Z-20 with 80mm Spindle on QCW

Machines (Original/PRO) Troubleshooting (X35/X50)
1

Just finish installing a Z-20/80mm spindle combo on my Woodworker X-50. I figured that I’d take off my fence jigs and flatten the wasteboard while I worked on the tramming to get super flat facing.

I was expecting some changes to the workable area I was a little surprised to find what I did. The spindle is now so much farther forward than the Makita/Z-16 that the center of the spindle axis (as demonstrated by a V bit) sticks out a little more than 3/4" over the front of the QCW; hanging in mid-air. (And, of course, is correspondingly that much more forward from the old back side limit.). The unusable back/rear area of the wasteboard on the QCW is now a full 10".

More surprising is that it’s also 5/16" closer to the left Y Rail and 7/16" farther away from the right Y Rail. So, it raises a couple of questions:

1). It looks like the mount from below QCW would allow me to put a new wasteboard down that would overlap the front rail of the QCW and simply stick out in mid-air in front to compensate. However, this seems like it’s maybe less than ideal. Would it be strong enough just sticking out there? I like to use MDF to stay soft on the end mills and that stuff isn’t exactly the stiffest for this type of support.

2). Why was my X axis travel reduced a little? I notice that the Z slider no longer travels to the stop of the far right side. I reset the configuration and fine-tuned the stall homing but it just doesn’t go as far right.

Thanks for your thoughts!

1 Like
2

Hey Jim,

this is nothing new:

This refers to old Z-16 however.

Didn’t know about spindle center moving towards left, and X travel reduced! How does it come?

3

@Aiph5u Yes, I expected it to move forward a bit but it was more than I thought when it came down to seeing it in action. But what it really underscored was how much forward the Z slider is relative to the QCW frame in general. It’s strange to be hanging over that much.

What do you think of putting on a new wasteboard that overhangs front QCW frame crossmember? I was thinking I could either:

  1. Go with MDF with overhang and assume it’ll hold up OK as it’d only be a couple of inches.
  2. Use the MDF and support it from underneath
  3. Go with stronger plywood and the bits that dip into it occasionally won’t be dulled all that much more.
  4. Create a laminate with a thin plywood piece topped by thinner MDF. If I can’t get thinner MDF locally/easily, I could face both of them down with my big Amana 2249 2+2 surface planing end mill that my Makita choked on (and I’ve been dying to finally use as it’s my biggest and fanciest bit…).