I got on to YouTube and saw the program of how to flatten my waste board from carbide create. It was for a pro 5 my machine is a carbide Pro not sure if there is a difference in the program. You tube said Kevin built the program and it was on Cutrocket. I downloaded it from them
Can I use that program? I bought my machine in February of last year
If you have a Shapeoko Pro which has a 16" x 16" or 32" x 16" or 32" x 32" working area, then a file for flattening the wasteboard of a Shapeoko 5 Pro which as a 2’ x 2’ or 4’ x 2’ or 4’ x 4’ working area, then that will not work.
Draw up or find a file to match your machine.
For an XXL:
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So sorry I did not tell you which model I had which is a XXl
Thank you for the link, I could not find any instructions but I did watch the video for the pro 5 guess I could do the same set up?
Similar, yes.
Instructions are under Notes:
Disable Bitsetter in the Settings Menu
Rapid your machine to “C” or Center.
Zero the X+Y of your machine at that position.
Set the Z Axis zero at the top of your waste board.
McFly 1" Fly Cutter is the Tool defined (#88)
If you alter the tool you can run this with another end mill. (Such as the #201 1/4" bit that is standard with every Shapeoko)
Once complete, re-enable your BitSetter and enjoy the 100% flat waste board surface.
Question do you do the bit setting with the Mcfly flatting bit?
Do you do the center of the waste board from the waste board or from the metal holding the waste board?
Can you also zero X & Y from the left corner? or does it need to be in the center?
Also I can assume the McFly bit will not reach the sides of the waste board because the machine can get that close to the sides
Thank you for all your help
Rod Hoffmann
I do not have the XXL, I have the S5 Pro. The intent of the flattening file is to start the tool path in the center of the waste board, set the Z axis zero with the fly cutter just as you would with a 1/4” end mill manually. There several videos to help you understand the sequence of this.
You will need to remove and disable the bitsetter to use the maximum envelope of the machine.
So you will need to set your Z zero manually by touching the table surface.
You can use either center or lower left for your zero. As long as the program matches where you set zero on the machine.
I do this… Initialize the machine. It will back off from the hard stops 5mm. Zero the machine here. Now move all the way front left until you just hit the hard stops. Back off the hard stops about 5mm. Read the X & Y values. (they’re negative, but write down the positive values.) This is your safe machining envelope. Now set XY zero at that point, and use the dimensions you wrote down to create your surfacing program.
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Thanks
I am using the program from carbide create that Kevin created with Cutrock.
can I use any bit to set zero or do I need to use the flatting bit?
Rod
Check to make sure Kevin’s program will fit on your machine’s work envelope (min/max XY).
Specs say 33" x 33", but I don’t know how precise that is.
You need to set Z with the surfacing bit. You can use any bit for XY. If you’re trying to pick up a marked point, a V-bit works nice. If you’re just backing off a little from the hard stops, any bit, or no bit will work.
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I tried to use his program it wont work.
Guess I will need to build my own program. not sure how to do that. this is my first time to clean up my waste board.
You are right 33x33 tank you for all your help.
I would check center and four corners at a minimum to see where your high point is. Mine happened to be center.
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I would just draw a 33x33 square & cut it with a facing toolpath.
I noticed the passes stopped short of the left & right boundary, so I made the rectangle 34x33
You can also just draw whatever path you want and use a contour path with no offset.
I also set the depth to 0.0001". I really want 0.0000, but it won’t generate. Also if you have to edit it, it rounds the depth back to 0.000 and won’t generate. You have to keep adding the 1 ten thousandth back in.
On the machine, find your high spot & low spot. Touch off to the low spot and set your Z for whatever stock you want to remove. i.e. I would type in Z 0.010 so it cuts 0.010 below that point.
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Well…for me, this took the longest. Any tips for a quick way to do this? I have a feeler gauge attached to the gantry and tried poking for low spots…no love. I tried covering the surface with a white mist and cutting it away to find spots where the white stayed…but that took a long time to do over several passes.
I ended up choosing a depth that HAD to be too deep and just sacrificed some height on my spoil board.
I feel like replacing the spoil board after several years of use…but dread doing the flattening again. So any tips on a fast way to find the low spot would be appreciated!
I used a straight edge across the spoil boards, marked the high spots to use as my Z zero. I did not have any experience on the machine when I did this so the highest spot was the first spot the bit would contact and cutting a 1” surface area is allot of contact area vs 0.25”. Prior to cutting I used the pencil marking just as I would with a hand plane to see what was left to remove after each pass.
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Flattening the wasteboard is definitely one of those jobs that feels a bit of a hassle but makes everything work so much better after. Biggest things are using the right file size for your machine, turning off the BitSetter while you do it, and just taking light passes with a surfacing bit until it all evens out.
I just touch the tool off at the center & 4 corners.
Use the rapid positions for NW NE SW SE & Center. Jog down as close as you can get and then nudge it, reducing the jog setting as you get close, until it just touches the surface. When you’re really close, in the 0.001" jog, look under the cutting edge & jog down until the light disappears. If you need more light, put a light behind the tool.
If I’m trying to find the low spot, set Z zero on the first measurement, and then any measurement that is negative, or lower than the previous low.
Then I set the low spot to 0.010" & run the program I set at a depth of 0.0001"
Typically, you won’t be taking much off at a time. 0.010" - 0.020". So you can feed pretty fast. My machine maxes out at about 210 ipm, which is less than 10 minutes to surface the whole thing.
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