Squaring jig hack

Machines (Original/PRO) Troubleshooting (X35/X50)
1

I have been reading through all of the threads on squaring a 1F, and opted to use the “equal diagonals” technique.

I came up with a variation of a “bar gauge” that might be of interest to others.

In one of the threads, it was suggested that you measure the diagonals where the top Y rails enter the foot, which sounded reasonable to me (since it is closest to the X rail and eliminates a lot of variables of the mounting parts).

I had a couple of pieces of angle aluminum around my shop, and I wound up stacking my 4 foot levels on the bed of the machine to get the angle aluminum horizontal leg to clear the top Y rail. This allowed the vertical leg to be scooted into the corner where the tube enters the foot on the Y rail.

I started by sliding the back angle piece into the back corner and then slid the front piece into the diagonal front corner and clamped the two pieces with some small quick clamps.

It took some fiddling, and a few iterations, but once I had them close, I was able to dial it in pretty quickly. Putting the back corner in first and then lifting the front slightly to clear the rail foot was key.

I am doing some testing on the machine now and will let you know how it goes.

Hope it helps someone else with this adjustment.

IMG_1284.HEIC
IMG_1284.HEIC3024×4032 3.34 MB

IMG_1285.HEIC
IMG_1285.HEIC3024×4032 3.04 MB

IMG_1286.HEIC
IMG_1286.HEIC3024×4032 2.67 MB

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I assume you use the center gap between the two angle al parts for precision measurement in adjusting machine square?

I like your approach on this.

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Actually, I was using a digital caliper to measure this gap at first, but found it too tedious. That is when I decided to just clamp the angle pieces in place and use it like a bar gauge. Once you have it close, it is simply a matter of tweaking.

I will have a follow up later as this procedure only got me “close”, but this isn’t like horseshoes (as the old saying goes).

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