Surfacing bit can't reach 3/4" wasteboard

Machines (Original/PRO) Assembly
1

Hey all, I wanted to post something here in case I’m missing something super obvious.

I have the Foreman Pro with the mount-from-bellow QCW table and a Mikita router. I screwed in 3/4" MDF strips and have a 1" surfacing bit installed.

The owners manual suggested a minimum of 3/4" MDF, saying:

“This thickness will also give you the opportunity to perform several surfacing operations before needing to be replaced.”

The problem I’m running into is that even when the gantry is setup as low as it can go and the router is positioned all the way down, the bit doesn’t come close enough to the MDF in order to complete one surfacing operation, let alone several.

Any thoughts, suggestions or ideas?

Thanks!

Mike

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Hey mikes,

this comes up from time to time, see here: Wasteboard too short?

1 Like
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Hey, thanks for the reply!

I saw that post and did confirm my Z assembly is in the lowest possible position. Also, I wasn’t sure if that applied to my setup since that’s the Elite with the Z-20, which I do not have.

Is it not possible to surface a 3/4" wasteboard with my current setup? I feel like that’s part of my confusion since the manual indicates I should be able to.

It sounds like others who have experienced the same issue ended up adding another layer of MDF but I’m trying to avoid that if I can.

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Hey Mikes,

adding a second layer of wasteboard is what Onefinity will tell you, they tell this in the setup manual. But it is a design problem, this is what I tried to express with my post with the comparison to other Z assemblies on other CNC machines. My solution will be to replace the Z assembly with a more standard one as shown in the upper video. See also “Universal Z axis” and “Z axis assembly” in this forum.

By the way Tom @TMToronto, with who I discussed this topic from beginning on, succeeded in making a completely new Z assembly with his Onefinity CNC.

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Does it say that in the manual? If so, that’s the part I’m missing. In relation to wasteboard creation and surfacing, this is the only thing I see in the manuals for both the Foreman and QCW products:

Note: The minimum recommended wasteboard thickness is 3/4”. This allows you to achieve maximum Z-Travel while still having a thick enough surface to attach/clamp your work piece. This thickness will also give you the opportunity to perform several surfacing operations before needing to be replaced.

In the QCW manual, they do recommend building the wasteboard up to maximize stiffness, but I don’t see anything about building it up in order to perform surfacing passes.

Oh well. It would be nice if the manuals were updated with the actual minimum thickness required to complete several surfacing operations, especially since this appears to be a common issue. For now, I guess I’ll go ahead and build the MDF up.

Thanks again,

Mike

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This post might be helpful

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Yeah, thanks. I figured I was missing something obvious. Are you able to provide a link to the manual you are referring to by chance? I’d like to see if there are other details I’m missing that may be helpful to me during the setup process. I’d really appreciate it!

This is the manual specific to the Foreman QCW that I’ve been going through:

On page 20, it says that the minimum recommended wasteboard thickness is 3/4” which they say will allow for several surfacing operations. The manual for the smaller machines says the same thing, but since the Foreman uses different rails, as you pointed out in your previous reply, it would make sense to increase the recommended minimum thickness in the QCW Foreman manual.

For now, the solution I decided to go with was to go ahead and pick up another 3/4" MDF board. I’ll get it sized and then secured to the other boards, and then will hopefully be good to go.

Thanks again!

1 Like
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Nice, thanks! I didn’t see that one. I’ll check it out as well. I appreciate it!