My Shapeoko 3 has been dormant for a while, due to the pandemic, so forgive me if I ask what may be a really silly question.
I’m trying to machine basically a straight groove on a square piece of wood (square has been checked). I use my probe to get the the x,y and z axis. When cutting, I get a line that is not parallel to my workpiece. It is on a slight diagonal. I thought that with the probe, my workpiece did not have to be square to the gantry. Since it’s probing X and y, shouldn’t that tell the machine what square is?
Sorry for such a newbie question, but it’s been quite a while since I used the machine.
If your groove is not square to the stock it could be a couple of things.
The stock is not square to the router.
You may have a mechanical problem. Check all your v-wheels to see if they are tight. Turn your Shapeoko off and move the gantry front to back and side to side to see if you have any spots that are hard to move across. The v-wheels must be adjusted so when you turn them by hand they move the gantry. Do not overtighten them but they must be secure. If you move the gantry too fast the stepper motors create a voltage that will make it seem light a rough spot so move slowly.
After you eliminate any mechanical problems then use the jog function to line up your stock so it is square with the router before clamping it down. You said you had not used it in a while so a mechanical problem seems likely.
Thanks for your reply. What I am asking, is if the machine, after the probe, knows what is square? For example, if I place a board at a 45 degree angle to the gantry and probe it, will the machine be able to run a straight line parallel to the edges of the board?
Or craft an angle bracket to make repeatable placement easier. I am working on one now based on a design from @gdon_2003 but modified for the hybrid table.