Axiom Iconic gantry adjustment

[paulfriesen]

We recently bought an Axiom Iconic 4.  I find that the gantry is not perpendicular to the y axis.  Off about 4mm on the width of the bed.  Is there a way to adjust this?

[joeblow]

Interesting question. Could you elaborate more on how you discovered this?

My simple thinking believes this is somewhat irrelevant. What would be more relevant is insuring X and Y are precisely perpendicular to each other. I would put a piece of scrap wood on the bed and with a V bit I would manually engrave a line vertically, lets say 1 mm deep by 12” long. Then I would manually engrave another line, the same depth by 12” long horizontally. Picture a crosshair/plus sign with each line 12” long. This will give a good visual to verify if X and Y are perpendicular to each other.

Keep in mind that the spoilboards are not accurately positioned according to the gantry.

[paulfriesen]

Thanks for the reply. I noticed the machine was not cutting square (effectively what you're suggesting), so I checked by drawing a line on the spoil boards at right angles to the machine bed (not the spoil boards, which are not quite square, but that doesn't matter). If I adjust y so the cutter is on the line on the left side of the machine, and run it across to the right side, it is about 4mm off the line.

I think I know how to do this now. I took off the covers on the two sides of the bed, and I see the screws holding the bar that connects the two sides of the gantry under the bed, and also holds the "nut" for the y axis ball screw. I think if I loosen those screws I can probably get it squared up and re-tighten. I'm just a bit concerned about the "nut" on the ball screw. I think it can probably be re-aligned that much, but not sure.

[joeblow]

Sounds like you're on the right track and have a plan.  The Y ball screw nut is the easiest to remove and re-align, imo.  Have a look at this old thread regarding that procedure.  Everyone should be familiar with servicing the ball screw nut on all axis as a simple maintenance procedure.


Ball nut service

[gerry]

Another thing to remember is that the axis normally get aligned during a HOMEing operation by aligning the stops and gantry.

[paulfriesen]

Got it fixed. Not very hard, actually. I took off the two covers on the sides of the bed, and got the machine across two tables so I could get underneath. Also took off the wire-retaining bracket on the left side to get at the screws under it. I removed the outer spoil boards. (I also removed the gantry side covers, but that is not necessary.) I clamped a couple of pieces of flat bar to the bed to act as stops for the two sides of the gantry. One stop in contact with the gantry end, the other spaced 4mm away (because I know it's 4mm off). I loosened off 3 screws on each end of the bar connecting the two gantry sides under the bed, plus the 2 screws holding the ball nut. Then, the two sides could move pretty independently, and it was easy to get both sides up against the stops I had set. I re-tightened the screws, and checked for squareness as before. All good.

This is a new machine. I don't know if it was set up that far off at the factory, or if it just got a big jolt during shipping.

I took some pictures but can't see any way to post them here.

Gerry, this machine (Axiom Iconic 4)only has one ball screw on the y axis in the middle of the machine. Also only 1 sensor for the y axis home position (on the left). I can't see any way for it to adjust itself for squareness when homed.

[jgarciaa]

Oct 7, 2022 15:30:23 GMT -5 paulfriesen said:

We recently bought an Axiom Iconic 4.  I find that the gantry is not perpendicular to the y axis.  Off about 4mm on the width of the bed.  Is there a way to adjust this?

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