Pictures of new PRS tool !

[billp]

I was in Durham last week for a meeting, and Bill Young and I got a chance to spend a morning cutting parts for his Rubber band racers on the new PRS tool. I was SO impressed with the tool that I took a bunch of pictures with the intention of showing them at the remaining Camp Shopbots scheduled for this year. But lately I have seen a few people asking on the Forum to SEE the new tool so I thought I'd just post them here...
First off let me say that pictures alone do NOT do justice to the new tool. I have had every prior version of Shopbot made, and this tool is a major step up in strength, construction, and smoothness. If you have a chance to visit a shop that has one GO!
If not, come to the Jamboree where we'll have a few of them running...

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The first two pix show the new "Y/Z" car, and gantry.


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Here you see a closeup of the Y/Z car.

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This is what the wheel setup looks like on the X axis.

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This is a closer view of how the wheels, and motor pinion are setup.

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The new "proximity switch" arrangement for the X axis, (circled in blue).

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Proxy switch on the Y axis.(Again circled in blue).

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The new Y carraige from the side.

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A closer view of the Y car, with the new mounting arrangement for the emergency stop switch.


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New dust skirt mounting system. As you can see the new thumbscrew will be much easier to use in making adjustments.

[Towersonline]

Bill, Thanks for posting. Some of the best photos of the machine yet! I have been thinking of selling my PR and purchasing a new PRS. The more detailed photos I see the more convinced I am to move forward with the purchase.

Bill Thorpe

[rustnrot]

Bill P, what is the thumbscrew for?

Bill T, Been There, Done That, just delivered my old PR yesterday to new owners, new PRS should be ready for pickup later this month.

[stockbub]

Thumb screw holds mounting bracket for dust shield. There is a plate that slides up and down that it locks on.

[billp]

Tom,
Bubba's correct. This version of the mounting setup is a lot easier to access, and adjust,than the prior version.

[paco]

The specifications say the tool (PRS) move in a range of 8 inches for the Z axis with a total clearance of 6 inches under the collet (I supposed) when fully retract; is that correct?
Can someone confirm that please. I have the impression that's more than 6 inches...
Thanks in advance!

[srwtlc]

Paco,

It will depend on whether you're using a spindle or a PC (or other router) as to how much distance there is between the collet and the table.

I'm currently using a PC and I have three 0.75" layers for my table. At the top of the stroke, I measure approximately 9.5". I currently have a 0.375" by 3" spiral in the collet and if I chucked it a bit higher in the collet, I could have approximately 8" under the cutter.

I had to move the stop for the low limit up 1" to be able to reach far enough down when using small/short bits. I'm assuming that a spindle has a longer nose section and will reach further down than a PC.

Scott

[walnutman]

Hello all, been lurking for several months after ording a new Shopbot that I should have the first of May. Is this unit pictured here a current model that is shipping? Is this what I will be getting?.

[paco]

It's not on the pictures but you should get a cap too (SB logo) with your tool!

Kidding!

There are some accessories (vacuum, spindle, dust collector) that aren't the basic package on those pictures... and they cannot take pictures of the support they provide neither...

[stockbub]

YEs that is the current machine. We tapped another hole in the Z axis and got another 2 1/2 inches out of it. I am not sure of total range, but with this addition, I know I have more then 8". We had to tape screw because hold was slightly off center and was scraping a screw, (This was fixed on later machines I got one of the first ones)

[stockbub]

What we tapped was the Stop for the machine. So now, our Z reaches further down. We did nto redrill anything for the Z

[byoc]

My PRS Alpha 48 should be here in 6 to 8 weeks. I just sold my PRT Alpha 96 though, so I'll be without my bot for a while