Alignment issues with Home built cnc router

[dglasco]

I built a home made cnc router a couple of years ago and have used it with alot of success mainly using it for 2D & 3D carvings.

I started using it for inlay work and found I have some issues with the pieces not matching up exactly. A friend of mine suggested the try carving a shallow square using a 60degree vbit at a depth of 0.125 inches. I cut a square 18x18 inches in a spoil board and then measured the diagonal and sure enough I am off a little more that an 1/8 inch out of square.

Question:

1. what would causing this to happen? I think I might know the answer (the alignment of the z-axis is not perfectly plumb?)

2. How do I correct the issue?

any help is appreciated.

Dave

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[handlewanker]

Hi, a number of things can affect the squareness in the XY plane........the Z only affects the depth and the squareness of the sides in the vertical plane.

The side columns may be out of square to the table Y travel.....square up the columns to the crossbeam or X travel....one side column is forward or behind the other.....the X cross beam must be square to the long axis of the table.

It's difficult to see as there is no photo showing the design.
Ian.

[dglasco]

I had not thought about the alignment of the columns. I will check that tonight and I will post a couple of photos.

Thanks for your help.