CNC Tap experiences

[X11-35/2]

Hi Guys,
I often get told to get a Tap instead of auto Z Klicky and want to give it a try.
Have you guys experiences with the CNC ones? Chaotic labs maybe?
Also: is there even a Cnc Klicky which uses the optical sensor, instead of an optical micro switch?

I'm open for your experiences and thoughts

 

[Sanity Agathion]

Hello, the alu tap may have some advantages when it comes to rigidity. But choose the right one.While VORON team is very happy when manufacturers bring their products on market, they somewhat did not understand basic principles of why Tap is the way it is, and used methods which were deemed not working well during early stages of development. They use single MGN7 - not even MGN9 - rail, and no side stabilization in forms of 2 magnets on the sides. You will experience wobble, because regardless of rail preload, it's still a single MGN7 rail. The opto-mechanical switch is also unknown factor.

If you insist on CNC tap, I would suggest taking a look at design made by Vitalii - https://github.com/Vitalii3D-xyz/MetalTap he sells his on Etsy, but similar designs can be find with I think Funssor or Blurolls, maybe Mellow now too?

 

[Raptor]

tl;dr: I agree that the ChaoticLab CNC Tap should not be purchased, at least not the current version of it.

The problem with ChaoticLab, from my perspective, mostly stems from the 'chaotic' customer support users are receiving from the company. One staff member will tell users that the Tap should absolutely not be disassembled at all for any reason and that the rail does not need any added grease, while another staff member will tell users that you should absolutely clean the rail and grease it but still that you should do this without disassembling it (which, in my honest opinion, is simply not effective). And these two staff members appear to work opposite hours from each other, so the answer you receive will bounce back and forth depending on the time of day. I have myself experienced this in their Discord, and watched it happen to others as well.

My personal experience is that I had to completely disassemble the CL CNC Tap to properly clean it, and even got some metal shavings to come out of it. ChaoticLab assured me that this was impossible and that what I saw come out were bearings, but I'd like to think that it is fairly easy to tell the difference between a flat sliver of metal and a round ball (as tiny as it may be).

After I cleaned and greased it, the CL CNC Tap felt a LOT better. I don't have a lot of hours on it yet, but it has not developed any side-to-side slop for me as of yet. I should note that when reassembling it, I did add blue threadlocker to every screw to hopefully avoid some of the issues other users were reporting.

 

[sprior]

Here is an experience with CNC Tap that bit me last weekend. I've had my Voron for about a year and a half, but only installed the CNC Tap a couple of weeks ago. This weekend I was changing nozzles with one of the hot ends that offer a "one handed nozzle change" and felt a snap and the whole toolhead was now wobbling around. After taking the tool head and the CNC Tap apart I discovered that the linear rails are fastened to the Aluminum back plate of the CNC Tap by two M2 bolts. I discovered that the bolts were not long enough to engage the full depth of the threaded Aluminum hole, so the torque from doing the nozzle change was enough to pull the bolt right out of the holes destroying the threads in the process - Ugh. I do understand that they had specific dimensions they needed to hit so that the next standard bolt length was probably too long to fit so they went with the shorter bolt and hoped for the best. I did take longer bolts and ground them down to the perfect length and temporarily got the machine back together, but it's still unacceptably weak because I still only have half a hole with useful threads - just the back half now instead of the front half, sooner or later it's going to break.

I contacted ChaoticLab about replacing the CNC Tap. When I get the replacement I plan to swap in the longer bolts from the start and hopefully I'll never have an issue again, but so far their response has been just use longer bolts now and we'll give you a credit you can use towards a future purchase. Not an acceptable answer because I still have a thread issue and because unless they come out with new products, there isn't anything else I foresee needing from them - my Voron is pretty much modded as much as I envision now.

 

[mbun]

I did take longer bolts and ground them down to the perfect length

Did you by chance measure them after you ground them down ? I just received mine today and don't want those issues if I can avoid them.

 

[Gadjet]

Hey guys just received a V2 CNC from ChaoticLab and all the M3 holes are tapped really loose. See attached video. I have contacted customer support and they have replied with "This is normal. The metal threads will leave a slight gap. This gap requires axial pressure to eliminate."
Sounds like BS to me as I can't see why something would be engineered with such loose threads on purpose?
Does anyone else have a V2 with the same 'Issue'?

 

[Durahl]

I'm open for your experiences and thoughts

Been using the Chaoticlab CNC Voron Tap vor about 9 Months now and so far, very pleased with it except for the fact that they don't ( or at the time of my purchase didn't ) seem to be applying Threadlock to the Screws holding everything together which today almost resulted in an eMail to their support asking for a new Rail/Carrier with the evidence of a recording showing the issue.

Luckily, I decided to review the 4K Footage once more on my 77" Screen before sending the eMail off where I noticed the wobble not coming from between the Rail and Carrier but the Rail and Part it mounted to because of the Screws having come loose since they didn't have any Threadlock applied to them which I've now fixed.

So, yea... Except for that solvable ( and preventable ) Issue I'm very much pleased with it - Much more than I was with the 3D Printed Tap that just wasn't rigid enough.

@Gadjet:
Yeaa... Mine doesn't do that... Also doesn't seem right to me - Are you using the appropriate Metric Screws?