When the machine is not going to be used for awhile (4-5 days or more) is it good practice to loosen the belts? Also, how does temperature variation affect the belts? My machine sets in a unconditioned garage and we live in the NC mountains where temperatures can get down to single digits outside…maybe 30-40 inside.
Loosening and re-tensioning the belts is going to cause a lot more wear-and-tear than just leaving them.
Temperature shifts will affect calibration, but it should be even, so projects get a tiny bit larger/smaller overall — so long as every part which needs to fit together is cut at a similar temperature, it should be fine.
A bigger consideration is condensation on the electronics which will lead to corrosion.
A few basic things will help a lot:
- put the machine against the exterior wall of a conditioned space — that should buffer the temperature quite a bit
- cover the machine when not in use — just a tarpaulin will help — a full enclosure even more so, adding a light bulb to keep the space a bit warm is probably more than good enough
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