I am attempting to tram the spindle on my 4896 with Nema 34s and the 4 hp Hiteco spindle. I have done this numerous times in the past with no issues. I have a 12" x 9" granite surface plate and the Edge Technology 09-000 Pro Tram. My surface plate is as flat as I can measure, I can’t even fit a .0015 feeler gauge anywhere along numerous different straight edges I have measured it with. I have always leveled the 4 corners of the surface plate using 1 of the dial indicators and then zeroed both of them out using the magnet that comes with it. Never had issues in the past.
I can get the 4 corners leveled but I noticed that when I travel in the x and y direction between the corners the dial indicator will fluctuate higher and lower than what the 4 corners read. Only about .0015 max but I did not have this issue previously.
When I go to tram it in the y direction it shows I need to shim the bottom out significantly, about .012. I previously had a .0025 feeler gauge in there and it was less than .0005 off. After shimming I flip the Pro Tram 180 degrees and it shows it is .007 in the opposite direction. I get the same issue when I tram in the x direction after flipping the Pro Tram 180 degrees.
Is my Pro Tram faulty/damaged? What parts on the machine would be causing this to happen? I make a lot of hdf 1 piece doors and haven’t noticed anything as far as lines in the routed center panels. I just had not trammed it in about 6 months but now I wish I would have left it alone.
Its hard to damage the tramming tool because of the way they work. If you bend the beam, it is bent the same amount at any position on the circumference. (assuming you are using the same dial indicator all the way around the radius of the spindle travel).
Its most likely just out of tram or possibly your spindle bearings are getting bad if you have a ton of use on it.
As far as the dial indicator moving across the surface of your plate in the X and Y directions, that could be a non flat plate, or your Y and Z axis bearing getting a little worn or sloppy. If your plate was flat before, and you haven’t dropped it or introduced a large temperature gradient across it (like the sun shining on the top surface), then its probably not the plate.
Push the spindle around in different directions watching the dial indicators to see how it moves. Normally the system will flex a quite a bit (these aren’t as rigid as a lot of people think) like 10-20 thousands, but it should come back to its original position when you let go. If it ends up in two different spots depending on which direction you push, then you may have something loose or worn somewhere.
Just a reminder for everyone, this is the second part of tramming. You need to tram the travel of the Z axis first so that it is perpendicular, and then tram the head itself.
