Rotary Jig set up in the machine.

[SteveNelson46]

After looking at the design I agree that the jig will not (or should not) sit directly on the plates. If it did chances are the jig drive rollers might not be in good contact with the machine belts and you would not get good traction.

I did pick up in the video that the squaring and calibration should be done for each carve. I did mine with the standard 1/16" carving bit since it has a finer tip vs the 1/8" long bit. Since all of this is done prior to selecting the actual carve project there should not be any problem. Right?

I still feel that a hard copy of the jig set up and calibration should be included with the jig. I am betting there will be at least one who does not do one or the other of the steps and will be reporting about it. Even after watching the videos a couple of times when they came out I picked up some things when I viewed them tonight.

Now off to watch the design layout ones to see what I missed on those. Looking to see about the lead in carve regions and if a feather should be used to ease the bit into the carving..

I agree with Floyd. There should be some sort of printed instructions in the box or at least emailed to all who purchased the jig. The videos on the use of the jig are pretty good but, the video on how to set it up and install it needs a little improvement.

[SteveNelson46]

After looking at the design I agree that the jig will not (or should not) sit directly on the plates. If it did chances are the jig drive rollers might not be in good contact with the machine belts and you would not get good traction.

I studied the design too but, it looks to me like the jig should set on the squaring plate and the sliding plate. The rollers and the drive belt are the correct distance below the jig to allow the correct amount of pressure on the rubber belts. Too much and there could be damage to the belts. Too little and there could be slippage.

[SteveNelson46]

All of this controversy could have been avoided with just a minimal amount of documentation.

[fwharris]

I studied the design too but, it looks to me like the jig should set on the squaring plate and the sliding plate. The rollers and the drive belt are the correct distance below the jig to allow the correct amount of pressure on the rubber belts. Too much and there could be damage to the belts. Too little and there could be slippage.

Steve,
I will get a better look/feel on mine tomorrow. I will remove the tabs so I can get a better look at how they fit into the slots. They felt like the had some drag when first meeting up with the slot. Will also look at their edges to make sure there are no burrs.



My thinking on the "should be or not be" sitting on the plates is the jig should sit a little above them to insure the head is forcing the jig rollers down onto the drive belts to make a good contact. If the it sat on the plate then there could be an outside chance of not getting good enough contact for good tracking.

Off to the software thread!

[bergerud]

The machine is not designed to sit on the plates. The plates would just bend under the head pressure if they did. The sliding plate would bend the rod below pushing the plate into the belts. The squaring plate would bend down taking the tracking roller with it into the belt.

[blhutchens]

I have many times felt like I was given this machine by aliens. I spend more time experimenting to reverse engineer the thing and discover how it works (or how it is programed) than I do carving.

Sometimes I think its the Devil hisself…. spend time mucking with it instead of working on moneymaking projects in the shop.

[mtylerfl]

Michael

When I removed the tab I tried to fit it into the slot and it was still to big. I didn't really remove very much metal from the tab. Most of the adjustment was on the slot in the sliding plate. It's still a snug fit. I didn't think of swapping the tabs.

Sounds like you'll be fine then. Please show us a pic or two of your first carve when it's ready!

[fwharris]

The machine is not designed to sit on the plates. The plates would just bend under the head pressure if they did. The sliding plate would bend the rod below pushing the plate into the belts. The squaring plate would bend down taking the tracking roller with it into the belt.

Great point and I agree! When using the jig it should also be a good time to verify the head pressure before starting. If to high it could cause all kinds of drive problems and to low bad traction.

[SteveNelson46]

The machine is not designed to sit on the plates. The plates would just bend under the head pressure if they did. The sliding plate would bend the rod below pushing the plate into the belts. The squaring plate would bend down taking the tracking roller with it into the belt.

Either we are talking about different things or I'm confused. In the video, Joe specifically states that the jig sets on the squaring plate and the sliding plate.

These are the exact quotes from the video:

"Set the jig on the squaring plate with the tab slotted into the space behind the tracking roller."
"Move the sliding plate over so the jig sets on top of it and the tab fits into the center slot"

I just finished a flawless 4 hour carve with the jig set like this. Michael was right. It over carved about 5%.

[SteveNelson46]

Adding a little more to the setup. After the blank was mounted I tried rolling the mechanism to make sure everything was okay. It rolled smoothly most of the way around but, at a specific spot it would sort of drag and felt like there was a rough spot. A drop of chain lube with moly on the bearings solved the roughness.