Shapeoko 5 Pro - 4x4 Flattening File by KevinBarnett

Type	Length	Width	Thickness	Job Zero

Name	Type	Tool	Feedrate	Plungerate	Cut Depth

List of Files
	Filename	File Type	File Size
	4x4 Flattening McFly - Nov 2024	c2d	44.00kB

- For Shapeoko 5 Pro 4x4 machines.
- A fly cutter, a minimum 1" in diameter, is required. LINK BELOW
- If you encounter issues with these files please comment so we can improve the experience. - Kevin

Disable and Dismount Bitsetter. Set Bitsetter to the side of the machine.
Chuck up a V-Bit
Rapid your machine to the front left
Jog the gantry as far toward you as possible on the Y-Axis
Set the Y-Zero
Jog along X until the bit aligns with the MDF slats' left-most edge on your hybrid bed. (See Photo)
Set your X-Zero
Change to the McFly Fly Cutter from Carbide 3D.
Jog your Z-Axis downward to zero at the level of the hybrid table.
Set your Z-Zero.
Open this file in Carbide Create
Set the maximum depth to determine how much material is taken off the hybrid bed
Be sure the McFly is selected, or select the 1" or larger fly cutter for the job.
Mark all four MDF corners with a pencil (see photo). This helps to indicate complete coverage.
Run the program.
Ignore the warning of "Exceeding Machine Bounds." The program will exceed the standard settings but should not crash.
Do not leave your machine unattended during this time.
Reattach BitSetter and Re-enable Bitsetter in Carbide Motion.
Enjoy your newly flat hybrid bed.

Link to McFly Surfacing Bit:

Have you made this project?

If so, upload a photo to show the author some love and let everyone know what your finished version looks like!

You must be signed in to upload a photo.

Comments

stlwoodworking posted 1 year ago

Ok so it works except for one thing. When I move as far x and y as possible it leaves about a half inch on the far right side that does not get flattened.

dvandhi posted 11 months ago

Ran absolutely perfect for me. Great instructions. Thanks for the reminder to mark the edges with a pencil. I had a board front left(most used space) that I may not have noticed was low by a little bit after first pass. I cut the amount in half, ran it again, and it is dead-flat now. Thank you very much!!

JShipps posted 7 months ago

I ran this program for the first time today on my brand new 5P. The first time I ran it, it took off material from the left side of my waste board only and really nothing from the middle across to the right side. So, I reset Z and ran it again. This time, it removed material across the entire waste board - although still slightly more on the left than the right. Is that normal? And, is the goal to make sure it's removing material all the way across the entire board and you just keep running the program until that happens?

Dbeard512 posted 7 months ago

This program worked great for me. I used a different brand of cutter than recommended and everything worked as planned. Thank you for adding the procedure in the notes section. Very helpful.

Chapman11 posted 5 months ago

Worked perfectly! I had a lot of tears from my mistakes, and we are back to normal now. Thanks,

Alloyd76 posted 5 months ago

@ JShipps - My assumption is that since the program is running a leveling pass it took more off the left side because that side was a little higher. (Hence the need to level it) The idea is to lower the Z a little each time until it skims off a small amount across the entire board front to back & side to side in an equal amount.

Czech2767 posted 2 weeks ago

I've had my machine for about a year and always thought my worksurface was pretty flat right out of the box so I never bothered with this flattening process. Boy was I wrong! It was off by about 0.060" from the lowest to the highest spot. Thankfully I just happened to pick the low spot when I zeroed the Z axis so I only had to run the program once. But then the problem was that for the high spots I was cutting much deeper than the 0.020" max depth of cut listed in the Shapeoko tool library for the McFly cutter. I hit the -10% feedrate button a few times to slow it down and that worked well - just took a little longer to finish but at least I didn't break the bit! I doubt the McFly would break but no sense in finding out. Thanks Kevin Barnett for creating this file! I should have done this right out of the gate. One thing to note, there was a slight amount of waviness in the final surface. Using a straight edge and a feeler gauge it's about 0.0015" height difference between the highs and lows. I'm calling it good for now but I may have some tramming in my future if my OCD gets the better of me!

You must be signed in to leave a comment.