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Thread: Tramming my spindle

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2019
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    63

    Default Tramming my spindle

    Just finished a project which had several shallow cut circles at various diameters. While cutting the grooves the depth would vary at several points and the bit was not cutting into the wood. I adjusted my Z zero to compensate for this thinking that the board was uneven although I had planned it beforehand.
    After taking the piece off the machine I checked the thickness of the board and found it to be within .005" TIR. OK, so my spoilboard must be really off. I resurfaced the spoilboard and installed a dial indicator on a 7" long arm and trammed the spindle.
    Zeroed the indicator at the right side of the X axis and rotated 180 degrees and found that the X axis is off by .075"
    Repeated for the Y axis and it is off by .040"
    My question is: Short of using a BFH how does one adjust the spindle to align it.
    My machine is a Desktop about a year old and haven't abused it with fast feed rates and/or deep pass depths

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Kennebunkport, Maine
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    4,419

    Default

    Hey Ron,
    Excuse me for mentioning, but think you just discovered that usually planers do Not remove warp and twist from boards.
    Sure you'll probably get a uniform thickness, but as soon as the board comes out of the rollers, it will usually resume its cup/ etc.
    (If you toss that board on your now surfaced spoilboard and press corners...I bet it wobbles?)
    Only real way is jointer(possibly thickness sander(?no experience), or take it out with your machine;
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbIz...ature=emb_logo
    For shallow intricate cuts and tiny font, there's really no substitute for 2 parallel surfaces cut on a flat spoilboard perpendicular to spindle.
    My favorite quote from Brady is "Flatness is King!"

    You did discover your spindle is off...but before tramming, I would make sure every single nut and bolt were tight after a year of use
    (I discovered my rail bolts had loosened at about that time).
    I've had to retrammel both of the Desktops we had when we did the Z-Retrofit(to get 5.5" Z)...and on both machines the X had to be adjusted of course,
    But with all bolts tight, Y was good.

    X is fairly easy with a long t-handle Allen key....loosen and then lightly snug the bolts shown in pics(NOT a bad time to take them all the way out and give some quality grease on threads or anti-seize compound(steel bolts into aluminum a pain after a few years).
    If you have a large FLAT plate, it's better than measuring off the MDF, but quality steel rule can be used too to spread discrepancies.
    After bolts are loosened and snugged back up, a VSFH and suitable scrap of wood will get X trammeled.

    If after tightening Y is still off...you may need to go shims(I've read feeler gauge stock works great)....in which case I can send you a .pdf of the retrofit we did twice, for the correct order of dis-assembly.

    Hope any of this helped Ron.
    scott
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    scott P.
    2013 Desktop/spindle/VCP 11.5**
    Maine

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Memphis TN
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    Default

    Scott,

    I probably have used my SB as a planer (or more correctly, a board flattener) hundreds of times. It's so incredibly satisfying to take a warped and twisted piece of lumber and turn it into a precision material. Typically, I'll use the SB to get the material within a few thousandths and then run it through the belt sander to get the board to a precision thickness with a good surface.

    Nothing helps a project more than accurately flattened and dimensioned materials.
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  4. #4
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    I agree John
    Taking warped twisted rejects/firewood/and branched like I do for tiny stuff it's great...and for cutting button blanks to exact thickness in production it was essential.
    Particularly partial to that link to TJ's slab tutorial...as that's my machine with all the burl and firewood jigged up
    2 parallel surfaces makes jigging SO much easier with delicate things and tiny fonts!
    scott
    scott P.
    2013 Desktop/spindle/VCP 11.5**
    Maine

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2019
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    63

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Rtibbs View Post
    found that the X axis is off by .075"
    Repeated for the Y axis and it is off by .040"
    My question is: Short of using a BFH how does one adjust the spindle to align it.
    My machine is a Desktop about a year old and haven't abused it with fast feed rates and/or deep pass depths
    I was never able to determine why it was off so much. However I’m well on the way to having it dialed in. I opened the spindle mounting holes (slightly) to allow me to align the “X” axis. I drilled and tapped the spindle mounting plate and installed 1/4-20 set screws at the bottom of the plate to allow for easily correcting the “Y” axis. ( I’m not a big fan of shims in this instance)
    I also removed the spoilboard completely and laid a Tool-plate on the aluminum bed to run my dial indicator on.
    Right now I have a TIR of .003 inches.
    I’ll recheck everything in the morning, add thread lock to all the screws and hopefully will be able to get back to more fun things, like cutting.

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