Need help with new owner questions.

[wuzzerdad]

I just got my computer hooked up to my used BT32 Buddy and have taken a test drive and confirmed that all seems well with the machine. Now the really hard part is starting, learning to actually do somthing useful. So just a couple of questions about a few things I am not exactly clear about.

1. Is there a xyz zero position that you start out with before you load and run a cut file. I may not be using the proper terminology, but it seems to me there should be a "home" position to start out in before I start any routine.

2. Dust collection is going to be a problem, is the dust shield from ShopBot OK or is there a better setup. I have a 2hp cyclone collector which can move quite a bit of air, but has anybody tried inlets around the side of the moving table or somthing similar? Does the dust skirt help? I did not get either the skirt or shield but will do so if necessary.

Thanks in advance. Rick

[bill.young]

Hey Rick,

This might help with your first question:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCG9GOJWT2I

Bill

[ken_rychlik]

Rick, XY zero can be anywhere on the machine you want it to be. Z is usually zeroed on top of the material you are cutting after a bit is installed. When you run your machine which way are the positive movements? If you tell it to mx,2 your machine should move the x to 2 inches. Which way was it? Zero for the x should be all the way the opposite direction. The same thing applies to the Y axis. A two hp cycleon should keep up with the dust from that machine easily.

All that said, if you prefer having 0,0 on the other end of the machine it can be set up that way and the motors rewired to run the opposite direction. I Did this on mine, because of what seemed easiest for me to understand. Looking at my machine I wanted the 0,0 position to be in the lower left had corner. That way positive numbers are away from me on Y and to the right of me on X.

The more questions you ask, the faster you learn. The more bits you break, the faster you learn. lol

Kenneth

[cowboy1296]

DIFFERENT QUESTION FROM A SOON TO BE NEW OWNER ALSO. MY 20 AMP PLUG IS ABOUT 60 FEET AWAY FROM MY DESIRED WORK SITE. DOES USING A LONG EXTENSION CORD CREATE A PROBLEM?

[rb99]

Rick the gauge of wire that the cord is made from the important thing with distance and draw. The longer the distance, the heavier the gauge will need to be inside the extension cord. Also I would want the plugs to be heavy duty higher amp ones as well, on the cord and the outlet.

I have made ext. cords out of the electricians wire and fastened them to the outside of the wall. This may not be legal, I don't know...

In Canada Princess Auto has rolls of ext. cord wire and you cut it to length then put on your own ends. There is some really nice super heavy duty cord available that is nice and flexible, not all stiff and unruly like cheaper heavy cable.

RIB

[cowboy1296]

when i had my house built i had the contractor to leave the construction pole hot so i would have plugs out in the yard. i guess that they installed twenty amp circuit breakers to use with their power tools. looking at the outlets they look like typical house hold outlets. i will see if they are heavy duty enough to handle the load put on them by the buddy. if not this is something that i can change myself. 20 amps dont hurt much do they? just kidding.

[cowboy1296]

ps thanks for the response

[navigator7]

Yep! Very important the circuit be calculated.
The cable behind your outlet needs to be taken into consideration.
How it is breakered needs to be calculated. The run need to be calculated for the proper size wire.
Low voltage problems cause undesirable wear and tear on circuitry if not complete failure.
Pour performance of your machine and fire somewhere on the circuit are probable outcomes for an improper installation. Don't forget ...20% should be built into the system.
Its well worth an electrician if you are not fluent with the principles involved.

[dana_swift]

Rick- Call shopbot and find out what the requirements are for the machine you are planning to buy. I own a BT-32 which is about the smallest thing they make, and it requires a dedicated 220V 30A circuit. That is with a PC router.

Consider hiring an electrician to put in the power you need, the bot is not the only thing that draws power. What about your dust collector? Are you going to use vacuum hold down? How about an air compressor, my bot is rarely running without the air compressor. I use pneumatic tools to bolt fixtures to the table when I am not using vacuum hold down. One or the other takes a lot of power.

Plan to put in more power than you think you need right now, you will be glad later.

D

[cowboy1296]

I think i am good to go and thanks for yalls input. My buddy is the standard which requires only 110 outlet with a twenty amp breaker. it wont have to be hard wired in like some of the bigger models.

any other power tools that i have a need for i can run off of a different circuit. the buddy will be the only one pluged into my 20 amp plug.

and yes i did speak with support and was i told to get an extension cord that was rated for 20amps and i would be ok.

[cowboy1296]

Just to let yall know i have used the extension cord many times on my shopbot buddy 32 and it is working just fine. I was going to use 12 guage wire but the major supplier that i went to could not find their spool so i ended up with 10 guage. Chances are that is an over kill but it works fine. Now if i can just figure out where the on off switch is.

[curtiss]

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00925247000P?prdNo=16&blockNo=16&blockType=


An amp meter is a good investment to see what power your equipment is drawing and will let you know if something is beginnning to go wrong before anything burns out.

In general start up amp loads are high and then drop down until a heavy load is placed on the router.

I would think you would want at least two separate circuits for your equipment.

If you are handy,you might want to wire in a remote switch for the dust collector depending if it is out of reach.

[erik_f]

Generally you set the xy zero home to lower left hand corner of your bot...for the BT it is the lower right hand corner because the x and y are swapped when comparing to the larger machines. You can change the xy zero to anywhere you like however. There is a routine to set up your prox switches that makes it pretty easy. I don't remember where exactly it is in the control software...but it makes it very easy. You set your safe z in the z zero routine to a set height...my BT doesn't have any prox switches in the z...I don't think the newer ones do either. The dust foot works very well...much better than the old days when dust boost was set at a fixed height. Use the dust boot...you will have a huge mess if you don't. If you want to play around with other methods that is great...but the boost is a great place to start. Good luck!