My new 5x10 turnkey table from Bulltear

Ok, narrowed my vibration issue down a little more. It is coming from the linear rail on the gantry accross the table. There appears to be some play between the bearings and the rail, probably a result of how the crate was (mis)handled during shipping. Obviously not bulltears fault. How do you adjust the clearance and preload of those bearings on the linear rail? I have absolutely no play when the machine is moving along the y axis (width of table) but a decent bit of play along the x axis (length of table). Maybe this picture will help... the green arrows are for the good motion, the red arrow indicates which direction the head shakes, and the yellow circle is the truck that the play is coming from. Thanks for all the help!

BTW, the vibration is initiated when the machine starts, stops or changes direction abruptly along the x axis, the actual linear motion is smooth as can be.

Whats your email I will send you a schematic tomorrow afternoon.

Here is a pic of a line test I did on 1/8 mild steel with a cut speed of 80 ipm. You can see the smooth start and cut, but as soon as the machine makes the turn down the line it gives a vibration that soon levels out and goes back to a good smooth cut. The vibration/wiggle gets much more pronounced as the cut speed increases. You can tell the start point by the splatter at the pierce point. My e-mail is rstoltje@hotmail.com , any info would be great. Thanks!

What I would do first is take the Mag-Lok plate off and remove your machine torch. Set the Mag-Lok plate on a flat surface and see if it rocks at all. It could also be the tapered setscrews are causing rock in the Mag plate.

Just in case anyone reading this is wondering, the machine is doing great other than the one little bug that was undoubtedly caused by an over aggressive shipping company. Here are a few pics of some of the stuff I've manged to cut out, the first one is a usmc file from another forum and the other is a bracket I designed for a link mount on a rock crawler. Ive only had the machine for two weeks now, so I think I'm on track. A couple more weeks and get this vibration straightened out and I should be rolling smoothly. Thanks again Bulltear!

BTW, the holes in the tabs for the bolts are cut with the plasma, not drilled. I couldnt be happier with them. I set the hole diameter to .77 and it is a tight perfect fit for a 3/4 bolt. Very impressive.

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Originally Posted by jeepsr4ever

What I would do first is take the Mag-Lok plate off and remove your machine torch. Set the Mag-Lok plate on a flat surface and see if it rocks at all. It could also be the tapered setscrews are causing rock in the Mag plate.

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I did just that this last weekend, there was no warpage in the mag-lok plate. There was a little play in the taper screws so I adjusted that out and reassembled. Didnt seem to help. If I jog the machine using the xbox controller you can see the wobble. When moving the width of the table(y axis) there is no vibration at all, but when jogging the x axis you can see the hole torch and holder wobble when you first initiate the motion.

Check to see if there is any play in the truck on the gantry. Grab the Z axis near the middle and see if you can move it at all forward and backwards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jeepsr4ever

Check to see if there is any play in the truck on the gantry. Grab the Z axis near the middle and see if you can move it at all forward and backwards.

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Yep, there is a touch of play in the truck that moves across the gantry. Not side to side play, but a little forward backward play. Its not much, but a little movement there makes a decent bit of movement all the way down at the torch tip. Any info on how to adjust it?

The good news is they are completely adjustable for preload. The bad news is it takes some disassembly to get to the truck. You will need to remove the Y axis motor assembly by loosening the 2 3/16" stainless steel nuts and completely removing the Y axis assembly. Next you will need to locate the 4 socket head capscrews behind the rails and use a ball type allen wrench to remove them. Once removed the Z axis will be free and you will see the truck and Y axis adaptor plate. You can slide the truck all the way to the side of the gantry and remove the 1/4-20 socket head capscrew stop to allow the truck to slide off. There is one cam on the truck you will see where to loosed teh set screw and then loosen the precision bolt on the bear wheel. Once you loose the precision bolt on the bearing wheel turn it a little and tighten slightly. Then try your fit on the gantry rail. The truck should take quit a bit of force to get back on the rail. Use a rubber hammer or a plastic dead blow. Once you have a strong preload tighten the precision bolt and the setscrews on the other side and re-test. When your happy attach the Z axis assembly using the 4 long socket head capscrews (with your ball driver allen wrench) and then attach the Y axis assembly and using about 6lbs of force push the Y axis assembly into the gear rack and tighten the two 3/8 stainless nuts until the assembly is tight. To check for zero backlash turn the motor power on and try to move the Y axis assembly by hand back and forth. If you feel and movement back and forth under 5lbs you dont have the Y axis gear into the rack far enough.