The question is; using a standard 50mm ISO30 holder, what is the shortest tool you can use to touch the top of a 18mm (sometimes called 3/4") MDF spoilboard?
Bonus points question: Measured from the bottom of the moving plate to the mount and tramming plate assembly, what is that distance on your machine?
I am interested to see how you all cope with the fact the mounting holes on the S30 are much lower on the body than the spindles Avid sells.
Also, if you use a long reach ISO30 or you have double stacked the MDF, please tell us your shortest tool with those specs as well. You are still part of the family 
I’ve posted my setup before, but to get the ball rolling…
My tramming plate is about 3" from the bottom; this is down a bit from recommended only to not have the Z plate interfere with the tool holders:
It does mean with a doubled up MDF I can pretty much mash the collet into the spoilboard:
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@djdelorie you are going to laugh at me 
I am sitting here looking at your spindle and my #1 employee walks by, stops, turns around and walks back. We are doing a late night / early morning because this week is going to be a monster.
“Is that your machine?”
No, it’s somebody else’s Avid.
“Huh, his Z axis can get like 2 inches lower than yours.”
The vertical axis were advertised to be “12 inch axis” and so that is 304.8mm. But no, these things actually go to beyond 370mm!
What is your soft limit set to on your Z? I think it would be safe for -370mm which means I can move my spindle closer to the center of the plate.
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I have the 8" gantry setup. From hard stop to hard stop, the Z axis moves 8.75 inches. IIRC I set my soft limits to an 8" range just inside those.
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And by “hard stop to hard stop” I mean the machine is off and I’m pushing it up and down, which is a lot easier thanks to those springs, not that I’m biased or anything.
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Thank you so much, @djdelorie! I owe you big. You have help out a lot.
Now, the info that the 8" is in fact 8.75" explains a lot. The bottom of the 12" axis would be the same as the bottom of the 8" because they are mounted the same, the carriage is the same, the moving plate is the same… The difference is the top end. So these 12" are safely 14.5" of travel.
Or, at least the two I have are
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