@DanoInTx wrote:
Hello forum,
I've had my XXL since August or so. Initially I had some Z-belt slippage issues, but finally got it adjusted and have been cutting happily for the last few months, until today.... I ran a couple jobs today with zero issue, 1/4" flat endmill, 70ipm, 30ipm plunge and .125" DOC cutting some poplar, making pockets for the most part, full depth 0.750" stock. I have a 1/2" HDPE spoiler board on top of the stock MDF, so when I make full depth I'm still 1/2" shy of the MDF. Bit stickout I would guess is 1.25" or so and the Dewalt is all the way down in the mount. Anyways as the night has progressed I made probably 5-6 good successful runs, until about an hour ago while making a 3/4" circular full depth pocket and on the final cut through pass my Z-axis jumped up. I tried homing and running again and same result. So I adjusted the Z-axis belt a bit tighter, homed the machine and made another run with same result. So I tightened the Z-belt a little more (almost guitar string tight at this point) and made another run, same result. A couple months ago I went through my all of my steppers and ensured that the set screws were on the flats and that they had loctite, so I'm reasonably sure the pulley isn't slipping. Also tried knocking my feeds down to 60ipm with 25ipm plunge. The only thing peculiar about tonight is that it's 34F degrees in my garage. I don't want to tighten the belt any more for fear that I'll bend something, it's about as tight as I feel comfortable with already. Has anyone else had this experience, specifically with running an SO3 at near freezing temperature? Any suggestions? Haven't looked yet, but maybe my belt shed a tooth in the cold (I think they're rated below freezing, and it's jumping probably 1/8-1/4" so it would probably be several teeth)? Really liking my XXL, but this Z-axis belt thing seems like a bit of a weak link, anybody modded theirs to run a lead screw?
Thanks in advance!
Dan
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