Top 10 List

[angus_hines]

Ok so the new ShopBot is due in here in about 2 weeks?

So my questions are this ?

What are the top ten assembly mistakes you made when you put yours together?

What were the top ten mistakes you made when you first started operating it.

Might as well learn these now and get them out of the way so I can make newer, different and better ones !

[bcondon]

Don't even think of lifting that gantry alone... It is heavy and I usually work by myself, but my kids came to help right away.

The best thing that happened is the truck did not have a lift gate, my friends at the local hardware store lifted it onto my trailer which I drove in the garage and empties at leisure.

My unit is a 48 x 96 alpha.

DON'T try to put the rail on sliding clips into the slit... It is too hard...:

Ted thanked me for the suggestion for the install manual:


-> When installing the top rails, it is recommended to install the t clips onto the rails and then slide them into the channel. It warns of pinched fingers


The better method which took less than 2 minutes to install in each rail

Materials: Need a regular yellow pencil, mechanical pencil or small diameter marker

1. Place rail on top of side rails, aligning the end of the rail with the end of the side rail.
2. Using the pencil, mark inside each bolt hole of the top rail and place a mark on the side rail channel.
3. Remove the top rail
3. Slide 11 T clips into the channel from the end, lining one on each line in the channel (where the bolt holes were)
4. Set the top rail back onto the side rail.
5. Look in each bolt hole and you should see a t clip... using the allen head wrench, place into the bolt hole and center the T clip under the bolt hole.
6. Inset bolt into bolt hole AND TURN BACKWARDS 2 turns which will align the theads on the bolt with the threads in the t clip. Leave the bolt loose until ALL bolts are fixed to their tclip. repeat 10 more times.
7. Tighten all 11 bolts once the top rail is aligned.

Much much easier than trying to balance an 8 foot piece of metal trying to slip in the clips by yourself.

Have fun setting it up!

What type of machine?

[dubliner]

Heres some of mine ;
Forgetting to turn the router/spindle on & watching your $50 Onsrud bit chip carve a Baby Jesus... for 2 seconds
Laying out your work well to avoid hitting your hold downs, then going home and hitting a clamp you didn't consider.
Designing with a material Zero, but then cutting with a table Zero.
Unplugging a Zip drive 3/4 way into a 3D file,having not written down your offsets.
I have more, I'm sure

[angus_hines]

Thanks Bob I guess I forgot that part. It's the 48-96-12 model.

[paul_z]

Neville,

I thought I was the only one ... who did each and every one of your listed "oops" (and many, many more).

When I hit a steel clamp at 22,000 rpm and 4"/sec I was too shocked to hit the emergency off switch even though the emergency switch was in my hand. It took about me 3 seconds to shut it off. Amazingly, my bot cut almost all the way through the clamp.

Paul Z

[njandpa]

Congrats on your new machine. Enjoy.

For me....... don't worry about having some extra nuts and bolts in your hardware packs and you may be missing some other nuts and bolts in your hardware packs.

[Brady Watson]

GLUE ---> don't screw <--- your spoilboard down to the support board.

That suggestion alone will make your overall experience much better, now & in the long run.

-B

[toddmaci]

I second Brady's comment. I am in the process of unscrewing and gluing.

[tkovacs]

The collet snaps into the collet nut.

[toddmaci]

Heres the youtube of the collet nut assembly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gMezORPi8M

[myxpykalix]

Since I didn't have any help to lift the gantry onto the rails was to take a "(com)-along" (won't let me spell the right name, how silly) but you know what it is, and chained it to the rafters and wrapped light chain around the gantry and just jacked it up to the rails and was able to move it and position it with much of the weight off it till i got it aligned then lowered onto the rails.

[curtiss]

1) Put on the greasy shirt and greasy pants you were wearing the first time you saw a ShopBot.

2) For the first part you might need steel toed shoes if you tend to drop steel on your feet.

3) After the steel toe part, you can take those off and put on a hard hat so you don't bump into what you have built so far... a small towel inside of a baseball cap also works.

4) Most of the bolts are 3/4" but for some reason you will use all your other wrenches.
Your table will wobble a bit for a while, but do not get discouraged, it will firm up for sure.

4a) If you cannot level the table with the adjustable legs, you must still be outside on a sloping driveway...

5) Take your time on just exactly where you want the hard stops & prox switches and how that relates to where you have your spoil board located.

6) You will need a flashlight, there are a lot of gray and dark areas on a ShopBot.

7) In the old west they said "if you don't make dust you eat dust...meaning leave on your horse first...this does not hold true for a bot.

[woodworx]

get an air ratchet and impact driver for assembly!

[sawdust535]

I have a "pre-flight" checklist that I keep on the wall near my shopbot PC. I reveiew it prior to every job I cut. It works . . . especially the reminder to set and record the appropriate offset if required, and as Neville mentioned, turning on the spindle. (Even the best carbide bits don't do well plowing through material when not spinning). Copy and print this in large type and hang it in your shop.

Preview Cutting Path
* Load Bit
* Secure Workpiece
* Z-Zero Routine
* Clear Table
* Locate XY
* Record XY
* Set RPM
* Safety Glasses
* Start Spindle
* Load File
* Set Offset If Required
* Dust Collection On

[ed_lang]

Come-Along.
comealong.
Come Along.

I just had to try and see if the software would allow the proper spelling to work.

[dana_swift]

Some of my top 10 mistakes, you are welcome to know and hopefully benefit from. All of these I knew better without anybody telling me, but "stuff" happens.

I have forgotten to tighten the bit in the collet. Or inadequately tightened the collet. Interesting Z results to say the least.

Moving to the center of the material (on a center zero) then forgetting to type Z2. Then running the part. Usually the maching uses its artificial intelligence routines to find the most vulnerable thing on the spoil board and goes and cuts that a while until I can hit the panic button. And yes a shopbot cuts steel just fine when you dont want it to! I had clamps that would prove the point.

I have hit z2 instead of c2. z and c can be real close to each other on the keyboard when my mind is preoccupied with some other trivial detail like trying to make a profit.

Run the wrong part file. The worst that ever happened is I ran a part file to make the holes to mount material to the buddy aluminum table. When that was finished, I put 1/4x20 bolts into the holes and bolted it to the table just like the plan. Then ran the same part file again (its the default now, so a mere carriage return will help you make this mistake yourself!) The router proceeded to drill holes in the 1/4x20 bolts! More proof that shopbots will cut steel effortlessly when it is not desired. Of course the bolt and the bit were both ruined quickly.

Not securing my material well enough. Its kind of interesting to see how physics conspires with stupidity to make some fascinating scrap.

Not using enough glue on laminations, or not waiting long enough for it all to dry before cutting. My material has sometimes delaminated in creative ways. This creates instant scrap, and sometimes a missile heading across the shop at very high rates of speed.

Setting up my material too high on the table so the bot ran out of Z room. One bump into the hard stop results in more instant scrap.

I have also run off the lower end of the Z rack gear. Needless to say "accuracy really suffers". More instant scrap.

The good news is I have a woodstove, and have already been enjoying memories of my shopbot mistakes as they warm my hearth.

I have discovered the no matter what your intended product, you will make more chips and mistakes than you might ever imagine.

Given all this, I wouldn't trade my bot for anything. Well maybe a winning power-ball ticket.. anybody got one they wouldn't mind giving away? I would like you and remember you for a long long time! "Your new friend!"

Good luck, let us know of your creativity!

D

[angus_hines]

Thanks for all the info.

So whats the best support board? I work in an open shop most of the year so the humidity changes here tend to make things swell warp and twist.
Also, if and when I do a vac system. Than what do I screw or Glue and what holds the spoil board on the plenum then ? (thinking of corian for the plenum)? Was told I can't use corian for a support board as it will sag between the supports?

[dana_swift]

Agnus- first question, which machine did you order?

Wait till it arrives then you can see what you have in the way of mounting options etc. At that time search the manuals, forum and the SB website and find a good starting point. Once you have some ideas this is a good place to check with those of us who have the same configuration to give you advice that will make sense. In addition photos are wonderful for showing what you are looking at, and somebody on the forum to show you what they did.

By "support" board I presume you mean what we usually refer to as a "spoilboard". The board that the work sits on and gets eaten up in time and has to be replaced.. again there are a lot of opinions on that, and a good many options. Largely depending on the system you have chosen and the hold-down you intend to use.

No matter what combination of bot/hold down you will find this forum full of experienced people who are glad to help out.

D

[Gary Campbell]

Angus...
If you haven't read my column on using PVC for a table, look here: http://www.shopbottools.com/garysmusings.htm#Table

You might be able to pull info for the table and plenum from there.
Gary

[bcondon]

A couple other experiences:

In class I was told not to CRUSH the tightening of the bit into the collet... The first cut has a 1.25 V bit from Her Saf jam into the wood and come loose. The dust collector contained the bit..

I went in, changed my pants and went to my REAL job to calm down.

===

There is always enough nuts, screws, washers... The kits are not marked so I thought I ran out of the T clips but there was another bag lurking when it was time to put the rails on...

====

For dust collection, with the same table, required 3 bungee cords from the ceiling holding 20 feet of 4 " dust collection tube. With 3 bungees, it does not bind on itself. Grizzley has the dust collection supplies you need.

====

Air ratchets are nice... they are cheap at Grizzley ($20 or so) and worth every penny.

=====

For my support boards, I went from Rail to Rail (about 65" and from end support to end support (around 9 feet). This keeps all the dust, and chips contained on the bed. Things do not fall through onto the floor but you need to remember to LOOOK at the bed before moving the spindle around

============

For the wiring of those itsy bitsy wires:

For the X and Y proximity switches, mark the end with a tag because you:
-> mount the switch
-> run the wires through the wire management system
-> button up the wire management system
-> mount your control unit
-> run the wires into the control unit...

and the X and Y prox switches look exactly the same and it is a pain in the rump to run back through to figure which is which... You can not run a resistence test with a meter to figure it out... I finally wired up one of them, ran the prox switch near the bolt and watched the soft switches light up on the control software. YUP... Murphy had them backwards

===============

Also for wiring... for grounds and +5V, there will be a need to have multiple wires go to the same terminal and only 1-2 wires will fit under.

Run a single wire off the terminal and wirenut all the wires together in a nice, neat, and workmanshiplike manner.

=======

Buy a few of the stick on pads that hold wiretie straps. I think I used 10 or so to hold all my cables to the inside of the control box keeping the control wires away from the power lines coming in. It makes for a very neat installation.

====

I ran all my control wires off the gantry, and through the middle support. I then wiretied my control wires (prox, fan wires, y+z Step motor cables together) [wiretied neatly together] and the power line for the spindle. By running through the middle of the table support, the wires are only moving half the distance and by having the wires wiretied together off the gantry management system, there is ample support for all the lines, plus everything is neat and clean.

[myxpykalix]

Well, I guess i was spelling it wrong with a "U" and it thought i was spelling something else...
in other words a "ratchetythingamabob"

[angus_hines]

I bought the 48-96-12.

And by support board I meant the first board under the vac plenum not the spoil board.

And Gary What model vac motors did you get from Grainger?

[Gary Campbell]

Angus...
THe originals were Ametek 116296 from Grainger.
I have replaced the original motors in the article with Ametek 117123 240V versions from Lighthouse Enterprises.
Gary

[rcnewcomb]

Top 10 Mistakes that I still make if I am not careful:
10. forget to remove the Z-zero plate before I start cutting
9. forget to remove the ground clip used with the z-zero plate and then turning on the router
8. forget to set XY zero or set it to the wrong spot (lower left corner vs. middle)
7. Z-zero to the wrong spot (table instead of material or vice versa)
6. changing bits but forgetting to Z-zero the new bit
5. forgetting to turn the vacuum on before Z-zeroing or cutting
4. loading the wrong bit
3. moving the material before I do the final profile cutout
2. when doing 3D work, Z-zeroing to a spot the gets wiped out during the roughling pass
1. Being in a hurry -- disaster soon follows

[angus_hines]

Thanks for all the responces and I see a lot of similarities in some of these posts so I'll make extra note of those.


Stay tuned for my list of mistakes

[harryball]

sigh... ok... I think everyone can agree this is #1.

#1 DON'T vacuum clamp yourself to the table.

;-)

/RB

[angus_hines]

What do ya mean that was the first thing I was going to try. That's why I went with the 12" instead of the 6".....LOL

[ttwark]

I didn't make but one huge crucial error in the start up of our machine. I made my wife in charge of setting up and learning the software and making the machine work for our current business. This created a large swollen head and put me on a "need to know only basis", or in other words I"ll get to that when I'm good and ready and you don't need to know that! LOL

[bcondon]

Tom,

is the before or after that SLAP sound?