Been doing some reading on tramming shapeokos. In this ebook it is suggested that you should surface your waste board first before tramming. Am i wrong in thinking that if the spindle is indeed not squared then the waste board would have ridges in it?
What am I missing here?
Are there any guides to tramming the shapeoko 5 pro?
Thanks
You are correct, the procedure is surface - tram - surface.
To tram, place something of consistent thickness on the wasteboard, like a piece of glass.
You need to surface first because the surface of the waste board may not be in the plane that the spindle moves in - it could be high / low along any edge, or even not consistent thickness.
Copy that. Probably should have kept reading the guide. Thanks for clarifying.
I am just getting started with CNC and my 5 Pro 4 x 4. How do I set up to run my surfacing bit over the area that my CNC will cut in Carbide Create? Then I was thinking of putting a waste board on top of that and cutting a grid in it and adding boards for quick squaring X & Y Axis.
Please see:
So which came first the chicken or the egg? There is merit to surfacing the spoilboard first because even with ridges it is a somewhat consistent flat surface. You eliminate any big bumps or high/low spots. Then you can tram the router with 1-2-3 blocks for several other tools. I can see the argument to tram first but if the spoilboard is not flat you will need to tram again after surfacing.
Personally I flatten my spoilboard first. Then check tram. If there were ridges left behind I flatten the spoilboard again.
It would be hard to tram and surface only once. I think you will likely need to surface twice if you have ridges. If you surface first and there are no ridges there is no need to tram.
So it is a toss up which to do first. To tram or not to tram that is the question.
FYI I have an SO3 with an mdf spoilboard that has 1/4-20 threaded inserts. The hybrid tables slightly complicate surfacing. I surface down quite a bit because my 1/4-20 tee nuts are 5/16" tall and on the hybrid tables the t-tracks are a lot closer to the surface of the mdf slats than on my mdf spoilboard.
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