Y axis out of alignment.. spindle tilted slightly...

[WEASEL333]

I have read through the forums for a couple of days, but cannot figure this out for the life of me. I am new to this, so that is probably half the problem. Here is what I'm trying to fix....
Assembled the Shapeoko 3 xl, made several simple projects, but want better precision out of it, needs fine tuning.
Y axis seems to be crooked on the horizontal plain, if it's all the way back left side is 2.25mm of bracket, right side flush. Full fwd right side is .95mm off bracket, left side is flush.
Diagonal measurements of frame seem spot on, so I don't think the problem lies in the squareness of the frame or the x rails. The spindle using the 2 x 90 degree coat hanger method is flush against the waist board from 3 oclock to 10 oclock on a vertical axis from spindle looking from above. Raises up the width of 2 sheets of paper from 11 oclock to 2 oclock, causing my carvings to have the slightest groove.

I know it's not the end of the world, but I believe in getting everything squared away before pressing forward, and would like to know how to fix this. Please help, I have loosened rail bolts while everything is clamped flush and retightened, tried to shim the back of the frame with paper, tried loosening the y axis bolts and tilting the gantry back and re tightening everything, but this won't go away and I'm stuck. Thanks.

[WillAdams]

Squaring up the machine can be a maddening tail-chasing experience sometimes.

Basically work from large to small, make adjustments as one finds things out of what (keeping in mind that it's all-too easy to take too much off, and essentially impossible to replace material) and continue adjusting until one arrives at the spindle. And then going back to the beginning, making slightly different adjustments, but smaller, and repeating until one arrives at square (I lost count of how many times I dis-assembled and rebuilt my SO1).

Here're the notes on this from tech support / the assembly instructions and the wiki:


Squaring Gantry to Front/Rear Plates
Loosen all of the screws that hold the gantry together (4 on each side), these should still be loose from the initial assembly.
Loosen the screws that hold the Y axis rails in place (16 total). These should also still be loose from the initial assembly.
Slide the gantry to the front, so both Y plates are touching the front plate.
While holding the gantry against the front of the machine tighten the front of the Y rails (8 total)
Now - systematically begin tightening the 8 bolts on the gantry. Work your way from left to right, going back and forth in a X pattern (similar to tightening the wheel of a car).
After the gantry has been secured, slide the gantry to the rear of the machine and tighten the 8 screws while keeping the gantry pressed against the rear plate
Glad you're making progress!

That last 1/16" is about 1/10 of a degree --- probably to take it out you'll have to do one or more of the following:

- clear the powder coat out of the holes
- drill out / enlarge the holes to allow for adjustment of the plates
- shim the ends of the extrusion
- file / machine then ends of the extrusion flat

There's some discussion of this, and a number of links at: https://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php ... he_Machine

That said, if you can get this to occur at the back left corner of the machine it won't interfere with homing, and so long as:

- the bed is level
- the extrusions are level to the bed
- the Y-axis extrusions are parallel to each other
- the X-axis extrusion is square to the Y-axis
- the Z-axis is plumb and square

the machine will run true to itself and cut squarely (given the proper toolpaths and feeds and speeds).

[WEASEL333]

Thanks for the advice, I will try that first thing in the AM.