QCW right choice?

[Cuk240 (Robert Palmer)]

Trying to choose between the QCW/ Stand or another work table. Elite Foreman enroute.

1. How stable is it for the motion?
2. Will be adding Spindle (future ATC) .

I’m I limited to space or fiction of multiple bits with the QCW or does bolting to work surface give me better options, more bits to work with the ATC? I have seen DIY, Kregs , and Rockler kits. I like to stay with same company on there accessories if they make them for products I buy. But, I’am not getting through enough info on the QCW/Stand.

Help. On the shaky fence!

[349iq2345]

Hey Robert,

@349iq2345

Note that when you use the QCW frame, the milling bit will not move exactly over the area where the workarea seems to be, i.e. between the four machine’s feet, but its movement area is much shifted towards front because the bit and the Z slider are not exactly in the X axis but attached to the front side of the X carriage. So there is a rather large region that cannot be accessed by the bit in the rear of the QCW frame, of where the t-tracks reach, and where you could also make the wasteboard slats much shorter since neither you can surface that area nor can you mill something there. Correspondingly, there is a rather large workarea where the milling motor and the bit (and the dust boot!) protrude the QCW frame beyond the front, where you will have no support for a wasteboard, so workarea that is wasted, and that you have into account when building a table and more specifically, an enclosure! Because of this, don’t build a table or enclosure that ends at the machine’s front feet. See Dust boot overhang and more links below for exact dimensions.

Note that the shift of the workarea with respect to machine’s feet (and thus the inaccessible, wasted area on the rear of the wasteboard slats when using the QCW frame) differs a bit depending on whether you have the old Z-16 or the new Z-20 Z assembly and of course also whether you have the 65 mm or the 80 mm spindle mount, as each results in a slightly different position of the center of the bit.

I think someone measured the useless area on the rear one day, but I couldn’t find it anymore for this post. Since the exact distance differs a bit depending on the options above, I think you should measure it on the machine (and report it here!)

This phenomenon can only be avoided by not using the QCW frame and making a machine base that has its wasteboard where the machine’s workarea is.

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[Cuk240 (Robert Palmer)]

Thanks for that information. Thats the most detailed information I have Heard.

[tKC]

You should check out some of the awesome tables people on this forum have made or other projects posted. I own the QCW frame and rolling stand. My work is done in a garage and I can’t just permanently dedicate the room to a CNC I need the ability to file it up and but it against the wall sometimes.

Though I noticed some of the other tables being designed are narrow at the base with a rotating table too for compact storage and something I might consider in the future.

As for now i like the stand, but as far as movement it does shake quite a bit but I have never seen an issue with the shaking impacting the cuts.

As already mentioned when you home the machine with a Z-20 slider you need to turn the screen or the spindle mount will smack it coming forward. The bit is then pointed off the table. I put a grid on my spoilboard and I start carving 2" above for my first on the axis running along the y. I cut along that line so I’m losing roughly 2" of my 32" on the journeyman but if you use the edge of the waste board you lose roughly 1.5"

The stand is well built and you have have an Easier time mounting the rails in perfect alignment opposed to building your own. Though it all comes down to personal preference.

[RogueMachinist]

If I am reading this correctly QCW users have some working area outside the frame up front? How much space is available?

Some kind of work holding vise for dowel holes or mortise and tenon work would be nice.

[Dustoff00 (Dean)]

I really like your idea for the rotary install, as it allows you to still have access to the full cutting surface when not in use. Just need to remember to adjust the dust boot. I think i might try this vs, the replacing of the last slat that I am currently doing now…