setting up ar8 elite

[benw]

Recieved my ar8 elite today. Set it all up and turned on. Zeroed the XY axis at the home position. Set the Z off of the puck. Tried to run the surfaceboard cut from the internal files. Keep getting the message out of limit - error. Have tried to rehome and zero the XY again but with same results. Any suggestions??

[stevem]

When you get an out of limits error, that is telling you that the area you're trying to cut is past where the router can actually go.
When you turn on your machine and it tells you to home the machine, let it home and then use that left front corner and zero out your X & Y at that point. Then zero out your Z and run the file.
If that won't work it's very easy to create your own spoil board surface file.
I have a AR4 and the file they sent me didn't work at all and I had to make my own from scratch. It only takes a few min to do.
If you do make your own file, tell the program you're using a 3/4" bit and then use your larger bit so it will over travel and get a good cut.

[dustypilot]

I have another suggestion as this just happened to me. Look at the gantry on the left side. At the top there is a 1" piece of metal with slots cut in it that serves as the proximity sensor for the X axis. Mine got tweeked. So every time it tried to home, it would slam left, then forward and then continue to run against the stops because it couldn't find "home" (and there is no recovery if it can't find home). It would NOT stop to find Y or Z if it couldn't find X first.

So, break out the allen wrenches, loosen the screw on that plate and move it to the RIGHT about 1/2 way. It will then register with the X proximity sensor and all should hopefully be right with your world. Good luck!
Tim

[johnb]

If, after following what dustypilot said, you find that your spoilboard surfacing file is not clearing the entire spoilboard surface, you're going to want to tweak that location some more. If the bit overhangs the left side and doesn't clear everything on the right side (maximum x), then you want to move the proximity sensor over more to the right (toward maximum x) and vice versa. The amount of gantry travel that happens toward maximum x is baked into the controller and keys off of the start point (at minimum x). If you note, you can manually move the gantry "all the way" toward maximum x without every triggering the proximity sensor on that end of the gantry (it's only there "Just In Case" to prevent the spindle from crashing into the gantry). If you manually jog it "too far", you get the out of limits error, but it won't move itself any further than the maximum amount of travel that's defined in the controller setup. You might have to either adjust your proximity sensor at minimum Y the same way or loosen the spoilboard strips and move them "up" or "down" the table in order to clear the strip "at the bottom" or "at the top of the spoilboard as well. I had to do all of those things on my AR16.

[kickapoowoodworks]

Had the same thing happen. Called Chad and he said my machine was in manual mode. 3 button pushes later it worked fine. Sorry dont remember the combo I had to push.