Hi there. I have the lead 1010 with high z mod. I'm about to modify it so that the z c-beam itself moves up and down. For when I need to cut sheet material, I'm thinking that should make some type of a raised platform so that the material is closer to the bit. I know it isn't necessary, but I reckon I can get greater accuracy. Should I just put down a few sheets of mdf to raise up sheet material? Would that make it too heavy? I can make an additional spoilboard surface at the top of it that has t-tracks and stuff. Or, to reduce weight, should I make a box type thing of v-slot with a mdf spoilboard on top of that? Thanks for any ideas. Cheers
This means you're switching from a moving-carriage to a moving-rail Z axis, right? Not that you're moving the Z-axis to the gantry columns and moving the whole X rail? If so, for the highest rigidity you want the spindle and the z-axis carriage plate (V-wheels, I'm assuming, in this case) to be as close together as possible, with the rest of the axis waving in the breeze up top. So yes, you would get greater accuracy, or rather- higher accuracy at an optimal speed. You could simply drastically slow down the cutting speed to reduce cutting forces and "gain accuracy". Part of the inherent downsides of extruded aluminum machines is their low weight. Dumping a ton of MDF into the frame to absorb vibration would actually help, not hinder. Of course, you have to be physically able to remove and store it for other cutting. I don't know if you've ever moved around full 4x8' sheets of 3/4" MDF by yourself, but I can promise you that stuff ain't light. There might be a tradeoff somewhere- maybe two or three sheets in a torsion box setup instead of, I dunno, 10 sheets. Or whatever it happens to be. Otherwise, to remove a six-inch-thick one-meter square, you may well need a SkyHook/jib crane/engine hoist because it'll be comfortably north of 150lb- with a center of mass 20" away from your body at that! It's possible you could make some kind of folding/rolling mechanism to remove it and store it simultaneously, I suppose. Depends how much room you have available around the machine.
The torsion box seems the easiest for a thick platform and should work well. For mine, I have a variety of "spoilboards" for special purposes. One bolts down to my T-track and has holes milled for dowels for when I do pin hole registration for two sided milling.
