tlempicke
11-13-2016, 07:19 AM
O.K. - all you pros please keep in mind that some of us are dobbers and need all the help we can get.
This is a thing that started out as a conversation with Ted Hall at a camp shopbot. He pointed out to me tha the limit switches on a shopbot as really accurate and will return the carriage to within .002 on a reliable basis.
I was doing a project where I wanted to cut very close to the edge of the wood. I have a tool that consists of a piece of 1/4 drill rod with a point ground on the end. I mounted this upside down in my Colet (with the blunt end toward the table) and ran it out to Y=10.125. That way the outer wall of the shaft was at exactly 10.
I had a piece of Incra track on hand which is 1/2 inch thick, but wood would have worked just as well. So I started the carriage at Y=10.125, X=0 and put the track right up to the tool and screwed it down. I then moved the X axis six inches at a time and put a screw in.
I now have a track at exactly 10 inches and I can get too it accurately quickly and easily.
Being lazy I did not remove it after the project was finished and now several months later I have been getting a lot of use out of it. If I am gong to cut through a board I put a piece of 1/4 inch plywood underneath, which still leaves me a lip to push my material up to and I instantly have everything located. Just do a C3, a MY 10 and a Z2 and you are at the lower left hand corner of the piece.
This is a thing that started out as a conversation with Ted Hall at a camp shopbot. He pointed out to me tha the limit switches on a shopbot as really accurate and will return the carriage to within .002 on a reliable basis.
I was doing a project where I wanted to cut very close to the edge of the wood. I have a tool that consists of a piece of 1/4 drill rod with a point ground on the end. I mounted this upside down in my Colet (with the blunt end toward the table) and ran it out to Y=10.125. That way the outer wall of the shaft was at exactly 10.
I had a piece of Incra track on hand which is 1/2 inch thick, but wood would have worked just as well. So I started the carriage at Y=10.125, X=0 and put the track right up to the tool and screwed it down. I then moved the X axis six inches at a time and put a screw in.
I now have a track at exactly 10 inches and I can get too it accurately quickly and easily.
Being lazy I did not remove it after the project was finished and now several months later I have been getting a lot of use out of it. If I am gong to cut through a board I put a piece of 1/4 inch plywood underneath, which still leaves me a lip to push my material up to and I instantly have everything located. Just do a C3, a MY 10 and a Z2 and you are at the lower left hand corner of the piece.