Just curious...Elite Woodworker

Happy Thanksgiving.

I was looking to pull the trigger on a X-50 with a stiffy and when talking to my wife she was 'are you going to be happy with this decision for the next 3-5 years?" (Background: bought my first CNC less than 6 mos ago and have out grown its capability and she aint happy :slight_smile: ) So now I am in a pickle trying to decide which one to get and which one will be the best bang for the buck.

I am hoping to start a “SMALL” side hustle nothing major something fun. I travel for my job so I am only home 2-4 days a week so I can be classified as a weekend warrior. Looking at the pictures it looks like there is a stiffy already that comes with the Elite or are my eyes decieving me? Other than the touch probe and extention wires anything else needed? I will be starting with the Makita router I am will be snagging off my current system.

Thanks…

The stiffy is optional on all machines. You can add that on at anytime!

Hey Kevin,

As others already mentioned, be sure that you will be happy not having chosen the biggest machine, in this case I would mean the Journeyman (120 × 80 cm, 48″ × 32″) instead of the Woodworker (80 × 80 cm, 32″ × 32″). The Foreman (120 × 120 cm, 48″ × 48″) is another thing, as it extremely deep (which is often a limiting dimension in a workshop), and with its 50 mm rails on both X and Y axes, extremely heavy. But all machines are open on the front and on the rear, so you can do tiling on workpieces. For this, the relevant dimension is the width, which is the only difference between Woodworker and Journeyman.

Just in case you doubt you can make room for the machine, a Journeyman is 155.9 cm wide (61.38″) and a Woodworker 115.25 cm (45 3/8″) wide, but of course you’ll need to add space on the left for the moving cables that stick out on the left of the X foot, or for the Y drag chain. Depending on later retrofitting a spindle with water coolant hoses or even an ATC spindle, I would reserve at least 80 mm (+ 10 mm “air”), better 100 mm (+ 10 mm “air”) on the left for a drag chain (in case you leave the X stepper on the right and the X cable outputs on the left of the X axis – you can also reverse them), and to add space on the right, e.g. 10 mm “air” on the right, or a little more should you one day retrofit a stronger X stepper that is longer. The stock Elite drag chain is 30 mm wide, so way to small for a serious spindle cable together with two water coolant hoses and possibly compressed air for spindle air sealing. Also if you encounter EMI problems (as many do) think of exchanging the stock stepper cables by shielded and grounded (4+PE+shield) cables, which are much thicker in diameter. Some people also add workpiece coolant, workpiece cutting fluid, axis oiler lines, spindle LED ring light and camera wires (example of a wider drag chain).

So this would require a table width (inside a possible enclosure, add enclosure wall thickness on both sides if you intend to build one) of minimum 166 cm (65.35″) / 168 cm (66.14″) for wider chain for a Journeyman, and minimum 125 cm (49.2″) / 127 cm (50.0″) for wider chain for a Woodworker.

Jim @JimHatch in Lessons learned for flip-down up down tabletop also states he made the anti-torsion box 183 cm (6′) wide but in fact he would make it 168 cm (66″) wide if he would make it again.

Joshua @RockingMallet in Table size for the Elite Journeyman states that 162.56 cm (64″) is tight.

See here for

This has been discussed often and thoroughly in the forum. Unnecessary to repeat it everytime someone asks. Please use the search function (e.g. “recommendations”, “what is needed”, “what do I need”, “shopping list” etc.

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