So I have tried tiling a few times and always get the same result. I have made a fence out of a piece of plywood to ensure the piece sits against a straight surface and then I simply slide it along the machine for the next tile. The mismatch is not a bit but around 2.5mm and it’s visible like hell. I ran the two tiles one after the other, no rehoming between the two tiles.
General question.
What is wrong?
Additional questions.
are the two homing switches somehow ‘calibratable’? They seem to be quite loose and only held by some tiny screws. Maybe the left motor stops at the home position a bit too early and it makes the machine go askew?
should I maybe attach a wider piece of plywood and let the machine make it a fence by cutting a straight line at zero X and 1220mm Y?
Did you place your fence and then run the router down it to make sure it is square to the router. I did my first tiling job a short time ago. I bolted down my fence and then jogged my router down to the spoilboard and next to the tiling fence and jogged the router down the entire face of my fence to make sure it was square to the router.
See my attached pdf about my tiling experience to see if it is any help.
Is this not how you set your reference to begin with?
I set a 2’x4’ piece of PVC board on the mill. Performed a contour cut for the fence piece and several pocket holes for the mounting bolts with counter sink reliefs. Then this was installed using T-nuts in the Y axis. The fence fit tight and flush with the Y axis rail. Once this was complete I cut another pocket toolpath with my 1” surface bit. This allowed me to cut 1/2” more material out of the reference fence. I needed this extra removed so I would actually have 48 3/8” between the fence and the bitsetter so I don’t have to remove it when tiling 4’ wide material. Most big Box stores material will vary in width and consistently get 48 1/8” widths and had to remove the bitsetter.
If you did not have the machine cut your fence then it may not be in plane with your Y axis and will be off as gdon_2003 suggests.
I stared with a piece of poplar. But I live in a very humid climate and know that wood can move and several .001’s can make a difference on the cnc. So I went with the PVC board from HD.
After looking at the third photo you can see a gap between the Y axis rail and your fence at the front of the machine. Towards the rear of the fence interface there is no gap. This mimics the cut line in the first photo you posted.
Your stock your using is not square with the Y2 axis, the fence is angles hence the Final Cut is angled.
The easiest way to ensure the reference is parallel with Y axis is to cut the length of the fence on the Y axis with it already secured
If I need to remove and reinstall my fence I will probe it to ensure its parallel prior to use as gdon_2003 suggests.
