Getting My Head on Straight

I had to make another Taig to PNJ (HB2) adapter plate. So I removed the Taig spindle from my HB2 to make a close examination of the adapter plate I had made for myself. The spindle and motor are very easy to adjust in height or remove from the HB2. There is one clamping screw that holds the Taig ER16 spindle on the black clamping plate. No worry, it is a very secure clamp.

Of course it is always a good idea to check spindle alignment after making major movements and what I had also done was loosened the adapter from the Z axis plate. That meant I would have to double check the shims I used to remove a front to back tilt. The shims can be seen in the detail picture.

On a machine like this, when installed in an unconditioned garage shop, and some of the material it is made with is  wood, I don’t believe extreme tramming of the head to (say…) +/- 0.001 across the travel is necessary. Routing wood signs and making Lithophanes isn’t extreme machining. We do want to be perpendicular to the table, have consistent Z height, and have a very rigid machine. But you can be as fussy as you please if you want. I’m good with this.

I am not sure where the offset creating the need for the shims was created. If the Z axis guides are not perfectly vertical, then a full stroke Z would be offset in the Y axis. This type machine (at least mine) is never used for that kind of cut so I am not concerned about any small offset that may be created. I am more interested in cutting a flat X/Y area flat.

One trick I do employ is to mill the entire waste sheet base perfectly flat to the machine travel.

I can hardly explain how nice it is to work with such a quite 10.000+ RPM spindle. I love my HB2…