Was following a video on U-tube - " The Support Show #12 - How to: Flatten Your Waste-board". At about the 3.10 minute mark it shows disabling the bit setter on the Shapeoko 5. In the menu for that machine is has a place to disable the bit setter. The Nomad 3 doesn’t appear to have that capability. How is the bit setter disabled on the Nomad 3?
I’ll be using a 1" dia. surfacing bit. The cutting edges will not be able to touch the bit setter. What is the procedure for spoil board surfacing? Thanks for any help.
@Bernd, I used a 1/4" diameter bit to surface my Nomad wasteboard. It takes a while but I’m not cranking handles so I do something else during the cut… A smaller surfacing bit also minimizes the effect of any non-perpendicularity of the spindle to the X-Y plane, but I think all Nomads are perfect in that respect anyway…
@Bernd, here is my spoilboard flattening DXF that I used with the .250" flat endmill. X-Y zero is at the lower left corner of the 8"x8" spoilboard Nomad-spoilflat-250f.dxf (16.2 KB)
BTW I don’t know of a way to disable the BitSetter on a Nomad…there have been a Nomad user or two who have made large-diameter “caps” for their BitSetter. You could probably use something like that on a one-time basis as long as you are using current CM that gauges the tool as soon as you set Z-zero on the stock.
But as @WillAdams said, use the 1/4" bit and you don’t need to play tricks with the machine…
Thank you very much for the file. I’ll try it out.
I see you were thinking like I was about making a larger cap for the bit setter. I’ve used that surface tool on the Sherline to flatten a waste board and it worked fine. Was only taking a very small depth of cut. No problems. I think the Nomad 3 could handle that 1" bit.
I’ll start with the 1/4" bit and work on making a larger cap for the bit setter. If it works I’ll post my results.
I went right using the 1" surfacing bit. It worked OK using a .020" depth of cut a 24imps. Stalled the machine three times till I got it sorted out, More info tomorrow when I’m back on my desktop.
I spent Friday and all day Saturday on the Nomad 3. I spent several hours on Friday afternoon drawing up a surfacing CAD drawing, converted to DXF and imported into Carbide Create V8. I made a little part that fits over the bit setter so I could set the 3 bladed surfacing bit. After stalling the machine out twice on Friday toward evening I gave up and slept on it a solution. By Saturday afternoon I had it working. Had a very close call of almost surfacing the bit setter. didn’t realize I need to be careful with a larger round surfacing tool of how close it got to the bit setter. Probably had about 1/4" to 1/2’ clearance, The was a heart stopper.
Here are a couple of pictures of the part I made to fit over the bit setter. It’s a piece of copper tubing and a piece of brass rod with a nub turned on the end to fit in the center of the surfacing bit. The length of the piece compensates for the depth from the center of the surfacing bit to the bottom of the teeth. Worked pretty good. I was within .020". Couldn’t figure out why it didn’t cut the first time. I set it .020" lower and it skimmed the surface of the waste board giving a nice level board. So I’ll need to trim .020" off the end of that nub and I’ll be all set for the next surfacing.
After I surfaced the board I finally got to what I wanted to do. Make some parts for a project I’ve been working. I building a whole bunch of quarry cars. I’ve several parts already assembled with sides and floor. Now I need to make the chassis to hold the wheels and axels. Don’t know if I can load a URL for U-tube, but Ill give it a try.
Looks like I did something wrong on the file up load. I used the “arrow up” icon. It looked like it worked. I’ll upload to my website and see if it’ll load from there.
I’m using the McFly parameters from the tool list. Running at 18000rpm, 24ipm feed rate and 2ipm plunge rate. I’ll probably tweak it some more when I do more waste board surfacing. Works for now except for the dust it throws up from the MDF. Looks like a vacuuming system needs to be designed. I have an idea of what I want to do. It’ll be a while before that happens. Just using a shop vac for now, plus a whole room air filter II built from a U-tuber wood worker.
How far from the table is the side of the bitsetter? And how far past the edge of the table will the tool go in X & Y?
I think I might go with something like this. You don’t have to cut out to the edge. You can start in a bit (I went 3/8 so the tool overlaps just a bit) to make sure you’re avoiding the bitsetter.
Lets see if I can explain this. In the CAD program I drew a box 8" X 8". Then I used the first line at 0,8 and offset a lines to the right .8125. Ten of those offsets took me .0125" over the right side of the waste board near the bit setter. I then connected those lines with radius’ at each end. Imported it to Carbide Create V8 and came up with serpentine path. As I sated in my last post that it missed the bit setter by .250" to 1/2".
Had no burning at the RPM.
If you are leery of how close to the bit setter you are going to get. Just take a look at the G-code file when the cutter reaches that area and manually job over to that position. If to close then adjust your settings. I think that would work to determine if you’ll hit it or not.
Ah, OK. So you have a good 3/4" between the table & bitsetter. Looked closer in the pic.
I have an HDM, and the bitsetter was ON the table, so it had to be removed to surface.
Coincidentally, I left it in the drawer & haven’t put it back on. I don’t miss it much.
I’m still getting used to the software. It’s a bit different from the software I use on the Sherline. I do all my design work in DraftSight 2026. Then export it as a DXF into Carbide Create V8 and then do the toolpaths. Probably a bit different than what’s done here. Still learning.
Many ways to skin the cat. There are many combinations of CAD, CAM & CNC (controller/Gcode sender) software.
I use CC and NX for CAD/CAM, and Gsender for my controller.
Yup, I know that now. Best way to check if the tool will miss the bit setter is to check the G-code and manually jog your machine to that “X” axis setting. Sneaking up on it while watching to make sure you don’t hit the bit setter.
@Bernd, your tool measurement cap is very elegant in its design and use. And I’ve been looking over at MRH Forum about your work. You are a masterful machinist and modeler! An inspiration to me, who is just dipping my toes in the actual modeling after years of “armchair modeling”.
Thank very much for the flattering words. I appreciate it.
Masterful machinist, ah not so much, more of a knowledgeable machinist plus 30 years of working a a tool making company. The company manufactures gear cutting machines. almost anything with gears in it may have been cut this companies machines. Plus, my dad was a tool-n-die maker by trade. He always had machine tools in his work shop. So this is sort of second nature to me.
As far as model railroading I’ve been interested in it since I learn which end of a soldering iron you don’t touch at 3 years old. Plus I was on several homeshop machining forums. I swore I would not ever have a CNC mill in my model shop. Here I am many years later with three CNC machines.
It’s an easy way to check for clearances of things that might be in the way to the cutter. Unfortunately I sometimes forget to check because I’m in a hurry to get cutting.
A smaller surfacing bit also minimizes the effect of any non-perpendicularity of the spindle to the X-Y plane, but I think all Nomads are perfect in that respect anyway… 
That is ripping, 
