Flatttening wasteboard going badly, foreman gone too deep

1

New Elite foreman owner, just got everything together and have an issue with flattening the waste board that likely is an issue that I am doing but cant seem to see my mistake.

Elite Foreman, on a QCW / Leg set and while the qcw is fasten from above, I removed the threaded press fit pieces and countersunk /wingnuts the boards to mount, the head of the screws are .4" below the surface.
Prncnc, 2.2kw water cooled, square to the bed

3/4" mdf installed, initially had back to front .025" high at the back, used shim stock and got front to back to <.010"

Set the Z zero at the high spot, set final depth of cut at .020"

VCarve pro, made a flattening file as above, spetools 2.5" flattening bit, 50% stepover

started the operation and every pass from front to back is slightly deeper than the previous pass
actual depth (lip to bottom of cut ) was .0105" as roughly expected (back +.010 high, zeroed, .020 depth so front starting point was -.010 neighborhood

The Z on the display stayed at the negative value that it started, but by about the 10th pass the depth of cut from the lip was .153! at this point it was hogging too much wood, and the spindle stopped.

Z still stated -.020" ! For the life of me I cant see where the depth is coming from. I’ll measure the bit in the spindle, but I had it really tight but I forgot to measure it.

Any thoughts on what I might be screwing up? Shut and down and walked away for the night…

Any pointers are appreciated.

3 Likes
2

Is you spindle slipping down in the holder?

3

Hey Steven,

Then it must be the either the bit or the spindle slipping downwards. In this case, make always sure to have a clean collet, collet seat, and bit shank. Or the workpiece is lifted by the bit’s operation. Normal bits are upcut which means the bit has the tendency to be drawn into the workpiece. Therefore the workpiece must always be fastened bombproof.

collet_seat_cleaner_25pct
collet_seat_cleaner_25pct747×396 169 KB

Here a cleaning tool with leather strips for cleaning the collet seat inside taper.

Also is it possible that you made a mistake when mounting the collet?

ER collets are not mounted the way a trim router collet is mounted. Most people put the collet into the axle of the spindle and then they put the collet nut over it. That is definetely wrong! An ER collet has a groove that goes all the way around near the top of the collet. The corresponding collet nut of an ER collet has an excentric extractor ring or offset lip inside. It is absolutely mandatory to fully engage (clip in) the collet inside the nut before you tighten it onto the holder, as shown at this moment of the video “ER Collets | 5 Things to Know for Beginners” . See also this picture from my spindle manual:

Mechatron__Installing_Collet_into_Nut
Mechatron__Installing_Collet_into_Nut506×562 92 KB

– Source: Mechatron HFS Spindle User’s Manual

ER_collet__Excentric_Extractor_Ring_-Offset_Lip-_SS_Workshop
ER Collets | 5 Things to Know for Beginners - Youtube

ER_collet_Excentric_Extractor_Ring_-Offset_Lip-_Haas_Automation
ER Collet Essentials. Do You Know? – Haas Automation Tip of the Day - Youtube

The link jumps to the moment in the video where it is shown.

4

The bit was as tight as humanly possible and didnt slip.
The spindle proper didnt slip and was very tight.

I checked the positions (z above the bed) and they matched what I initiallymeasured, that is the untouched uncut portion at +.0108 portion

XY zero was .004 so represented the cut after pass.

z depth as shown on the dro at the middle of the bed (the progressively deeper area) was as I measures at -.1339.

SO the tool nor the spindle moved since all the measurements still checked out.

Not sure if it is related to the other problem I just posted about where there is +36vdc measuring from the spindle nut to the xyz plate or the chassis ground… (causing using the xyz probe to spart and reboot the masso when touching off…)

So stumped, Ill call onefinity tomorrow to see if I can talk to someone directly.

5

Unplug the spindle, and see if you still measure 36V from spindle nut to chassis ground

6

I believe - from his description - he had done that (unless I misread the post).

7

Yes, unplugged from the aircraft connector on the back of the spindle.
The only connection to the spindle is the water tubes, and the physical mount.

Tomorrows checks include separating the Z stepper and sensor plugs, as the 36V is there without a spindle connected in any electrical way.

1 Like
8

Is anything else unrelated plugged in? Powered USB hub or something like that?

10

As it was built, 220 feeding the pwncnc vfd
VFD control to masso
VFD to Spindle
VFD to IOT outlet
IOT outlet to cooling pump

120 to onefinity PS
PS to Masso
XYZ Probe (sold by onefinity)
120 to onefinity PS
Fein Turbo 1
Masso MPG Pendant
Original USB that came with the machine

Current state that still causes the 36V that will crash the masso:
All axis’s are connected
All sensors still connected
NO cables to the spindle
No cables to the VFD
Pendant removed
vacuum and power to vacuum through PS removed

Minimalist as possible, Masso, PSupply, Axis wiring. and xyz probe plugged into the middle socket marked xyz

11

If you unplug the onefinity all together to where nothing has power, do you still measure the voltage?

12

Did you also switch the Estop input back after removing pendant?

14

Sounds like my first week when I tried to ‘flatten’ the waste board with a 2" bit. I also have a QCW frame & spindle. Long story short, I decided that it was not a waste board. Got rid of the bit. Forgot about tramming etc. and had a lot of fun making stuff. cheers
Confidence intervals measure the degree of uncertainty or certainty in a sampling method

16

YRMV - That is to say that the material that you are working with may not be flat or square and that the finished product may not “care” that it is perfect as long as it “looks” good and you had a good time making it.

1 Like
18

What? Check out your meds bro

19

This problem turned out to be a bad motor on the X, but it could have almost been any motor as the failure mode was with a certain flex of the motor power lead, the motor was 36V on the chassis. It wasnt the cable, it was a flex in the PCB in the motor. This 36V was a: shorting to the xyz touch plate when setting z. and b: the 36v was being seen by the motor and making a slow drop of X allowing the cut to go deeper with each pass. New motor came very quickly (even moving during july 4th… And Ive successfully done a flattening and a full bed cut with success. And all is good with the world…

2 Likes