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  1. #1
    Wal's Avatar
    Lives in Stockport, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 30-03-2023 Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 491. Received thanks 71 times, giving thanks to others 29 times.
    Hello all,

    I'm in the latter stages of my mini-mill design - just looking to finalise the placement of the Z-Axis on the frame.

    Have a look at the attached diagram - you can see that my Z has a plunge of 150mm. In the diagram the plunge bottoms out with the spindle touching the machine bed - probably not something that you'd want to see in the real world - so my question is: how much clearance would you recommend leaving between the spindle at it's bottom-most position and the machine bed? I know that this is one of those questions where the answer is influenced by further factors (machine use etc.) but is there a good clearance distance to start with?

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Thanks for any advice you can offer!

    Wal.

  2. #2
    The closest you want it to the bed is close enough to leave room for the shortest cutter and thinnest material. The nearest I can think of would be milling PCBs - so maybe 10mm. Realistically you can generally just put a spacer between if you can't get the spindle close enough, so I wouldn't worry too much.

    If you put the spindle mounts closer together, you can slide the spindle up and down in the mounts and it becomes a moot point...

  3. #3
    Wal's Avatar
    Lives in Stockport, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 30-03-2023 Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 491. Received thanks 71 times, giving thanks to others 29 times.
    >If you put the spindle mounts closer together, you can slide the spindle up and down in the mounts and it becomes a moot point...

    Yep, true enough - I've included 4 sets of holes for the spindle brackets so that should give me a fair bit of room for manoeuvre - just wanted to be sure that I wasn't missing something obvious!

    Cheers Jonathan.

    Wal.

  4. #4
    I just have holes in back plate for adjustabilty so between these and sliding spindle up and down brackets makes finding the best or ideal position easy.

    Like this (Only showing 1 brackets but there's two) Click image for larger version. 

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ID:	10777 If mostly cutting thin material then the holes at the bottom are the Ideal position has the distance from lower Spindle main Body to collet is a constant overhang so here the Z axis is extended the least it needs to be.
    Spare holes can be used for other things like holding air or Vacuum shoes/pipes etc.
    Last edited by JAZZCNC; 17-11-2013 at 01:44 PM.

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