[Resolved] - Squaring X Carriage Front to Back

Make sure you guys are squaring the bit (and spindle) to the waste board, not the x-carriage.

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Enlarging any screw hole in that maker slides holding plate is suicidial. It will sug down again. This is the second time I’ve seen it. Must be installation error somewhere. I don’t understand why there is a washer on one of four screws there. If something happened and hole enlarged, that might be the problem. If no problem found, I would suggest to put some shim underneath the Z carriage rails by loosing bottom screws on it until spindle stays straight.

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Yes, I am squaring to the waste board. I didn’t check it before doing the stiffening mod, so I’m not sure if it was square before that.

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@EricDobroveanu, good point. My out of square was measured like @DavidFletcher’s first pic, to the front plate of the X carriage from the wasteboard. But I really need to raise the spindle and measure to the Z rail (or try to measure square from wasteboard to a long bit?) My current plan is to shim between X carriage and Z rail at bottom as Alan said just above. I guess another option is shimming at the spacers that set the distance from the Z vwheels to the spindle mount, but extending that ‘leg’ seems like it would be less stable than shimming between the carriage and Z rail faces… My XZ square is dead on, only my YZ square seems off a tad.

@AlanDavis, if you’re talking about the extra washer in DavidFletcher’s images I think he wallowed out the hole in the Y plate beneath this washer to rotate his X rail on its axis for the squaring. The washer provides the extra bearing surface so it hopefully won’t rotate back (‘sug’? I’m guessing you meant ‘sag’?). I thought that was a viable solution…just way more disassembly than I wanted to do. I guess as long as the X rail isn’t twisted its actual rotation about its own axis isn’t that important, if the Z rail or at least the actual spindle can be made to move only vertically when Z is commanded.

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Did I say “Sug”, :slight_smile: it’s quick finger mistake not me. Yes you are correct. I wouldn’t play any of holes made for screw thickness. If something needs adjustments, those holes are slotted, like Z axis Motor screws. It’s got to be some installation error. Thanks for the correction.

I thought shimming the spacers, but it occurred to me that this may result in the spacers being “canted” on the spindle carriage. After shimming, the v wheels would sit at different ZX planes and placing them on the maker slide would force them to be in the same ZX plane. The only way for this to happen would be tilting/twisting of the v wheel mount and spacer. This seemed liked it would be less stable and increase wear. I’m probably overthinking it though.

I start noticing similar problem after install Dewalt. Because heavier than stock spindle. Here is what I did.

@JohnPattillo, I don’t think you’re overthinking it at all. It all depends on where the ‘error’ is that’s causing the out of square, as to whether a fix causes other unintended wear or binding issues. It could be all the way out at the front vs. back top Vwheel mounting holes on the Y-plates at either end of the carriage…but that’s not a great place to fix it.

If the error was in the spacer length to begin with, not the Z-rail verticality, then shimming there would be fixing them. But again, not as likely.

Easiest is definitely what @AlanDavis just pictured above, and what you did. No disassembly required, and as Alan notes easily adjustable for different spindle cradles and motors as well.

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Alan, What size shim did you use and what material of shim, also did you just put in one shim or one on each side?

I used 3 pieces of 1.5" X 6" and 3 1/16" thick hard plastic strip I had. But it’s not as rigid as Steel plate, there is just a little bit flex. I’m still happy.

Are we talking about the small piece of shim used in the photo above?

I’m sorry, I thought you’re asking for X carriage mod. I used credit card thick plastic, but every setup have different needs. I suggest you to finish your X carriage to see if you need any or need how much. You need to use angle to figure out.

@EricDobroveanu As long as bit is square to wasteboard its ok?

Ultimately, yes.

I had the same squareness/tram issue and went with a similar solution to Alan’s (thank you for sharing it!). I 3D printed my own plastic shims, of varying thicknesses, to fit from the bottom up between the 2 screws. The .038" thick plastic shim seems to have solved the problem. This is as best as I can tell visually with a square (need to find a way to mount my indicator to an arm and into the router).

I can’t wait to do some carving today with the new stiffening and squareness mods.

Chachin…

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Can someone verify this is prevalent as well on the newest units being released?

Steve…

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Is there a file you could share with us for the 3D printed shim?

I’m hoping that this is what I need to get my machine square.

I use feeler gauges as spacers - they’re super cheap from ebay, something like three dollars. https://www.ebay.com/itm/32-17-Blade-Metric-Feeler-Gauge-Dual-Reading-Combination-Measuring-Tool/172993064347?hash=item284730ad9b:m:mqXf4xNxjRIQ4fyA0x9V5Yw, but there’s nothing special about this one; just search for feeler gauges and sort by price.

Not to revive an old topic, but I’m curious also if this is still happening to others out there. I purchased my unit two years ago (it has the single extruded X-rail) and I’m having the same issue also.

It seems widening the holes has been ruled out as a pretty bad idea. Should I go the route of shimming the Z carriage as shown above? I’m just wondering if this is really the best idea either considering the X-rail itself won’t be perpendicular to the wasteboard, even if the Z carriage is.

Good Morning Everyone!

I purchased a feeler gauge to check out where I’m at. When checking for perpendicularity between the X-rail and the wasteboard, it is leaning forward only about .007", which I’m completely fine with.

However, the forward tilt of the Z-rail is roughly .050" which is just too much in my opinion to be tolerable. Before I add the shim as mentioned above, I’m just looking for some thoughts either way. Fine to do? Good idea? Bad idea? Perhaps anyone from the Inventables team can chime in and say either way? (FYI - my unit was purchased April 2018).

Thanks in advance to anyone who can assist.