I’ve been trying to using this method https://community.carbide3d.com/t/x-rail-not-level/7445/2 written by Mike P. to level my machine and either don’t understand it or there is something not right with my Shapeoko or table. The machine was squared according to the assembly instructions and I had no gaps between the X axis and front of the machine.
My Shapeoko is on a torsion box table which I verified is flat and level. I’m following the checklist in the above mentioned post but I can never get the X axis level front to back. I can get both Y axis level and the X axis level in the rear position, but when I bring it to the front and try to level the gantry left to right by moving the Y1 front foot, I feel that I’m just undoing the previous leveling effort in step 5 which has you leveling the Y axis using only the font foot. I’m using a Starret 98-level that I know is accurate.
Don’t try to level the gantry by adjusting a part (the leveling foot) which moves an already level part (the Y-axis).
Always work from large --> small and don’t go back and change something at the beginning unless you’re starting over reviewing everything and can measure something which indicates it is necessary.
To level the X-axis rail and gantry instead look at the connection points and mechanical fasteners for those parts:
Delrin V-wheels on the gantry motor plates — are they level? If not, loosen and see if they settle to level — if they don’t, remove and see if there is excess powder coat at the high point, if so, remove
bolts holding gantry motor plates to X-axis extrusion — again, loosen and see if the machine settles to level
Appreciate the response Will. I did follow the assembly instructions for squaring the machine which seems to encompass bullet two. The machine itself was square after that step.
level the other y rail, front to back (call this Y2). If the world was perfect, you now only need to get the two Y rails level with each other now. It’s never that easy.
Move the gantry all the way to the back of the machine.
Level the gantry left and right by adjusting A back foot - for the sake of argument, the rear Y1 foot. If you adjust more than one of the back feet, you need to start over. That’s a hint. Don’t do what Donny Don’t does. Adjust one and only one foot
Put a level on Y1, front to back, it probably isn’t level. Level it, adjusting the front foot only.
Put the level on Y2, front to back, it should still be level, but probably isn’t (you didn’t move the back foot or front foot…). If it isn’t, adjust the front foot only.
Move the gantry all the way forward
check the gantry for level left to right. It probably won’t be level, but it will be closer than last time. Adjust the Y1 front foot a touch, and it should be closer. Now go to step 1…and don’t touch the rear foot on Y2, and keep cycling through all this until it’s “close enough.”
In my case, I feel that step 8 seems to be undoing step 5 or perhaps I’m making too large of an adjustment and should be moving the leveling feet in half turns.
Any thoughts on why I can get both Y Axis and X axis level when the gantry is in the rear position, but when I move the gantry to the front it’s slightly out of level? More importantly, does it matter if I subsequently surface my supplementary wasteboard and then tram the spindle?
Sort of. if you don’t, there’s no way to get it level across that axis. You end up with another parallelogram. It’s an iterative process. You should be making smaller and smaller changes as you go around. If you’re finding that the left to right is way off, it’s fine to start there and get that “sorta close” then work from there. The trick here is to move 3 and only 3 of the points, never the 4th. It also needs to be iterative because the machine is not 100% rigid in this state with “things a little loose”. If everything is tight to begin with, it’ll be in some distorted state and impossible to work with.
step 8 DOES undo 5 a little, and thats on purpose - every iteration should mean a little less adjustment. You certainly could level the right side Y, and leave it alone from there out, but if you ran out of adjustment in the other feet you need to crank them all up or down and start over. It should mention that, and doesn’t (sorry) and also means you’ve got the option of moving that fixed back foot when you run out of adjustment in the others. Clearly, you want to not adjust that front right if you can avoid it (adjust it on the left side if you can - which is clearly going to throw the left side out of whack and need another pass or two)
You should be able to get “reasonably kinda close” up front, then all the fine tuning is by the process above.
There’s a balance. If you’re pressing it down really hard on the corners, you can take the twist out. The issue is that the bed can be twisted, which is the point of leveling, NOT making the whole bed level with the ground, but it’s the only real reference you have. In your case, if the base is flat (the torsion box probably is) and you set all the feet the same, you should get hte same result - a bed without twist. Unless you screamed at the contractor, the shop floor almost certainly is sloped, and maybe not terribly flat either. If you’ve got a torsion box that your sure is flat, then all this is pretty irrelevent.
For my case, i was on a very sloped workbench, and I didn’t think it was too flat. I’ve since moved it to a cabinet that I’m sure is pretty flat, and I basically glued the whole thing down, then used a precision straight edge to bring the ends back up to level across the whole bed (it ended up bowed up in the middle where the glue was)
