Surfacing Lead 1515 Spoilboard

I'm about ready to surface my spoilboard for the first time. After watching a few videos I noticed the cut area for the machine doesn't allow the entire spoilboard to be cut leaving ridges around the perimeter of the spoilboard.

Wouldn't this be an issue if your stock your cutting rests over these edges? I've also noticed some machines have an MDF board and an additional smaller spoil board on top that seems to be limited to the cutting area. However, the lead 1515 has the v-slots running through the 3 spoilboard panels so I figured the whole thing was intended to be surfaced. Is this the case? Should you be able to surface all 3 panels on the lead 1515? I know I hit my limit switches before getting to the edges of the outer panels.

Thanks!
Logan

 

I ran a quick test and took a few passes at the front of my spoil board. I took 1mm off because I'm still waiting on a dial to gauge my tramming. I have about 1.75" on both sides of my y axis. My cutting area does seem to match the machine specs. However, it still seems like you wouldn't be able to use the whole table to clamp your stock (around the edges of the table) since the cutting area will be recessed when surfaced.

 

After doing some more testing, (my dials should be here tomorrow) I've found my router leans ever so slightly forward. I've noticed that it will do this when I start to tighten down on the mounting plate. I also noticed when using a square on my spoilboard, there is a slight gap on my lower x c-beam. Any ideas on how to adjust this @Peter Van Der Walt? I've seen this video referenced on a few other threads but I'm not exactly sure which screws I need to loosen. There's just so many cast corner connectors I'm not really sure which ones I need to loosen. Additionally, when I check the ends of the c-beam it is completely pressed against my Z axis. So I'm not sure if it's somehow twisting between the two ends or not.

 

I finally got my x axis trammed but even with everything tightened down all the way it seems pretty easy to knock it out of alignment. I figure as soon as I loosen the collet to switch bits it's going to throw it out.

I'm also off a decent amount front to back. I've tightened down all screws and made sure my x extrusions are touching all parts of my z columns. I'm not sure what else to do to adjust. Any tips would be appreciated. I've added a few photos to show where I'm at currently.

It may also be worth noting I only plan to mill wood with this machine primarily for furniture making. So maybe the tolerances I'm getting are okay for my medium? However I'm also a perfectionist and usually like things dead on lol.

 

@Rhett E I saw on another thread you mentioned adding a couple bolts to the bottom of your z axis to do some adjustments. Do you have any photos of what that looks like? I saw the two holes you mentioned but couldn't envision how the bolts worked in adjusting the z carriage.

 

I made sure the uprights were square to the assembly when initially building the machine. I'm not sure of how to check for square now with

Yeah it is a little difficult to get a square positioned after the machine is built but everything looked good to me.

When placing a square on my table there would be gaps across one of the c beams. I originally noticed the bottom c beam wasn't fully up against one of thr uprights so I went back and retightened all the cast corners to pull it together. This fixed it on the ends but if I check with my square closer towards the center there are still gaps where the two c beams aren't on the exact vertical plane. This also seems to make my z axis assembly lean forward slightly by about a 1/16". I'm not sure how I could correct this since both ends connected to each upright read square to the table.

Here's a few more pictures.

 

The gap is different along various points. Sometimes on the upper beam, sometimes the lower. However again, both beams are fully seated and tightened down to the uprights so I'm not sure what I could adjust to correct those beams.

Currently my bit is taking more out in the front of the cut so it's leaning forward like this /. That's what I've found to be the case when using a square on my z assembly. Again, this was done referencing the table so I'm not sure if that's the most accurate way to gauge.

Is it possible to loosen the cast corners on the z assembly and shim the lower portion with some aluminum foil to push the lower end forward slightly and level it out? I'm not sure what you mean by an incline.

A few more shots of the gap across the X axis.

 

Okay, I've gotten it to where I would consider it "close enough". However when I run the surface job using the wizard in openbuilds control. My cutting depth isn't correct. Since practicing I've taken a few skim passes so I home and zero my bit to the unsurfaced portion of the spoil board. When I press go to zero everything works fine, then I start the job and my controller says it's at -.16" but it's definitely not. I abort the job, and hit go to zero on the controller again and this time my z axis zero point is almost 1/8" higher than when I zeroed it the first time with my probe. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Here's my current settings in the wizard. Everything else is stock and I haven't adjusted with the machine.

Also to point out, I can zero my Z with the probe and it is fine again, it seems to happen only when I'm running the job.

UPDATE: I just created a new job using a 1/4" spiral bit instead of the 1" surfacing bit and it cut much deeper. It seems like the issue might be when taking the initial plunge with the surfacing bit. Since it works fine with my spiral bit, would updating any grbl settings impact this or should I take smaller passes with the surfacing bit?