SMW3D R7 Tinyg 8 fw 0.97 Chillipepper I can jog my z axis all of the way up. The bottom wheels are almost to the end of the c-beam. This looks correct. I can only jog the c-beam end plate down to within about 35 mm from the table. There is about the same distance available above the upper wheels and the top end plate. No homing or limit switches are active. soft limits are off. ztn and ztm shouldn't matter if soft limits are off. What do you think is stopping it?
Maybe the Z travel limit needs to be changed in firmware? Bear in mind that the router position influences where the bottom plate should stop relative to the spoil-board. On my machine, the router nut is just below the Z bottom plate but this can change depending on the job in hand.
The spindle is currently set above the bottom plate which is about 12mm and the c-beam is 250mm. The travel is set to 0 and 120. I will set the travel to 0 and 175 mm and see if that changes anything. Soft limits are off.
R7-CNC/00 - R7 Documentation at master · eclsnowman/R7-CNC R7 250mm c-beam z axis. Soft limits are currently off. Zmax is 0. Zmin is -175. The z axis should move 88.5mm or 3.5 inches. That should get me from the spoiler board to about 28.5mm above the top of y axis c-beam. The z axis will move until the stepper motor starts hammering on something on both ends so I don't think it is a software problem. The lower z travel stops about 35 mm above the bottom of the c-beam (same level as the spoiler board). The wheels are just above the bottom plate of the Z c-beam. The upper travel stops when the upper wheels are about 35mm below the bottom of the top z c-beam plate. The bottom plate is just above the top of the y axis c-beam. There should be about 35mm of upper travel available. I need to be able to machine an aluminum box chassis that is 3 inches tall. They run between .06 and .09 inches thick. When the z axis is all of the way up the bottom plate is only about 1/8" above the top of the chassis. I guess the only way to fix the upper travel is to add a 2040 or a 4040 under each of the y axis c-beams. Did I assemble the z axis wrong? With room to spare on the upper shouldn't I be able to add some more downward movement?
Is there a physical obstruction that you can not see? Is it physically hitting limit switches or something else? Can you take a picture so we can see? I am a little confused because in the first post you say But later say it wont go up all the way and you need it higher to carve on a box.
There is some physical limitation that I can't see on both the upper and lower travel. I realize that I am almost at the physical limitation of the upper travel. If I could get the full 3.5 inch height I would be ok with the clearance above a 3 inch chassis. If I can't get any more height I will have to raise the y axis by adding a 2040 under them. It's been a few years since I built this machine and I can't remember how it went together. I guess I will have to pull the z axis apart and see what is causing the interference. I should get 88.5mm of total travel. I am only getting about 56mm of travel
I started looking at taking apart the z axis. I noticed the cable chain was not allowed to flex enough and was holding the z axis up. I disconnected the cable chain and it now moves all the way to the bottom. I will have to figure out another way to attach the chain. Thanks for you help.
Coming WAAAAAAY late to this discussion, as I have been off working other things for a while. .... but I ran into the same issue when I needed to mill an AL block and needed additional Z height for a work-holding vise. To get the whole R7 frame up above it, I made two 80mm laminated & planed MDF runners and placed them under the Y Axis rails. This gave me solid support along the Y beam and gave me the clearance for the Vise needed to hold the AL block for milling. Now, I am thinking I may make this a permanent setup and add a slightly longer Z-axis C-beam to get me back down to the spoil board for thinner sheet materials. Would add only 80-100mm to the height. I do not want the axis getting too tall, but adding 80-100 mm to the Z axis may be a good compromise. Need to think it through more, but am liking the options to allow for thicker work pieces.
