A couple things,
Mine didn’t seem to come with the bracket to attach the controller to the masso?
And, has anyone figured out a way to mount it so that the laser rests at least as low as the bottom of the collet nut on a spindle? Mines near 2" higher than the nut on the pwncnc spindle.
I’m not aware of a bracket for mounting the laser controller to the Masso. I just have mine screwed to the underside of my table.
How is your laser bracket mounted to the spindle mount? The only way I can think to have the laser that far above the nut on the spindle is for the bracket to be on upside down.
This is what I’ve got here. If I lower the spindle side bracket any more, I won’t be able to mount my dust collector, and aside from that, it’s maybe 1/4". The bracket on the laser doesn’t seem to be movable, has cut outs that match the laser, and was fixed when it arrived.
To me, your spindle appears to be way too far down in the bracket. Not sure about that particular spindle, but I believe the instructions for mine stated that 2 or 3 inches of the spindle should be visible below the clamp.
Try moving your spindle up a few inches, which may require changing which mounting holes youre using on the z-slider. This will allow you to use the laser.
The issue with bringing the spindle up any further is two fold, it won’t bits of the carriage will be closer to the work piece, increasing clearances needed, and will require removing the spindle side bracket to mount the dust collection (it is as low as allowable. Now, the latter’s not a big deal, the former’s a no go.
For now, I moved the spindle up, but this means removing the laser bracket to fit the dust collector.
I think thats the trade youre going to have to deal with. Most of us clamp our spindles fairly low on their bodies.
You’re probably going to have to change boots or diy if you want to be able to leave the laser bracket on.
That’s been my thinking. Aside from cutting a new bracket for the laser so I can leave it on. Ahh well.
Removing the laser bracket is less work than removing the spindle, so that’s how I’ll go. I moved the spindle up so the laser clears it easily when the bracket is hanging off the top screws. Repeatable position.
Hey lanarkmilling,
what you experience is a design flaw of the Z assemblies on all Onefinity machines:
Just be aware, that the more you slide the spindle downwards into the motor clamping mount to reach your workpiece, the more the leverage force exerted on the Z slider by the milling process at the end of the bit, the more your machine could encounter chatter or inaccuracy of results. Theoretically.
If you look at the position of the milling motor clamp on what I call the best solution for hobbyists and semiprofessionals who just want to plug in, the usual milling motor in Europe like AMB (former Kress) milling motor, the Suhner that is shown to cut steel, and the Mafell milling motor, you see the best position of the clamp: Directly where the axle comes out (note that you should not clamp there on your spindle. The Euro 43 mm motors have an all-steel motor flange. The manuals of spindles prohibit clamping directly on the bearings, the area where they are allowed to be clamped is a little higher on the stator sleeve).
Needless to say that with a Onefinity Z assembly, with such a milling motor, you will never reach any workpiece.
Unfortunately, I have no information about whether Onefinity has them on their radar and will provide an appropriate Z slider to use them with the Onefinity CNC.
Seems I am not the only one playing with Laser Zed positioning. I can use the laser, and I have already reconciled myself to having 2 dust boot configs to support the generic work processes, cut and carve. I had hoped to use the Laser inline with a cut to burn registration marks, part #'s etc. It works, but a fair amount of moving stuff around on the laser step. Building a laser slider assembly is what keeps popping in to my head. It would have to be a wrap around bracket holding the linear slide with the laser inside the cage unless you want to sacrifice more offset and usable work area. A linear assembly with baby stepper/motor to experiment with is cheap on Ali-Express so it is just down to building the wrap around. It needs to be low weight but stiff so maybe a PETG-CF print before spending the time on aluminum… If anyone has done something like this already, I would love to hear how it went. Time to fire up solidworks and see where it goes.
