Ive recently purchased the HDZ for my pro XXL with the intent of upgrading to a spindle… Spindle problems aside, I had to mount my palm router on the HDZ instead just so i could get some work done until Ive fixed the spindle issue.
The palm router is as low as possible in the mount, the mount is at the bottom of the mounting plate, and still there is a sizeable gap between the router and the waste board. I can see on the HDZ that there is still PLENTY of room for it to drop. Ive already changed the settings to the HDZ and it shows that it has increased the travel distance (form 95? to 140?) but it still doesn’t drop all the way down.
any ideas how i can get the max travel from my HDZ?
Bits in the collet should be inserted as tall as your collet is long. So if your collet is 1" then your bit should be inserted at least 1". It can go in further but never bottom out a router bit on the inside of the router shaft. When you tighten the collet it pulls the collet and bit up further inside the router shaft. That said put your shortest bit in and see if you can manually (power off) by turning the ball screw to get the bit to touch the spoilboard. When jogging the travel is controlled by the configuration. Sounds like you figured out how to change those parameters but they are located in the Shapeoko.json file.
If you can physically move the HDZ low enough to touch your spoilbord then you would need to increase the Z travel in the Shapeoko.json file. If you cannot physically touch the spoilboard then there would need to be another solution like adding a supplemental spoilboard.
Lastly make sure you have selected the HDZ in the configuration. The Z-Plus has less steps per MM than an HDZ so therefore you would get less steps down in the Z direction. Hopefully you have already configured for an HDZ but go back and double check the configuration.