THE NEW MAKO IS HERE!!!

How are other systems alike/different from the Shark?

Moderators: al wolford, sbk, Bob, Kayvon

rungemach
Posts: 460
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2010 8:24 am
Location: Sarasota, Florida

Re: THE NEW MAKO IS HERE!!!

Post by rungemach »

Hi 4DThinker.

From my limited experience with these clamps, the oversize / stretched hole issue should be more prevalent in the plastic clamp because the plastic clamp is constantly stretching out of position. After a while the holes will drift farther and farther from alignment if you need to keep retightening (and further deforming) the clamp.

With a clamp that does not stretch, if the ID is cut right on the correct size, the clamp will only need to move a few thousandths to tighten, and will not need to move more after that. When I cut my clamps for the porter cables routers, I made the inside hole exactly 3.5 inches and I had to spread the clamp open very slightly with a small screwdriver to slide the router in.

The plastic clamp I measured was 3.520" dia so the clamp had to move more to take up the difference just to touch. This might have been due to prior stretching, but the holes would have to move out of alignment in the tightening process.

A typical 1/4 -20 bolt body is .235 " dia, (even less in the threaded section) leaving 15 thousandths clearance in a .250 hole, so you have some wiggle room already. If thats not enough, open the front holes to 9/32 (.281) for lots of room.

In any case, you install any clamp by mounting it in the shark with the back bolts finger tight, then tighten the router clamp, and if the front holes are slightly misaligned, you can run a drill through with the clamp in place to open the plastic base up just a little so you get a perfect bolt up. If you tightened the front bolts first , then tried to tighten the aluminum clamp, most likely the bolt would deform the hole in the plastic base enough to fit before it would shear.

EdThorne
Posts: 345
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:26 pm
Location: Massachusetts

Re: THE NEW MAKO IS HERE!!!

Post by EdThorne »

rungemach wrote:Hi Ed

The clamp turned out quite well. I like the added thickness as it will help keep the router straight and minimize tilting.
That thickness would be impractical to try and cut on the shark.

Regarding the tightening, I certainly would not tighten it with a 3 ft breaker bar, but with a reasonable wrench it should be difficult to harm the bearings. You would be trying to crush the router housing with a circumferential clamp which should be exerting force evenly around the body. The router was made to be held this way, and in that location. The bearings, both top and bottom, will be some distance from the clamp as the lower bearing in the router has to sit a good distance below the clamp in order to clear the plastic mount and the dust shoe so you can get the wrenches on to change bits.

BillK has a good point, don't be a gorilla when you tighten things. I found a moderate force on my 5/8 aluminum clamps is more than enough to hold the router body very tightly, as the clamp is not slippery and does not loosen over time due to plastic "creep" deformation.

This might also be a good solution for mounting a water cooled spindle. Sam at Dixie Billet has told me he can put any size/shape hole in these. He can be reached at Business (at) Dixiebillet.com

Bob
Thank you Bob. I just tried out the clamp cutting while a block of aluminum for a quick project relating to work. I was cutting equally both ends of an 128mm block of aluminum to get a final length of 106mm. My cutting depth was 10.5mm using 1/4" end mill. Everything went smoothly. The final length was 106.3mm +/- 0.2mm across the entire 85.5mm width of the piece. I would say that the clamp and everything else was working very well. I am happy with these results.

EdThorne
Posts: 345
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:26 pm
Location: Massachusetts

Re: THE NEW MAKO IS HERE!!!

Post by EdThorne »

rungemach wrote:Hi 4DThinker.

From my limited experience with these clamps, the oversize / stretched hole issue should be more prevalent in the plastic clamp because the plastic clamp is constantly stretching out of position. After a while the holes will drift farther and farther from alignment if you need to keep retightening (and further deforming) the clamp.

With a clamp that does not stretch, if the ID is cut right on the correct size, the clamp will only need to move a few thousandths to tighten, and will not need to move more after that. When I cut my clamps for the porter cables routers, I made the inside hole exactly 3.5 inches and I had to spread the clamp open very slightly with a small screwdriver to slide the router in.

The plastic clamp I measured was 3.520" dia so the clamp had to move more to take up the difference just to touch. This might have been due to prior stretching, but the holes would have to move out of alignment in the tightening process.

A typical 1/4 -20 bolt body is .235 " dia, (even less in the threaded section) leaving 15 thousandths clearance in a .250 hole, so you have some wiggle room already. If thats not enough, open the front holes to 9/32 (.281) for lots of room.

In any case, you install any clamp by mounting it in the shark with the back bolts finger tight, then tighten the router clamp, and if the front holes are slightly misaligned, you can run a drill through with the clamp in place to open the plastic base up just a little so you get a perfect bolt up. If you tightened the front bolts first , then tried to tighten the aluminum clamp, most likely the bolt would deform the hole in the plastic base enough to fit before it would shear.
You are absolutely correct Bob. My clamp fits snuggly around the barrel [is this also called the spindle?] of the router. You need to work the clamp on and it isn’t moving anywhere without some degree of force. The movement associated with the clamp is definitely in range of a few thousandths or less of an inch. To further aid in movement, this clamp still bolts through plastic parts that will easily allow some compliance as necessary. There isn't much metal used in the construction of this part of the CNC. just lots of plastic.

I found that the plastic clamp needed to be frequently tightened. I would loosen the other bolts before tightening the clamp bolt. There was no further adjustment available after a month of doing this. I then used a hose clamp to hold things together until I got the aluminum clamp.

Sam
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2013 8:42 pm

Re: THE NEW MAKO IS HERE!!!

Post by Sam »

Hello fellas,

I am glad to hear the clamp is working great for you, Ed. If anyone else is interested in purchasing the clamp (or any other item needed), you can contact me at business(at)dixiebillet.com, and I will send you a PayPal invoice for the purchase.
The price for the standard clamp as the one that Ed has shown, is $45.00, plus $5.50 shipping for USA, $16.95 outside USA. All shipping is via USPS priority mail. The clamps are 1.23" thick (31.24mm), and have a 3.49" hole for the router. They are a good, snug fit, before you tighten the clamp. There should not be near enough deflection/flex of the clamp to worry about any hole line-up issues or binding. I have no idea about the tolerances that the Shark routers are made, but if any of the mounting holes do not line up perfectly, it's nothing that running a drill bit through the hole(s) can't fix. If there is a need for any size other than the 3.5" hole, that would not be a problem. There would, however, be an additional fee of $10, and a 2-5 business day delay. If anybody has any questions or concerns, I will do my best to answer.
Moderators: If this type of advertising is against any rules, I do apologize, feel free to delete if you see fit.

EdThorne
Posts: 345
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:26 pm
Location: Massachusetts

Re: THE NEW MAKO IS HERE!!!

Post by EdThorne »

Thank you Sam. The clamp is fantastic!

Sam
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2013 8:42 pm

Re: THE NEW MAKO IS HERE!!!

Post by Sam »

You are very welcome. I'm glad it serves your needs!

EdThorne
Posts: 345
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:26 pm
Location: Massachusetts

Re: THE NEW MAKO IS HERE!!!

Post by EdThorne »

Does anyone have a way to make dovetail joints or something simillar on the Shark using Aspire and without modifying the gantry or deck? It seems easy to cut a box joint if standing each piece on end and using an end mill. My Mako Shark HD has a 7" z-axis limit so this helps to limit the maximum height that I can use without opening a hole through the deck

Aspire allows me to create 3D parts so it seems possible to create one side with a pocket toolpath and the mating side using 3D roughing and finishing toolpaths. Now, this seems possible in theory. Has anyone tried this? These joints would both have rounded mating joints when prepared in this manner.

Maybe there is a better approach to making a strong joint for boxes?

Wolffie1
Posts: 270
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2012 3:46 pm

Re: THE NEW MAKO IS HERE!!!

Post by Wolffie1 »

Ed
Someone here posted how he made dovetails but I cannot remember who it was.
I have all the files, though.
Cheers
Wolffie
6 Inch DoveTail Socket.crv
(30 KiB) Downloaded 613 times
6 Inch Dovetail Tails.crv
(3.02 MiB) Downloaded 659 times
Drawer How to..pdf
(134.59 KiB) Downloaded 626 times
6 Inch Dovetail Tails.crv
(3.02 MiB) Downloaded 659 times
Couldn't add the last one V3D is not allowed???????
However, I think this is what you need.

EdThorne
Posts: 345
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:26 pm
Location: Massachusetts

Re: THE NEW MAKO IS HERE!!!

Post by EdThorne »

Wolffie1 wrote:Ed
Someone here posted how he made dovetails but I cannot remember who it was.
I have all the files, though.
Cheers
Wolffie
6 Inch DoveTail Socket.crv
6 Inch Dovetail Tails.crv
Drawer How to..pdf
6 Inch Dovetail Tails.crv
Couldn't add the last one V3D is not allowed???????
However, I think this is what you need.
Hi Wolffie,

Thank you very much. This is the right idea. I actually saw these files before and couldn't quite figure out what he was doing. I believe that he says that he designed this in Alibre Design and then imported into VCP. I didn't even know that VCP could process a 3D component but it appears that it can. I can't actually see the 3D components in Aspire and that is what I was hoping to see because I want to scale this into other sizes and use other tools. I don't even own an 1/8" end mill or a 5/8" end mill. I have 1/4" and 1/2" end mills and haven't even found a place to buy an 1/8" EM. Also, it doesn't appear that the tails exactly fit into the sockets as the shapes are visually different. Maybe that was done deliberately to allow for glue?

I think that I get the general idea and will attempt to model something similar in aspire. I will give it a try.

Thank you again,
Ed

PS: Can you send me some of your warm weather? I miss boating.

User avatar
Buc
Posts: 548
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:34 pm
Location: Waterford, PA

Re: THE NEW MAKO IS HERE!!!

Post by Buc »

Ed,

This maybe the post you are looking for. http://www.cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.p ... ail#p12978

Buc
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

Thomas A. Edison

The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday

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