Side Gantry Plate Alignment

I carved a 4.75" square to check for square and it is off by maybe 1mm

When I got to looking around and checking square on Christine (x-carve nickname) I noticed when she’s homed the gantry plates are not the same distance to the front rail plate. The left appears to be about 3mm further than the right side gantry plate.

Seems like this could be part of the problems at least?

Suggestions?

Mine stays square between power offs if I dont touch it. Any time I move it manually between carves I’ll check after homing. Usually have to adjust it slightly.

I’ll home, measure. If off, I’ll unlock motors and adjust the right side then power motors again and re home. Takes maybe 20 seconds. Usually if I dont touch it between carves I dont have to worry about it.

Ok cool… this sounds like an easy step to keep square.

Newb question here… unlock the motor? How is this done? Do you mean just shut down power to the machine all together?

For easel you can just power it off, align, click back on and home.

I’ve got a jig that I put against my Y plates and pull both sides of the X axis against then power on.

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Same for me as Justin. I have a small piece of 1/4 inch aluminum scrap that I place against the Y Axis end plate and manually move the gantry forward until it touches. Then move the same piece of aluminum over to the other side making sure that it is oriented the same way and move the other side of the gantry to touch it. Then power on the machine. This is only needed if you have moved the gantry manually since the last time you aligned it this way. It is best to avoid moving the gantry manually any way because the stepper motors actually generate power when moved like a generator and send that power back to your controller. So if you must move your gantry manually, do it slowly to avoid any potential problems.

Charley

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@JustinBusby @CharleyThomas You guys took the words right out of my mouth. I was thinking something similar like using a block of the same size on each side, pull the gantry against the blocks then power on.

Thanks for everyone’s input!

That’s the best method. I used something a little more permanent and adjustable. I used another limit switch trigger and set it up square to the other one on the opposite side.