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CNC / Re: It's new to me
« Last post by ddmckee54 on April 20, 2026, 10:59:59 PM »I got the X axis leadnut block printed along with the new Z carriage, and the heatset inserts have been installed. I thought that I had assembled the Z carriage for the final time, but I was mistaken. I haven't greased the linear bearings yet, so I'll have to partially take it apart to grease it. One of the things I did during the design for my upgrades, was to make sure Future Don wasn't going to curse my name when it's time to service this thing. I'll need to remove the rails to grease the bearings, but it's possible to do that and not lose the alignment. By removing the stepper motor and the two screws retaining the upper end of the rails, it's possible to pull the rails out the top of the carriage. The spindle, spindle clamp, and the bearing block can then be removed as one unit. Since none of the bolts holding the critical alignments in place need to be loosened, the alignment shouldn't change.
I've got the carriage roughly aligned to the bed, meaning that it's as square to the bed as my square and my Mk1 eyeballs can make it. The final alignment won't happen until I've got this thing moving under it's own power. Then I can use a DTI and a 123 block to really dial things in. This is the current condition of the Z carriage.

The X axis leadnut is currently bolted to the bottom of the bed, I kind of got ahead of myself when I did that. I guess it's a good thing that I made it easy to remove the bed to work on the bottom of it. Just remove the four bolts holding the endplate on and the bed can be slid off the rails - bed alignment is not affected.
I need to get a measurement of the distance between the top of the leadnut block and the bottom of the bed, with the leadnut block assembled on the leadscrew. If I did the "Plottin-N-Conivin" right, that distance should measure around 3mm. BUT,... I can't measure the distance until the leadnut block is assembled on the leadscrew. That can't happen until the anti-backlash nut is assembled and adjusted. And THAT can't happen until the leadnut plate is fabricated. And since the X axis and Z axis leadnut plates are very similar, I might as well do them at the same time. That'll be happening next.
I've got the carriage roughly aligned to the bed, meaning that it's as square to the bed as my square and my Mk1 eyeballs can make it. The final alignment won't happen until I've got this thing moving under it's own power. Then I can use a DTI and a 123 block to really dial things in. This is the current condition of the Z carriage.
The X axis leadnut is currently bolted to the bottom of the bed, I kind of got ahead of myself when I did that. I guess it's a good thing that I made it easy to remove the bed to work on the bottom of it. Just remove the four bolts holding the endplate on and the bed can be slid off the rails - bed alignment is not affected.
I need to get a measurement of the distance between the top of the leadnut block and the bottom of the bed, with the leadnut block assembled on the leadscrew. If I did the "Plottin-N-Conivin" right, that distance should measure around 3mm. BUT,... I can't measure the distance until the leadnut block is assembled on the leadscrew. That can't happen until the anti-backlash nut is assembled and adjusted. And THAT can't happen until the leadnut plate is fabricated. And since the X axis and Z axis leadnut plates are very similar, I might as well do them at the same time. That'll be happening next.
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