Journeyman 50" not squared

[Aiph5u (Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))]

Hey Gigglybert,

you machine is square when the diagonals are equal. I would use a bar gauge to check this, as mentioned in the “squaring” topics below:

@Aiph5u

The manufacturer’s assembly instructions do not include a safe method to ensure the rectangularity of the machine. Many users have already noticed that after assembling, their machine was not “square”. Your machine could be a parallelogram instead of a rectangle. This can be checked with a tool like this.

Adjusting this would usually require to unscrew the rear or the front feet of the machine and repositioning them a little more to the left or to the right.

You can also avoid problems with rectangularity prior to assembling by finding and marking the correct locations for the holes for the feet of the machine by using one of the geometrical methods described in the thread above.

@Aiph5u

For the machine to be rectangular (“squared”), the diagonals have to be equal, you can ensure this with a tool like this. Note that the length of the Y rails on left and right have to be equal too!

@Aiph5u

Using Starrett things is always a joy, but you can also use the simpler Bar Gauge Heads that I recommend with wooden sticks with sharpened edge, like in the images shown in this item description at Lee Valley website :

Also as Tom mentioned here, the distance between the two blocks on one side can be different on left and right side. And the equal-diagonals method only works in a rectangle, not in a trapezoid, so first measurement should be whether y=y’! The good thing is, this can also be done with the same Bar Gauge method!

Note that after successful “squaring” of the machine by loosening, repositioning and tightening two feet of the machine, you’ll have to move both left and right Y sliders manually towards front until they each touch their front end, with the Onefinity Controller powered off (=important, because the stepper idle current would prevent this if Controller was on). You should previously have loosened the eight bolts that hold the X axis down while you do this, and retighten them after you reached the front end position with the two Y sliders.

Further Reading

This is this forum’s official squaring the machine thread:

• Is your router frame a parallelogram? Mine was!