Levelling the aluminium table

[wolffie]

Did my very first cut yesterday and oh boy was it bad.
Only 3 words but the letters were all over the place
Today I took a straight edge to the table and it was worse than a snake's back.

I was reading about all those things people have done to straighten the table and it all sounded very complicated to me so I took a different approach.

First I removed the front square piece of HDPE.
When I took the bolts out I was surprised at the workmanship or rather, the lack of it.
Wouldn't you think that a the parts of a CNC machine would be made by a CNC machine?
Well, the screw holes are definitely not, they are not even straight.
I didn't see a sticker as to who actually assembled the table but, whomever it was, needs new glasses.

First thing that happened when I started the machine up the day before was a nylex nut dropping down from somewhere, turned out it belonged to the part that attaches the router holder to the gantry, whatever that is called.

Assembler of the Shark HD:
"OOOOPS, I started drilling the hole in the wrong place, never mind I will make a new one, it is underneath the table so nobody will see it.
OOOOPS, I dropped a washer, never mind I will just put the nut on the bolt, nobody will see that either".

Well, after that little surprise I was ready for my fix-it:

I used a piece of aluminium U-Channel around the black HDPE and copied the holes onto the U-Channel, left the HDPE inside it and screwed it back again.
YAY, dead straight.

One cannot use steel, osmosis is not a nice thing to happen to aluminium. Ask anyone who has dropped a coin in the bottom of their tinnie and forgotten about it

Time to check the back.
Bummer, that is also like a snake's back.
Checked the table is planar to the gantry.
Bummer again.
Before modification the back of the table is 1.07 mm (0.00421") higher than the front.
With the U-Channel added that will mean it will be 2.57 mm (0.01") higher in the back than what it is in the front.

Guess what I will be doing tomorrow
Time for the Olympics opening ceremony

Thank goodness I still have the same length of U-Channel left for the back but I might need a length of flat aluminium for the front to level it up.

What I would like to see is a decent manual, like you get for other woodworking machinery, with an exploded view of the machine and a parts list with parts numbers. At least I would know what to call them when I am using foul language at them plus, one will also know what to call them in case spareparts are needed.

Wolffie

[Bob]

Wolffie,
What's a tinnie?
Bob

[wolffie]

Wolffie,
What's a tinnie?
Bob

Sorry
Aussie slang for a small recreational fishing boat made from aluminium or galvanised plate

http://www.thetinnieshack.com.au/

[BillK]

I'm not sure about how many posts I've read here about the table's not being flat, but I am sure that I have never seen NWA respond to a single one of them.

Really, how much more difficult or expensive is it to make the table supports out of Aluminum?

I love the machine and what I can do with it, but c'mon NWA, step up and make this improvement. You can't expect everyone to have to spend hours leveling the bed. The end support rails are two key components, they shouldn't be the cheapest two parts on the machine.

BillK

[Mike in Merrimack]

Thanks Wolffie,

I'm a new owner of the Shark Pro Plus. I've only been running about a month (first post) and the table deff lacks level to the power head. I don't have a machinist background so I didn't think .050 out of level was a big deal when carving signs. Man was I wrong! I'm really learning!

I've been shimming every workpiece with mediocre results. I have to get this table level. I like your idea of the aluminium channel. I'll continue to check the other posts. Again' thanks for posting your solution.

Mike
Merrimack NH

[rungemach]

Just out of curiosity, I checked on the cost of a 30 inch long piece of 3/8 x 1.25 x 1.25 aluminum angle and it was about 6 dollars.
To use one front and rear is around 12 dollars in materials.

A 30" bar of 1/2 x 1/2 solid aluminum would be about 6 dollars also. I used two of this sizer bar for the mid table braces.

So for about 25 dollars in materials (at very expensive prices from Speedy Metals, you could have a very strong table mount and brace system.

NWA could buy that material in bulk at probably half the "cut to size internet cost" quoted above.
They have to drill the holes anyway, whether plastic or aluminum.
They could solve the "flat table" issue very inexpensively and quickly, but continue to make every user either suffer with it or throw the NWA parts away and make their own better ones.

If NWA and Rockler are reading these posts, as they say they do, how long will you let this continue? Month after month it is the same thing.

I am with BillK on this one. What do you have to do to get long standing problems like this addressed.

I am thinking of future customers, as many of us have individually fixed out own machines by sharing ideas and solutions.
It just pains me to see all these folks reinventing the table mount system, as well as the other ongoing quality issues.

Bob

[wolffie]

Well, I just sent a very long email to NWA, will be interesting to find out whether they respond. The last response I got was just an acknowledgement of my email, that it had been read.
Cheers
Wolffie

[wolffie]

Thanks Wolffie,

I'm a new owner of the Shark Pro Plus. I've only been running about a month (first post) and the table deff lacks level to the power head. I don't have a machinist background so I didn't think .050 out of level was a big deal when carving signs. Man was I wrong! I'm really learning!

I've been shimming every workpiece with mediocre results. I have to get this table level. I like your idea of the aluminium channel. I'll continue to check the other posts. Again' thanks for posting your solution.

Mike
Merrimack NH

Hi Mike
You are very welcome.
I tried shimming it at first but soon realised how fruitless that approach was.
Lucky for me, I was married for 32 years to an engineer, so something must have rubbed off
Cheers
Wolffie

[wolffie]

Table has now been done front and back and is dead straight.
Tomorrow I will go buy some square aluminium channel or solid, depending what I can get and reinforce the centre of the table. I think I will put 2 in, just to be sure.
I have decided to put a nut and bolt in every single channel = 2x28 bolts, that way it will be impossible for the single pieces to cock.

I am challenging NWA.
If I, a 73 year old housewife can do it, so, as professionals, you can do it too in less than1/10th of the time it took me.
Mind, because of the lack of a decent manual for reference, I had no idea how it was put together....
Cheers
Wolffie

[GrandpaB]

I've got a Shark HD on order and I'm already having buyer's remorse! Being an eternal optimist, I assume that with all the comments and solution offered by paying customers NWA is busy making the changes needed and my system will be delivered with a fix.