Yesterday I started a project. I haven’t used the Shapeoko 3 in a while. The project was using a 13.5 square piece if 1/8 plastic. During the run the suckit dust shoe hit the bit setter. Which caused it to move. I was lucky that it didn’t damage anything.
It seems that when the material is on the thin side the dust shoe can hit the bit setter.
Has anybody else run into this problem? Is there a work around?
Yes, I have run into this.
Put a piece of 3/4 material underneath your stock. That should solve your issue.
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When I surface my SO3 I remove the BitSetter because I dont want to hit with the dust boot or the bit. I make my spoilboards smaller than the maximum size the SO3 can cut so I can flatten my entire spoilboard. Before tiling having a ridge at the back was not a big deal but now with tiling you need the whole spoilboard to be flat including the area behind the gantry.
Here is my customized SO3 XXL spoilboard file. It was originally made in CC v6 but I opened it in v7 and saved it so it should work in v7 CC.
optomized_xxl_spoilboard_03082021.c2d (628 KB)
For the XL here is an optomized spoilboard
optimized_xl_wasteboard_03162021.c2d (680 KB)
The material is .75" MDF and I use 1/4-20 5/16" Tee Nuts. With the shorter tee nuts I can flatten my waste board quite a few times before replacement.
When using the tee nuts make sure your bolts you use to secure any clamps do not bottom out or your spoilboard will be pushed up making it uneven.
To secure the spoilboard I make 1/4" holes in the 4 corners. I use a counter sink and lay the spoilboard on the base board. I mark the 4 corner holes and then remove the spoilboard and drill out and use brass threaded 1/4-20 inserts. I then secure the spoilboard in the 4 corners. Be sure to counter sink your flat head screws enough so subsequent flattening operations do not hit the heads of the bolts.
I also attached a CC file for making a long L bracket and some cam clamps to use with the threaded spoilboard.
long_L_bracket.c2d (296 KB)
I used .75" material to make the long L bracket and the cam clamps. Just modify the setup for your material and set up.
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Thanks for the answers. They should help me run this machine.
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