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Post by dmonson on Apr 4, 2020 13:33:01 GMT
I wasn't satisfied with trying to hold the router while tightening down the mount to adjust the tram. I made a quick adjustment plate out of some 1/2" poly plastic that held up the router on the router mount with four 8-32 jack screws. I chamfered the hole for the router so it fit it very securely. Then it was just a matter of using a tramming gauge and adjusting the jack screws in each direction and pulling down firmly on the router while tightening down the mount. Might save someone some headache and avoiding the shimming options. Attachments:
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Post by Bruce on Apr 4, 2020 16:35:18 GMT
That is an interesting idea. One note, you have the router sitting down in the mount were you are losing some of the total Z axis working height available.
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oldtech
Full Member
Posts: 222
Machine: Power Route
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Post by oldtech on Apr 4, 2020 18:05:59 GMT
I agree that is an interesting approach that could be done with other materials. Even MDF with the appropriate wood t-nuts for the set screws should work for a single mount.
Unfortunately, I don't think that it would work with the Power Route's double mount.
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Post by dmonson on Apr 4, 2020 18:10:13 GMT
I still have just over 3 1/2" from the table to the bottom of the collet. With the jack screws I could raise it up another 1/2" or so, but that is about as high as the router will fit before it contacts the motor plate. Attachments:
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Post by billiam on Apr 4, 2020 20:06:47 GMT
Just curious: what prevents the plastic plate from lifting away from the router mount as the router mount screw is tightened?
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Post by Bruce on Apr 5, 2020 1:31:00 GMT
I still have just over 3 1/2" from the table to the bottom of the collet. With the jack screws I could raise it up another 1/2" or so, but that is about as high as the router will fit before it contacts the motor plate. Yes, but you will want a couple inches clearance for the end mill tool itself. Maybe more depending upon the size of the tool.
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hans
Full Member
Posts: 151
Machine: Other
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Post by hans on Apr 5, 2020 1:55:14 GMT
Great idea, dmonson. Thanks. So I spent today building one. (The second one -- which I'll, likely, never build -- would come out better looking.)
I used ¾" MDF with Melamine on both sides. 3 ¼" x 3 ½" with threaded inserts for ¼"x20 bolts installed in four corners. (Bolts are preferred as the overhanging top of the router challenges access to the tops of adjusting screws.) The key was getting a tight fit on the router body, so I cut a slightly undersized hole in the MDF with my poorly-trammed Mega V and used a spindle sander (on my drill press) to gradually enlarge the hole so that it could be slowly tapped onto the router body. (When tapping it on, the spiral groove in the router body performed the final carving of the MDF.) I also carved a small notch in the router's vented top cover to clear the Z-axis motor mount so as to not lose Z travel. It works well. (Yes, billiam, the plate does lift away from the router mount -- that's how it works.) My router is now plumb within 0.010" over a 14" span. Adequate (or overkill) for my needs.
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Post by Bruce on Apr 5, 2020 2:18:32 GMT
Hans, post some pictures...they're worth a thousand words. 😉
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hans
Full Member
Posts: 151
Machine: Other
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Post by hans on Apr 10, 2020 4:00:29 GMT
Today I used my newly-trammed Mega V for the first time, cutting a series of pockets in a piece of walnut using a ¼" downcut end mill. Wow! The bottom of the pockets was completely smooth. (No need for a picture here; there's nothing to see. It's flat.) I've, obviously, never had a properly trammed machine before. It really does make a difference!
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Post by Bruce on Apr 10, 2020 18:20:32 GMT
Hans, I'm still not understanding how the MDF is secured to the black aluminum mount. Is there enough play in the aluminum mount to tighten down on the router without messing up the trammed position of the router?
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hans
Full Member
Posts: 151
Machine: Other
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Post by hans on Apr 10, 2020 19:31:49 GMT
The "adjuster plate" (½" plastic in dmonson's creation and ¾" MDF in my copy) is NOT secured to the black aluminum mount. It's TIGHTLY wedged to the router body. The black aluminum mount, even when tightened to the router body, has some play. At initial installation, the router is installed in the black aluminum mount as vertically as possible and tightened as fully as possible. At that point, the adjustment bolts in the corners of the adjustment plate are flush with its lower surface and just contact the black aluminum mount. To tram the router, a tram gauge will indicate which corner(s) of the router is lowest and, therefore, which corner bolt(s) should be tightened. This tightening pries the adjuster plate away from the black aluminum mount, skewing the router body to give a final, well-trammed orientation. Tightening any of the adjustment bolts will generate stress in the overall assembly -- including in the router body. That stress does not dissipate and helps assure that the tram settings are stable. It also points out why the initial positioning of the router in the black aluminum mount should be as accurate as possible.
The technique works because, in truth, neither the black aluminum mount nor the adjuster plate are absolutely rigidly attached to the router body. I would not expect this approach to work in a Power Route with its well-spaced pair of mounting plates.
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Post by aquanub on Apr 11, 2020 3:01:22 GMT
Interesting. Wouldnt clamping down the router mount after getting the proper tram using the adjustment plate, throw everything off again? I would think the axial force applied from the router mount would override any previous adjustments.
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hans
Full Member
Posts: 151
Machine: Other
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Post by hans on Apr 11, 2020 3:43:22 GMT
I clamp the router as tight as I can (and as vertical as I can) using the black aluminum MillRight mount before adjusting the adjuster plate. Then, when I turn the screws in the adjuster plate, it wedges the router a bit more in the black aluminum mount in a direction that "fine tunes" the tram. Read carefully what I wrote. (I tried to write it carefully, but may not have succeeded in writing it clearly. Sorry.)
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Post by btreichel on Apr 11, 2020 5:35:37 GMT
I clamp the router as tight as I can (and as vertical as I can) using the black aluminum MillRight mount before adjusting the adjuster plate. Then, when I turn the screws in the adjuster plate, it wedges the router a bit more in the black aluminum mount in a direction that "fine tunes" the tram. Read carefully what I wrote. (I tried to write it carefully, but may not have succeeded in writing it clearly. Sorry.) tts clear to me, how it was functioning before that.
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