For all those who have made their own waste board how do you go about squaring up your material in the X & Y axis. I’m looking to purchase the 1000mm and make my one waste board to save a few dollars. How ever this is the only concern I have.
Do you first run the machine at the X & Y limits and cut into the waste boards 1/16 and use that to square off of?
Advise please, this will help me determine if I make my own board or order a manufactured one.
assuming no marks / tracks, you can just lower the spindle so it can touch your workpiece edge, then move it on one axis to get the line of travel anywhere on the work area. if you do that at the limits you can lay down a pencil line on the board that defines the entire cuttable area… then either square off that when setting up each piece, or if you’re bored use it to lay down your own grid with a long straightedge.
I carved a line about 1/32 deep along each axis each starting near lower left corner.
Then I set the corner as my g28 location.
I basically just cut a piece of MDF the size I needed, and then Drew a 90 degree angle with two straight lines in easel and let the machine cut a very shallow pass along the x and y on the far left and very bottom.
Thanks all, that’s what I was thinking but wanted to see what others had to say! I think also with doing that it would allow for me to verify the X & Y are square and to make adjustments as needed.
bonus, any homebrew solution is guaranteed to be aligned to your machine… the prebought silkscreen is nice, but it can’t guarantee that.
Move your machine to the bottom left position. Place a dot on the board where your point of the bit is located, move the machine as far as possible on the x axis and make another make. Connect the dots. Do the same for the y axis
Or sand a pencil down and insert it in the collet. Then use the router to draw your lines.
