Shark HD5 gantry\router not square to board
Moderators: ddw, al wolford, sbk, Bob, Kayvon
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- Posts: 7
- Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:11 am
- Location: Clinton, CT
Shark HD5 gantry\router not square to board
Good afternoon everyone, first post here. I purchased my CNC Shark HD5 in august and have been having some issues I think which may have been caused from UPS lack of care in shipping due to damaged box and some damage on the metal skirt\dust guard on the base that the gantry rides in. I noticed some inconsistencies in my first carves and thought it may have been due to the gantry not being properly aligned so I installed an mdf spoilboard, surfaced it and notices waves on the board. Tried doing some test carves and noticed some more prevalent issues. I'll attach some images, the star image also shows cut depth carved next to the particular star using a 60* vbit. I used a sliding T Square that measures up to 1/32" and it appears im atleast 1/32 out of alignment on my x-axis off the Z. Been in contact with support and they were trying for a solution friday but didnt hear back before they closed for the weekend. There really isnt a ton of literature or customer feedback online yet on the HD5 so any help on how to get this thing re squared would be tremendous.
- Attachments
Mike Perez
PN Customs
CNC Shark HD5
PN Customs
CNC Shark HD5
Re: Shark HD5 gantry\router not square to board
I see no one has jumped in on this, so I will take a shot at it.
In general, In my opinion, the sharks are not made as precision high rigidity machine tools. They come to you needing some alignment, which can in some cases be significant.
Some of the older threads here regarding aligning the axis and table height alignment may help. There is a lot of good information here form years ago.
In general you need to get the machine as "square" as you can given the play that is built into how the machine is built and fastened together. Basically you loosen things up, and try to move them into a more square way of sitting before retightening them.
A spoil board covers a multitude of sins, but can not compensate for a router that is not sitting perpendicular to the table top. Symptoms of this are the stepped edges when you surface plane the top. Again, loosen , adjust, and retighten, may help.
Since the Y axis is driven from the center, it may be out of square with the x axis, and will not produce a square with true 90 degree corners. That may be able to be adjusted by loosening up the plate bolts that connect the drive screw plate to the gantry sides , and seeing if there is enough play there to get the gantry (x axis) square to the rails that the gantry bearings ride on.
I hope this information is helpful.
In general, In my opinion, the sharks are not made as precision high rigidity machine tools. They come to you needing some alignment, which can in some cases be significant.
Some of the older threads here regarding aligning the axis and table height alignment may help. There is a lot of good information here form years ago.
In general you need to get the machine as "square" as you can given the play that is built into how the machine is built and fastened together. Basically you loosen things up, and try to move them into a more square way of sitting before retightening them.
A spoil board covers a multitude of sins, but can not compensate for a router that is not sitting perpendicular to the table top. Symptoms of this are the stepped edges when you surface plane the top. Again, loosen , adjust, and retighten, may help.
Since the Y axis is driven from the center, it may be out of square with the x axis, and will not produce a square with true 90 degree corners. That may be able to be adjusted by loosening up the plate bolts that connect the drive screw plate to the gantry sides , and seeing if there is enough play there to get the gantry (x axis) square to the rails that the gantry bearings ride on.
I hope this information is helpful.
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- Posts: 7
- Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:11 am
- Location: Clinton, CT
Re: Shark HD5 gantry\router not square to board
Runge, thank you! ya seems like not many people post here often in the recent past in browsing through. So they sent out a new gantry and im still having the issues. What sucks is I bought this machine thats double the cost of an xcarve due to it seeming to have more substantial frame parts etc yet these issues are making it unusable which now means no product getting made along with no money coming in. Next wave doesnt seem to know what the issue is nor do they have any advice on getting the machine aligned and trued up other than keep surfacing the spoilboard. I've attached some pictures from last night after installing the new gantry.
- Attachments
Mike Perez
PN Customs
CNC Shark HD5
PN Customs
CNC Shark HD5
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- Posts: 7
- Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:11 am
- Location: Clinton, CT
Re: Shark HD5 gantry\router not square to board
This photo is of carving on the previous gantry, also have tried using the smart zero with different points on material as well with no improvement.
Mike Perez
PN Customs
CNC Shark HD5
PN Customs
CNC Shark HD5
Re: Shark HD5 gantry\router not square to board
Could it be a backlash problem? Are one or more of your backlash nuts broken? Because it looks like the two axes aren't coordinated in their moving.
When you cut squares, do you get some funny lines near the corners?
When you cut squares, do you get some funny lines near the corners?
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- Posts: 7
- Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:11 am
- Location: Clinton, CT
Re: Shark HD5 gantry\router not square to board
I dont have a picture of the square I cut on the test shape board on my phone i'm at work at the firehouse right now till tomorrow evening but i'll snap one when i get back. If i remember correctly the square looked good.
Mike Perez
PN Customs
CNC Shark HD5
PN Customs
CNC Shark HD5
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- Posts: 7
- Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:11 am
- Location: Clinton, CT
Re: Shark HD5 gantry\router not square to board
Which nuts are the backlash nuts? I've had this thing for a month and i'm still learning all the parts on it. It hasn't been truly operational that whole time due to this ongoing issue and waiting for the back and forth on parts from next wave.
Mike Perez
PN Customs
CNC Shark HD5
PN Customs
CNC Shark HD5
Re: Shark HD5 gantry\router not square to board
They are the pieces that connect to the lead screws.
Ideally, when a lead screw turns by so much, you should see a matching lateral movement. And if the lead screw subsequently reverses by an amount, you see an immediate lateral movement in the opposite direction.
If you have bad lead screws, what can happen is that the first lateral movement doesn't move all the way that it should. Or maybe it does, but the reverse movement doesn't retract all the way (maybe it "absorbs" the first bit of reverse before actually moving). This can manifest as corners that don't look sharp, but eventually resolve in the correct lines. That's kind of what those stars look like to me: one axis (or both?) is responding sluggishly and eventually "catching up" to where it was supposed to be during the movement.
Ideally, when a lead screw turns by so much, you should see a matching lateral movement. And if the lead screw subsequently reverses by an amount, you see an immediate lateral movement in the opposite direction.
If you have bad lead screws, what can happen is that the first lateral movement doesn't move all the way that it should. Or maybe it does, but the reverse movement doesn't retract all the way (maybe it "absorbs" the first bit of reverse before actually moving). This can manifest as corners that don't look sharp, but eventually resolve in the correct lines. That's kind of what those stars look like to me: one axis (or both?) is responding sluggishly and eventually "catching up" to where it was supposed to be during the movement.
Re: Shark HD5 gantry\router not square to board
Also check all your coupling screws to make sure they are tight. Make sure you are square to the bed. Take a small square and line it up with the round part of the bit or buy a calibration pin to put in your router and measure it. https://www.precisebits.com/products/ca ... &filter=13
Make adjustments on the router holder, put shims in.
Tony
Make adjustments on the router holder, put shims in.
Tony
Buffalo,NY
"What will matter is not what you bought but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave”
Aspire 12.010, photo vcarve, cut3D.cnc mako shark extended bed with the new upgraded HD 5 gantry with Led pendent.
"What will matter is not what you bought but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave”
Aspire 12.010, photo vcarve, cut3D.cnc mako shark extended bed with the new upgraded HD 5 gantry with Led pendent.
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- Posts: 7
- Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:11 am
- Location: Clinton, CT
Re: Shark HD5 gantry\router not square to board
Kavyon and Tony, thank you for the responses its very much appreciated just had another lengthy call with Matt in Tech Support at next wave they seem to think now that it is an issue with a loose Y axis coupler where the motor shaft attaches to the drive rod. They're sending a step by step process email out and once I get out of work at the Fd tonight i'll go home and try that out. Also going to do your suggestion of verifying the gantry is square. Thanks again and I'll keep you posted. Its been over a month of not being able to use this $4700 purchase and i'm trying to stay as patient as possible he said if this doesn't work they're going to send out a whole new bed which will mean even more downtime.
Mike Perez
PN Customs
CNC Shark HD5
PN Customs
CNC Shark HD5