This is my 2nd go at flattening my wasteboard. It’s better than the 1st, but I’m still having problems with my Y-axis. X-axis seems to be almost perfect. Can’t see or feel the lines on the south part, but you can slightly on north side of the board. I have grooves on east and west because of my Y-axis…is this little bit okay or do I need to straighten it up like X?
I followed Winston Moys tramming video, but I must’ve done it wrong because tramming showed both my x and y way off. I’m as green as it gets to a cnc machine and this is giving me a headache. How flat did you get your wasteboard? PLEASE HELP!!
My wasteboard seems to come out pretty flat, but then when I cut, the cut is too deep and it cuts into the wasteboard at the front of the machine and slowly tapers out to be not deep enough leaving an onion skin on the part towards the back of the machine.
Nice setup guys👊 How do you know the exact high and low points? You have a digital tram thingamabob? Haha I’m so new at this. I really need machine blocks or something like Winston Moy had in his video so I can level my router collar to my wasteboard.
I’ve messed with that collar so much that I stripped 1 of the screws and can’t get it out now. Any idea how to get a stripped screw out on the machine?
Seems your original wasteboard is not flat. That’s what I was told by Ben Myers when I asked him. Mine did the same thing. Ben said that happens all the time. Once you make your new wasteboard and then run the flatting program that should fix the issue.
That’s the file I ran and he said next step would be to tram and recommend Winston’s tramming video. I adjusted the router collar, but I don’t have machining blocks or anything the right size to square up the collar so I just went back and forth making adjustments. I guess I need to invest in some of those 123 blocks he was talking about unless anyone has any other ideas. My squares aren’t big enough to fit under the collar. I have to bring it down to far where the bottom v wheels come out.
I’m pretty uneducated on the machine myself as well, but I bought an analog dial indicator. If I was to buy another, I’d get a digital version next time that does both metric and imperial, because I find metric easier even though I’ve used imperial all my life. The router mount shouldn’t be a concern if you’ve got the router tight. If it doesn’t snug up tight any more you may need to contact Carbide for a new spindle mount
This is a timely subject for me. I Tramm’ed my supplemental MDF spoil board today. I had Tram’d it about 2 months ago and had some of my projects showing through so I decided to do it again. When I first Tram’d mine I had noticeable peaks and valleys in both directions. I got 1 2 3 set up blocks from Amazon and used them to get my router mount square. Then I shimmed the lower part of my router mount with aluminum foil and got my almost perfect. After running the Tram today I could see very small ridges and I ran a medium sanding sponge over the entire spoil board. I just very lightly used the sanding sponge and after I could feel no ridges in either direction. You can go crazy trying to get every defect out. Since this is my 3rd time to tram I think I might have 1 or two more passes before I have to replace the spoil board. I used the Myers Woodshop plans to make my spoil board and fences as well as the cam clamps. I am very happy with my results and I know that my spoil board is plumb and square with the router. The 1 2 3 setup blocks were very useful and were not very expensive. If you do not use the set up blocks it is a lot of trial and error. The more times you have to remove the Z axis to adjust the router mount the more chances you have of getting things out of kilter. Even if you base is not perfectly flat after tram-ing the spoil board will be square and plumb to the router. You can make your self a jig or buy one that has a dial indicator and check the flatness but that may be overkill for the Shapeoko.
If you are having problems getting your spoil board flat go back to basics. Make sure all 3 axis are moving mechanically smooth with the power off. Check your belt tensions and get all of that correct before you try to tram. If you have any mechanical difficulties you may never get your spoil board flattened to the router.
I used a Whiteside 1" 3 cutter 6120 bit to tram. I created it a #401 and gave it a 50% step over and 80 IPM. Whiteside suggested that the speed could be 100 IPM but I am in no hurry to tram. It takes about 20 minutes to cut my XXL spoil board down. I leave my router (Dewalt 611) on the speed of 3 almost all the time. I also used dust collection because the MDF spoil board will make a mega mess if you do not have dust collections.
This is my spoil board after tram before I put my fences back on. The two triangles were from a project I cut too deep but I decided I did not need to get it perfect. You cannot see any of the defects after I ran the medium 3M sanding sponge very lightly over the entire surface. This was my 3rd tram and on the first tram I had a low spot in the front left corner. The second tram had me level and plumb. The third tram took only one 0.010 pass and it was perfect with no low spots.
If you want see if your spoil board is level make pencil squiggles all over it before tram. If all your pencil marks are removed you know your spoil board is flat. The 1 2 3 set up blocks were https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BN44XD7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and were about $27.00. I removed my router to get the router mount square side to side and front to back. Then I put the router back in. I do not think you can get your router square without the set up blocks with out lot of trail and error. It is certain that you will need to remove your router and the Z axis in the future and will need the set up blocks again. There is always maintenance to do and having the tools necessary to get back to work is essential.
I’m not sure where to get the link from so I just took a screenshot lol.
Thanks @gdon_2003 for your link! I thought these blocks would’ve been more expensive. I ended up going with Amazon choice because of the reviews and free 1 day shipping. That other link said it wouldn’t ship for a few days… I’m impatient
Thank you guys for sharing your wasteboard pictures! These blocks will help me with the grooves I have from router mount not being square with the board. I thought my X-axis was good enough, but you guys make me want to try and level that even more lol.
Also, how can I remove my stripped screw from the back of router mount without damaging anything else? I have 1 good screw and 1 stripped, but if I keep taking this mount on and off then I’m about to have 2 stripped screws.
While you can repair threads in aluminum using Helicoil or some similar product, for the router mount contact us at support@carbide3d.com and we’ll work this out with you.
For me the foil was put at the bottom. The placement depends on the direction of the ridge. The ridge was higher toward the rear indicating that the front of my router was lower. The shim lifted the front of the router. If I had shimmed the top of the router mount I would have lowered the front of my router.
You need to keep your router mount screws loose enough to move it but tight enough so your adjustment holds during removal of the z axis to tighten the mount. Always recheck after reassembly because tightening some times shifts the mount.
Has anyone measured the squareness of their stock Z-axis rails to the wasteboard surface? I’m just curious, as any non-perpendicularity between the Z-axis rails and the surface would look like the spindle mount being out of alignment, but the former would yield a skew with respect to Z and the latter would not.
Mine does something similar. It doesn’t effect my work much because I compress the stock onto the waste board (adds rigidity), which also bridges those tiny gaps for me. My only concern is when finishing and getting the step over correct is more important with a ball end mill/cutter. I only do rough prototyping work and some personal projects that don’t (yet) require machining center accuracy. One thing I need to do is add support under the middle span, so that it doesn’t flex so much. But, that is just me being lazy, and also I haven’t need to do that yet. At least, I know that with some modifications the XXL has the potential to do more than what I currently need.
I added support in the middle as well. I was able to get the leveling feet high enough so that a 3/4 piece of plywood sat perfectly under the middle. I use the center a lot for vcarving box lids and the support makes my machine more rigid. The rails under the factory spoil board will flex quite a bit and usually just sag but it can start acting like a trampoline with out support.
