Finally got my 5.1 Pro up and running. Its taken a couple weeks just due to work travel and limited time to spend in the shop. Powered her up today and ran her through the paces. Machine worked flawlessly, operator, well could have been better. Here is a quick video and some photos.
The only issue I had was a failed to realize that the laptop going to sleep is not a good thing. Fortunately I was able to modify the toolpath it was on when it went to sleep to start where it stopped and saved the job. Lesson learned. Looking forward to many more projects.
If you machine needs to be Re-Initialized , in theory yes, but only if your machine returns acceptably to the previous origin after a power off.
Mine does not by a few thousands on the X & Y , so I have to touch off on a remaining edge.
I assume something in the limit switch setup. I have heard some return, just not mine. All good.
The Z height will not return as far as I know, that has to be touched off.
I had to learn the same lesson about disabling sleep and screen timeout. Lucky for me it wasn’t when the machine was cutting. There’s also USB sleep settings buried in power options.
The photos made me think is there a spec for where to mount the spindle?
There have been various photos/drawings/dimensions, but the best guide to my mind is to chuck up the shortest endmill you plan on using as short as you can, then position the spindle above the aluminum T-track, and lower it so that the tool just barely touches.
Great advice! I remember wondering that too when I was assembling my machine. If I was recommending anything, that should definitely be included in the instructions for assemble!!!
I still haven’t tamed my machine, but that is in my near future and when I do that I think I’ll adjust my spindle height as well.
Thanks for the info, Will. I had wondered the same thing, but just went with what looked right. I will certainly take your sage advice and adjust the spindle. On that note, one thing I failed to divulge about the work on Saturday was that I did have to stop the project while it was doing the final contour cut-out toolpath because fortunately I noticed that the spindle nut was going to hit the work piece before it got to its final depth. Failed to check the length of the endmill before starting the project. After I determined it was going to hit, I stopped the job, re-initialized the machine, adjusted the endmill length in the spindle, changed the toolpath parameters to start about .05" higher than where it stopped and restarted the job. Worked out well. Lots to learn.
When cutting very deeply, be careful of tooling engagement and slotting — my preference is to add offset geometry and cut as a pocket down to tab height.
Yeah, I found out the laptop sleep mode issue pretty fast. I turned sleep mode off completely so not issues. Just have to watch the battery and plug it in when needed. I just got mine in September so I missed the 5.1 upgrade.
