Correction: 3:06 I said that the axis wouldn't move up and down while the spindle is tilted, but rather inline with the rails. This is true for CNCs like the Xcarve where the spindle mount is integral to the rail system. However, this is not true for CNCs that have a Z axis mounting plate and separate spindle mount. In that scenario, it is possible for the z axis plate to move up and down (perpendicular to the gantry), but with the spindle mount at an angle. For this you would need to ensure that your rails are first moving perpendicular to the gantry, then tram your spindle mount as shown in the video. I apologize for potentially misleading information!

Very good video on "tramming". I like how you don't edit out your mistakes - been there, done that. May I suggest a few things to make it easier to tram your CNC router: 1. Use a 12" x 12" mirror (Home Depot/Lowes) instead of a piece of glass. Mirrors are made a little flatter than a piece of plain window glass. 2. Go around the four corners the first time and determine the highest point of all four corners. Set your Dial Indicator to zero at the highest point. This way you can raise the other three lower corners upward with the playing cards. 3. Using playing cards is an old and time consuming method. A much better method can be found in an article I wrote which included a simple fixture for the mirror so you can dial-in (4 thumb screws) a level surface in about five minutes - thereby eliminating the playing cards altogether - “How to ‘TRAM’ your CNC Router”, SERVO magazine, published in Issue 3, 2019, p.62]

@austinshaner

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info Roger, I've seen people make little frames with set screws to adjust the surface easily, similar to a router table insert plate. Really great way to do that. I thought about making one of those for this project but just decided to go with the cheap, ready available option that most people have access to already.

Found this extremely informative. It is certainly the most comprehensive and logical tramming video I have seen. I will endeavour to emulate this with our shop constructed machine

Best cnc video I have ever watched. Thanks a lot.

thanks for not editing anything out. enjoyed the video and learned a lot. thank you

Quite possibly the most informative tramming and calibration video on KZread. That 2 step plate glass + dial indicator process is exactly what I’ll use for tramming my machine going forward!

Love watching your videos ..... So glad you leave mistakes in. In about 1.5 months I've become fairly proficient at fusion 360 and am nearing the stage where i will be using the Cam to run our 45"x45" XCarve. After watching this, I know now how off the calibration could potentially be from the factory setup. Thank you so much for the videos! They are certainly the most informative and easy to understand videos on fusion 360 and Xcarve I've found to date. So many channels out there are degraded by influencer training and drone on and on and on and on and on as if breathing isn't an option for the presenter. You do an amazing job at being precise and descriptive and also quick and to the point. It's like a breath of fresh air :) Hope to collaborate on guitar making with you some day (we are Cymatis) .

Good info. I made a block to mount on the side of the router housing to measure off of.

I don't own a CNC but it's fun to watch your video for technical knowledge.🙂

Great video. I will use these steps on my machine today. Thanks

@austinshaner

2 жыл бұрын

Let me know how it goes!!

Howdy Austin, thanks a bunch for the tramming tutorial. I haven't gone as far to calibrate my XY but I'm super happy with the tramming based on the method you covered. Great videos, Im not building a guitar but am learning from your exploits. Great job, Bravo!

Another awesome video Austin. Thanks. It is good to know that I am not the only one crashing my cnc :)

I've been watching a lot of your videos in this series lately and I can't tell you how helpful they have been. I'm about a year into learning Fusion 360 for use in conjunction with a home made CNC. It's refreshing to see that doing stupid things is not exclusive to me. :) I also build guitars and am trying to put my cnc to work so your videos are exactly in line with what I am trying to learn. Thanks

Awesome instruction and explanation on the tramming. Your method will get any "hobby" machine or better extremely precise with the least effort. Many other videos are, confusing, drawn out or just plain inaccurate. Yours is the opposite of those videos in all the good ways. Great job and thank you!

This is the video I didn't know I needed. The information itself would've been more than enough, but the care you took editing and shooting made it so much better to watch. Thank you so much, I've learned a lot. Also, all these close ups of the xcarve got me thinking about my CNC project and the thing is way overkill. I might save up to 50% if I start from scratch. Also, I didn't leave any room for tilting the Z axis which is a major flaw now that I've learned how to properly set it up. Can't wait for the next videos!

@austinshaner

2 жыл бұрын

This was my first time filming live action like this, so it was definitely a journey. I'm glad you liked this format! All the little funny quips were added in editing as I was rolling laughing at some of the mistakes. I actually filmed better takes but ultimately felt it was better to show most of the mistakes as we all deal with that at some point. Good luck on your cnc build! I'd love to see the finished product!

@luisownerbr

2 жыл бұрын

@@austinshaner it was great that you left the bloopers in, even though I've worked with CNCs before, I've never had a crash, or did a setup by myself. Now when it happens I'll have an idea of what's going on before it costs more than it has to haha

Keep up the videos. Can’t wait to see your guitar. I’m in process of making one at the same time on my Onefinity. Hopefully, I can keep up since I don’t have to film everything 😝

Makes so much sense doing it this way. Where is a good source for good quality gauges /arms like you are using in this video?

Thank you for the great educational video. First video I’ve seen that explains tramming properly. Would you mind sharing the STL or fusion files for your two 3D printed parts?

I was looking for a good source for some glass and stumbled on your video. Seems more complicated than it needs to be, and teetering a glass plate on playing cards creates a wobbly table effect. I have a hard time believing that nobody else in the comments is pointing this out. Perhaps you're deleting them? If you cut a spoilboard with a fly cutter with a spindle out of tram, and then lay a glass plate on that surface, you will have a plane that is parallel to both your x and y axes. From there, all you gotta do is tram to the spindle to that plane (the glass) and then recut your spoilboard to get rid of the ridges. No need for shimming anything except for your spindle.

Great and very hand will have to give mine the 10k service and see where we are thanks

CNCJS Rules! :)

@austinshaner

2 жыл бұрын

It really does. Good features, clean UI (really important for me) and not overly complex for my little xcarve. I could see myself using something more powerful on a better machine. But I'm completely satisfied for the xcarve at least.

That machine seem to have quite a bit of travel on the Y axis, did you think about maybe carve a whole guitar at the same time when you bought that machine ?

@austinshaner

Жыл бұрын

That was actually the intent when I made that modification. The original cnc was 750mmx750mm, but I converted it to 750x1500. I wanted to machine an entire guitar at once, but after designing Mehr I switched it to a bolt on design.

@HearGear

Жыл бұрын

@@austinshaner thats what i thought, i am just about to build my 3rd CNC and i am thinking about maybe skip the 1000x1000 idea i have been planing on for quite some time and make it 1000x1500 instead, i need to make a decision pretty soon because i am about order the first parts very soon.. there is a problem, the V Wheel construction on the Y axis that is 1500 tend to flex a bit because you can not have support under the C beam, the machine will not be as rigid as i want. So i am looking at alternatives that will not burst the bank, Linear Rails on Y for now and later upgrade the X and Z maybe.. i dunno...

@austinshaner

Жыл бұрын

@HearGear the biggest recommendation I can make is stay away from belts and vwheels if possible. Almost all of the projects that I've ruined (other than programming/setup mistakes) have been due to a belt breaking, or vwheels slipping. If you can afford it, proper rails and lead screws/ball screws/rack&pinion are worth their weight in gold in terms of happiness at the machine.

@HearGear

Жыл бұрын

@@austinshaner Thanks for the recommendation, i had Lead Screws in my plan all the time because the 1000x1000 build i did 5 years ago was belt driven and it has it´s limitation that i no longer want to be a part of. I am thinking about trying to get the Linear Rails after all, i will get a much more stable machine right of the bat i think. A friend of mine did make a guitar in one go in the CNC, she first rough cut the mahogany blank in the bandsaw and then left it for a week or two to see if it was going to bend, then cut of a little bit more on the bandsaw and left it for one or two weeks more to see what was going to happen to it, when it was stable she put the material in the CNC and loaded up the files, i think she had 22 files to run in Easel before it was done. I want to do something very similar like she did.. :D

@austinshaner

Жыл бұрын

@HearGear check out automation-overstock.com You can often find good deals on high quality linear rails/screws cut to size there. Still usually more expensive than ali-express etc... but higher quality.

I was wondering what is the reason that your steps/mm lose their accuracy over time and require calibration? Is it because the CNC is belt driven and the belts stretch/lose their tension? My CNC is leadscrew driven, so the steps/mm can be calculated based on the pitch of the leadscrew--and I wouldn't expect it would need to be calibrated....

@austinshaner

2 жыл бұрын

I'm not entirely sure tbh. I think it's a combination of crashes, wear on my vwheels, tension of the belts, etc that introduce errors overtime. I don't do this very often, usually about once a year just to verify everything is still good. Sometimes I'm still dead on, and othertimes I'm pretty far off. I usually notice it needs calibration when I start getting parts that aren't hitting tolerance and my toolpaths are rock solid.

Unfortunately the x carve is too flimsy to really cut some wood. I’d recommend a shapeoko 4 or pro. FAR more rigid and can cut way faster. I’m not even sure how xcarve stays in business with so many other options out there at the same price point. Excellent video though!

@austinshaner

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I definitely want to upgrade at some point. But with my modifications and careful experimentation. I can cut .25" deep with a .0625 stepover. I haven't pushed it much beyond that, however. I'm really interested in the PrintNC as it would be cheaper than I spent on this machine and an order of magnitude more rigid and powerful. But at the cost of some manual fabrication.

@nickparkin8527

2 жыл бұрын

@@austinshaner I can do 0.25” doc @80 ipm on my shapeoko 4. It’s fantastic and I would highly recommend it. You can really cut down on your machining time

Did you create the model for the dial indicator jig?

@austinshaner

3 күн бұрын

Yes I did. But it’s unique to my indicator/machine so I didn’t share it. But the same concept should apply to almost any indicator.

@braylonallen5276

3 күн бұрын

@@austinshaner is it just a holder you don’t need a dovetail indicator

@braylonallen5276

3 күн бұрын

@@austinshaner also for your neck video I really love the concept of the stock holder template could you do a video on how to create it?

@braylonallen5276

3 күн бұрын

Is it a reusable temple is what I’m really asking

@austinshaner

3 күн бұрын

It’s just a simple 3d print that holds my indicator. No special tools or anything required.

Hi. Which router You use? Thanx

@austinshaner

2 жыл бұрын

That is a 2016 750x750mm Xcarve that I modified to be 750x1500mm. :)

@durajistique

2 жыл бұрын

@@austinshaner this Dewalt, which model is? :)

@austinshaner

2 жыл бұрын

@@durajistique sorry for misunderstanding! Dewalt 611 trim router

@durajistique

2 жыл бұрын

@@austinshaner thanx :)

@durajistique

2 жыл бұрын

@@austinshaner please, I have one more question. Is this Dewalt too loud, and are You satisfied? I am new in cnc game, and I have to buy a spindle. I have doubt between this Dewalt, and some water cooled spindles from ebay. Thanx! :)

I do appreciate ( as a retired engineer) your attention to detail in calibration however, I've always found that working with wood .001" is fairly irrelevant as atmospheric changes generally create greater expansion/shrinkage way more than that. There is always the case that by starting from a point of perfection you give it the best chance? I really enjoyed the video by the way Austin and the series from start is brilliant! Thank you👍🏼

@UltimateBreloom

2 жыл бұрын

That's my philosophy at any rate. But as someone studying to be an engineer that typically works with aluminum and composites, it's hard to let go of a desire for very precise components. Still I remind myself not to lose sleep over a thousandth or two when working with wood.