Just a cautionary tale…
I’ve been squaring up my xxl pro for the past few nights after work. Very new machine, cut a few projects things but haven’t given it the real treatment yet. I have some things to cut this weekend and I need accuracy.
So I got my cabinet perfectly leveled, bed leveled, square. Dead on. All measurements perfect.
I’m prepping to be able to surface the spoilboard and tram the Z, so I’m going a little bonkers with getting it perfect.
And it indeed measures perfect and I’m feeling really proud of myself.
But… the gantry ends… won’t square with the front. UGH wth…
The right side is behind the left by about 1/8”.
Perhaps my pride was misplaced?
So I loosen everything on the table. Belts off. Gantry loosened and retightened. all corners loosened and retightened, double check level on the frame, double check for square, a whole second night of this and one again, it’s perfectly square and level…. I KNOW it’s perfect.
But the gantry still won’t square with the front. UGH! WTF
Still 1/8” off.
I begin to question my manhood. My sanity. My purpose in life. At what point in my life had I erred so heinously to deserve this…
But I feel like I know what the problem is. I’m thinking the aluminum gantry was cut just ‘slightly’ off during manufacturing. It’s a reasonable explanation. It’s perfectly understandable. Wouldn’t take much. I just need to find a way to square it up!
So I start searching for solutions. Going through old forum messages trying to learn how others have squared up their machines. I found a really great tutorial by @Julien on how to shim the ends with aluminum foil. (Thank you!)
But… I’m shimming… and I’m shimming and It’s taking a thick bit of foil… and I’m pretty sure it’s not supposed to need this much foil…and I can’t seem to bring it up… what is going on…. Ugh this thing is just racked…. GAH!!
Wait a minute…. What’s that?
On the back of the right side of the gantry, a little chunk of aluminum millings was crushed in between the end plate and the aluminum rail. I had been shimming the front and didn’t notice this on the back.
After staring at it for a moment, and whispering many awful things at it under my breath, I exorcised the demon. Just brushed it right off. I also removed all the foil shims I had added (except for one thin one). Tightened everything up.
Now the gantry does square with the front! Perfectly. YAY!
But that little damned bit of metal…. The devil. THE DEVIL!
I figured I’d share in case this story can save someone else the hours.
Since the gantry arrived assembled with the end plates, I never thought to unscrew and check those connections during the setup.
So I recommend checking those connections for manufacturing chips or debris if you can’t square your gantry easily. May simply be an aluminum gremlin living in there…
