After facing a 12x12" piece of MDF with my S5P and 65mm VFD spindle using a McFly cutter, I noticed a repeating ridge at the step-over lines. When the facing operation was done, I could feel a distinct series of “ramps” from one step-over line to the next, strongly suggesting that the spindle was nodded towards the front of my machine by maybe 0.1-0.15mm. When I pushed a little on the HDZ to see if there was any play, I was a little shocked. The entire gantry has fairly significant play along the in the y-axis direction (where “significant”, to me, is at least 2-3mm). The “play” I’m talking about is resulting in making the spindle nod by that amount to the rear.
If you can feel movement/slop, that pretty clearly indicates a mechanical connection is loose. No, this is not normal. In addition to checking where the gantry bolts down to the Y-axis on either side, another place to look is the attachment of the Z-axis to the X-axis plate.
Absolutely a good call, Ryan. It took me a while to remember those hold-down bolts were under the plastic end plates on the gantry. When I popped the end plates off, I found three of the four bolts were loose. Tightening them up removed all of the play in the HDZ.
I’m about 99% sure those were tight when I assembled my table. Can normal ops cause those to vibrate loose? Should I consider a drop of thread lock on those four bolts?