Hello all,
I have 2 weeks of cnc under my belt. I built this tank of a table awaiting my OF. Some must and some prefer highly portable with folding tables. I fortunately have the room so I built the tank of a table.
Just before my machine came, 1f announced the wall mount accessories. The day it arrived they announced the x50. I felt like a pc gamer that dropped a ton on the baddest video card, only to have the next baddest video card announced. I believe the tank is a few inches shy of accepting the Woodworker x50. Probably a blessing,lol.
The setup, I purchased a bunch of accessories, as you can see. Pretty much everything was suggested somewhere in this forum. I thank you all.
Not sure if I can mention their names or not, but I
Started with a large monitor. 21", touchscreen. The touchscreen works perfectly. I installed dragchains, with shielded cables. The spoilboard has threaded inserts, t-tracks, kreg dog holes. I surfaced the spoilboard and have to get the right light to see any lines. I can not feel any. So I am going to skip tramming. I would like to scratch in a grid, but I want to test the X and Y distances first. I cut a 15.75" square and the Y was ¹/³²" short.
Much of the "learning experiences " the past two weeks have been at a cost. Broken bits! Mostly #$%^^& mistakes. Some dimwitted person even started the router without removing the probe’s magnet. ThAT was a learning experience! I have hit the omj button a few times. But I think I am ready to make firewood, lol.
Shop accessories will be a blast. Hopefully lumber prices will come back to reality.
Again I thank all here, and in other FB forums.
Other than that I think
Spes, that is a nice setup! It should be easy to expand by adding an additional top layer slightly wider to accept a wider footprint of the journeyman if you go that route, 'cause that’s my expansion plan as well. I hope you will share the sources and models of your additions so others can benefit. In fact, I’d like to hear the source and cost of the 21 inch monitor that works well.
Very nice! That does look like a very sturdy tank. I’m right with you with the broken bits. I probably would have done the router probe magnet too, but I didn’t order the probe yet - doing the zeroing all manually so far.
I’ll be getting mine in a few weeks (hopefully). What newbie mistakes did you make to cause the broken bits? Maybe I can learn from you and not make the same mistakes.
Looks a little flimsy… you might have been better off with 4"x10" for your horizonal structural supports under the dual layer 3/4" MDF… might have been able to land a 747 on it then!
Just razzing you, that is a TANK of a table but I can promise you … even if OneFinity comes out with a 200mm rail “Godzilla” edition you will not have to upgrade that table. I love those casters BTW… hands down the best casters available IMO.
Great work, thanks for sharing with the forum… good luck on your CNC journey!!!
-Alex
Oh the casters, haha. They were the same price for the beefier ones as the “lighter” ones. Beefier it is, I said. You could park a small car on this thing.
Agh, You want me to bare my sole.
First broken bit: I have the OF joystick. It has different buttons that change the amount of travel. I had it set too high when lowering Z to probe touch plate. Slammed the 60 degree bit into the touch plate breaking the bit. Never used bit.
Next victim was a 1/8" end mill. Not 100% sure why this broke while cutting. I was either asking too much of it, or the piece moved. Leaning towards piece moved.
The third bit broken was a 1/8 shafted bit. I couldn’t get it out of the collet. I grabbed the actual bit with a pair of pliers and tap tapped the pliers. Snap!
Haven’t tried it yet, but a video I watched shows once nut is loose, a tap tap with the collet wrench ABOVE the collet screw, releases the bit. I will have to try that one.
Then, some nitwit turned the router on with the probe magnet still attached!
It wound up the cord on the collet and threw the probe across the room.
Said nitwit recalls saying " I’ll never do that." THAT was a learning experience!
Hopefully the break at least slows down, lol. Breaking one per project is a bit costly.
Thanks for the detailed descriptions! It definitely helps and I’ll try not to make the same mistakes… although I’m sure I’ll make different ones. Good luck on your next project and I hope your bits last longer.
In my long winded opening, I totally forgot to mention dust collection.
I bit the bullet and purchased a Fein Turbo I.
I attached it to a Dust Deputy I already had.
Oh my, is it quieter than my Rigid vac.
I connected it to my machine via a OF dust collection boom. Ending at a Suckit dust boot. I must say the dust collection has been fantastic. Carving even through cuts seem to leave even less than one cut on my dust collection miter saw. Very pleased. When I surfaced the entire spoilboard, agh, a little more messy but not crazy bad. I had planned on building a sliding enclosure like Mitz’s. Not 100% sure now. I do enjoy unrestricted access all around the tank.
I must admit I suffer hearing loss. (Not woodworking related) Even with my hearing aids I am surprised that the noise isn’t that bad. A surfacing bit read 83 dB on a noise app…
Haha, I must be starting to learn. Just about to cut my first piece using Oops clamps. I just remembered to go back into vcarve and increase the Z fast movement height. Winning!
The stop switch is a POWERTEC 71354 Magnetic Switch 120V | EZ Surface Mount Box,.
Disclaimer: I am not an electrician. I do not even know if this is correct. Any attempts at this ask a qualified electrician. I assume no liability for any inaccuracies/misstatements about products listed.
Now, what this non electrician did was,
I purchased a long 12 gauge cord. I had a 4 gang power strip. I also had some of the plastic grommet pass thru things. (I forget what they are called. I would have to look at them to see what size also.) I cut the plug off the power strip and attached to the out side of the Powertec switch. I attached the 12 gauge cord to the in side of the Powetec switch. I attached a 3-prong plug to the other end of the extension cord. I happened to have a gfci plug on the wall available. That’s where the cord plugs in. No idea if that is necessary.
The 1F stuff goes from the 1F controller into the power strip. My fein turbo I shop vac and router are on a separate circuit. ( I do wish they were on the same . But I guess it’s not recommended for electrical “noise”. I have broken a bit forgetting to turn router on.)
So the controller is mounted under table. Powertec to front of table. If I hit the Powertec button it kills all power going to the controller.
Since my setup is cantilevered off the wall with 1" tolerances, I’ll make myself feel better by letting you know it looks like you can rotate your setup and the x50 will fit! I don’t have a chance without serious redoing.
And to make you feel better, only bits I’ve broken are the ones I accidently bumped with the workpiece while placing it on the table and one that I dropped.
Nice set up just the same! Judging by the rest of the shop your OCD is worse than mine. Looking forward to seeing some outcomes!
This came out nice, but can be better!
I need to try a smaller ball nose bit (will significantly increase time) and learn to mess with raster angles.
I am impressed with this one, but I believe I can improve the clarity and fuzziness.
I know this may be a little old but what size did you build your table top (landing strip)? Getting ready to build mine and I am an over doer myself and gravitated to yours lol! Anything you would change since then.
