Hi all
well the new machine arrived
so I went ahead and started aligning mirrors, got N01 to No2 pretty good
then brought the gantry forward to me and aligned 2-3 and then the vertical all looked good so went to cut the machine homed and then went to work but cut nothing
the laser was firing no probs but no cut, so I put a sheet of paper in front of the firing line to find that the laser line was no where near the mirrors
It was then I realised that the gantry is out of line.
But if the gantry is at the back of the machine as in "0" it appears to be well aligned
move it down to the middle of the table and you can see a mis align (pic1)
move to the front of the machine and it is miles out "pic 2"
so the problem is progressive as it moves down the table
Now i might be missing something obvious but I have gone blind to it from looking so much and advice on how to correct this would be much appreciated
in pic3 you can see the 3 shot marks the left being at the back of the middle with gantry in the middle and the right one with the gantry foreemost, as I am sur you will agree they are far too wide apart to correct with mirrors
Dave
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1000x750 Workbee CNC - Mach4 - PMDX USB - Windows 10 Pro
Hi
yes but it is where to start, or what to look for that I cant see
no there was no apparent damage to the shipment and yes I have asked the chinks but not expecting too much of a good reply
Just a thought as ot id such a larger bed 1400 x 900 do you think a slight out of level could contribute to this ??
dave
Yes, first make sure your legs and all the under carriage is on straight and no loose bolts, then level. Please don't think there is an easy way out, the other guy I made suggestions too, got all upset when I posted the answer he did not want to hear. He wanted to blame someone else.
Your mirrors should be last.
1000x750 Workbee CNC - Mach4 - PMDX USB - Windows 10 Pro
Yes, get the machine level and firm - make sure you use a level (i use a small digital level but even a phone app level will be useful here) on the silver rails NOT the frame or legs as these machines are not made to the highest standards Its the motion rails that matter, all three must be level as possible.
Then verify that one belt on the X axis is not loose - this axis has two belts on it, a gentle pull/push on each end should show any slop, gentle mind
Is the laser tube mounted level - this should be as level as the rails and also parallel to the X axis rail and square to the Y axis rails.
Then go for mirrors...
Bending bits of metal in Hertfordshire - https://ddmetalproducts.co.uk
UPDATE
so I leveled everywhere (it wasn't far out}
it made no difference at all, so we started looking and measuring, at glance it looked like the belt drive shaft was not square a quick check from he face of the rail to the casing said it was 7mm out I know the casing cannot be used as a reference. So a later check from the shaft face to the ends of the rails with a digital caliper suggest 4 mm out
Now with the shaft being about 100 mm behind the rail ends and using a 20 cm engineers square on the face of the shaft and the blade just against the side of the rail it suggest a 2-3 mm gap a the back of the machine
This of course would increase as you move down the rail if using larger increments of sizes of square
Now at the front of the machine the gantry is about 40 mm out of square, I dont think all of that is down to being out of square I think we are getting to a point where the left side of the gantry is locking up from this but the left side continues to travel
Does all that sound like a feesable reason for the problem ??
there of course is no apparent adjustment on the shaft mountings, just need any help on this as the chinese dont seem to want to acknowledge and talk anymore
but I will get paypal to wake them up son
Dave
Last edited by Dtcrafts; 05-11-2017 at 05:18 PM. Reason: typo
Dave this is something your going to have to either sort out for yourself or bribe / hire a friend to help you out. The frame needs to be square and no one can tell you over the internet really how to do it. Start with a corner the straightest and work your way around. I have used a carbide burr in a angle die grinder successfully to elongate holes.... kind of like a milling machine would do to make adjustment slots.
1000x750 Workbee CNC - Mach4 - PMDX USB - Windows 10 Pro
40mm is a massive error - are sure they are using the same pitch belt/pulleys on each side of the drive?
Something is seriously out for that sort of error.
Bending bits of metal in Hertfordshire - https://ddmetalproducts.co.uk