping of two holes…using the lift plates as the drill jig.)
