X4+ Unpack and Setup

[Six0GTO]

I have searched and read many of posts here on the X4. However I have yet to find one post or thread that can guide one thru the unpack and setup. We all know shipping takes it toll on a machine and things happen. I have a machine ariving from overseas next week. I would be more than happy to photo document the entire process. With photos and documentation of all of the components that need to be checked, aligned, or connected. If someone could help me with the list of the items as I have not found it in one post.

[ataxy]

when the machine arrive the only thing that need to be connected are
1- the power plug
2- the mpg
3- the parallel cable

aside form that some will say that you may want to take the machine apart and wipe the whole machine with kerosene or a solvent but honestly just move the axis to there full extent and wipe the dovetail of there reddish grease and lube them back with oil (a cheap oil that will do the work is motorcycle fork oil) do this two time and the machine should be fine then its time to get a piece of flat material, the flatest and squarest material you can get and adjust the dovetail to eliminate the slack on all the axis starting with the z axis for that i recommend lowering the quill until it touch the table and lower it 0.002'' more and tighten the gibb in the back of the head, don't forget when you do it to loosen the screw under the head or else you may think you cant tight it more but actually its because the gibb is stopped by that screw, so tight that screw until the head start to have a hard time moving and back off a bit, a bit not to much or the slack will reappear, also before tightening the gibb you might want to check the surface that slides on the dovetail on mine it was so mad and curved that i am positive it had no more then 30% contact so i lapped it until i had around 80% contact... you dont want 100% so that the lube can get in between the two surface, on the x and y axis its different since it does not use tapper gibb but flat gibb so i recommend that you adjust it by centering the axis in there travel and start tightening the screw in the front of the x axis and on the left side of the y axis until you get get no movement or as less as possible on the indicator again since to machine are not made like big cnc you will need to live with a slight amount of movement as no movement mean that your axis are locked in place, so it mostly trial where you tight it and run a cycle on your axis to see if the motor seems to miss step ounce you have all this worked out its time to make some trial part and get to know mach3 run a simple part like circular pocket and slot and check to see that you get no backlash and that the slot and pocket measurement are good and adjust accordingly mine arrived with no backlash at all but after setting in developped some backlash on the x and y axis (0.002'') the only fix for that aside from switching the ballscrew to a double nut setting is to enable backlash comp in mach3 wich will sota do the job ok but not perfect but still better then having backlash also check the movement of the axis true mach3 and with the manual control, mine was showing weird behavior and i replaced two of the board on my machine and it solved the problem (mine with each push to make it go 0.001 was going 0.001-0.0013-0.002-0.0008-0.0011-0.0015-0.001-0.0007 i guess you get what i mean)
also open the box in the back of the machine and make sure all the screw in the different are well tighten in my machine i found four screw that where not that tight, but dont over do it, use you judgement.
aside from that dont expect to much from the current 4th axis, its good for indexing but not that good for 4th axis work.

[instructor37]

Originally Posted by Six0GTO I have a machine ariving from overseas next week.

Did you order direct from their website too?

[Six0GTO]

I had a chinese client owe me money. Instead of trying to send me the money I had him purchase the mill. It was a win/win for both of us. Will have to see how support will work out thats my only concern. After reading thru some of the issues people have had I might be in for some email conversations with the plant if I have issues. But Im used to it.

[sharpshooter90]

Originally Posted by Six0GTO I had a chinese client owe me money. Instead of trying to send me the money I had him purchase the mill. It was a win/win for both of us. Will have to see how support will work out thats my only concern. After reading thru some of the issues people have had I might be in for some email conversations with the plant if I have issues. But Im used to it.

Support wise you will probably get all you need on this forum. As long as the factory will send you spare parts, you will be on par with people who bought through a local dealer, just money ahead. If you don't mind, could you reveal how much the LTL freight was?

[Six0GTO]

Originally Posted by sharpshooter90 Support wise you will probably get all you need on this forum. As long as the factory will send you spare parts, you will be on par with people who bought through a local dealer, just money ahead. If you don't mind, could you reveal how much the LTL freight was?

I belive the freight and customs was in the $700.00 range. I did use a fast sea freight carrier so that added some additional cost.