I (finally) replaced my 2-piece x axis with the new wide maker slide, and replaced all 4 V-wheels on my spindle carriage with Openbuilds wheels and the eccentric spacers used in the 2nd Gen build. Previously I could side load, and/or lift up on the spindle carriage and see lots of movement. The upgrades definitely reduced the amount of movement I could inflict on my machine, but I am surprised at how much there still is. How much slop/movement do you have in your X-Carves? Here is a video of how much I can move my machine by hand.
Movement by hand.
https://youtu.be/BBhSlRH_k1M
Wondering what tricks there are to improve this. I tried a search of other posts, but wasn’t very successful.
Cheers!
I have one of the new xcarves and mine does not move at all (unless your trying to really move it it with a lot of force) but just from my experience and for what ive seen other people post have you adjusted the v wheels ? Cause those are the only thing holding it to the rails
I have the V-wheels cranked down a little beyond the “requires finger and thumb to rotate” method. @BillBlades are you saying your spindle mount v-wheels are even tighter still?
I had the 30 min stiffening mod before I replaced it with the new wider maker slide, and the wider maker slide is definitely an improvement over that solution.
Interested to know how tight your wheels are.
I actually have them just to the “un-turnable by 2 fingers” level of tightness on the z axis, and it seems to have taken most of the slop out. The motor doesn’t seem to be missing steps or slipping either. The good news is wheels are cheap in the grand scheme of things if I kill one, I just hope it doesn’t happen in the middle of a carve.
I agree, the Z seems to be the weakest point, even from Gen1 and the old X axis design.
The video is right after reassembly of the carriage with the new V-wheels, but I will definitely go back and check. I did have those loosen on me over time last year.
I also have washers as spacers between my Delrin nut and the carriage in order to keep the nut from binding on the shaft. (they have been there since the initial build back in 2015) I’m not sure what was causing it, but the washers fixed the binding issue.
Hey I put some Teflon tape on those screws, which keeps them from backing out.
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