Squaring and Tramming a DIY CNC Mill

When you've built your own mill, you need to square it up beyond what most mill owners need to do. Here's my set of steps to ensure all axes and surfaces are sufficiently square and parallel.

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Table of Contents:
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0:00 - Intro
1:19 - X perpendicular to Y
3:36 - Align table to XY
5:29 - Z perpendicular to XY
8:08 - Tool parallel to Z
9:41 - Outro

[MrNeelthehulk]

Cool video .. very informative.. but are those chips on you lead screw when you were facing the table ... I have to call the cops on you

[palliyil]

I am really glad you made this video. I am building my own mill, and was wondering how to check z axis motion alignment with the spindle axis. I have not seen anyone cover that so far, and that too so elegantly. Thank you so much for this

[Mister_G]

Nice video - very clearly explained. (I'm not convinced that you're measuring much when checking the XY plane, but overall you've got the bases covered :) )

[Thorhian]

This is awesome! I’ll need this info for my CNC Mill lol

[blackbear]

Very helpful video. thanks for posting! :D

[wubiantap]

Well done dude!!! I thank so much for this informative video. ❤🌷🙌

[aleksandarjankovic]

Thanks You .Rails on your x axes should have lateral support(all 3 axes must have)

[Zebra]

It's best to build each axis as it's own actuator instead of mounting rails directly to the machine base. That way you can add adjustment screws for fine tuning. It's far easier and better than using shims.

[WojtekASG]

Great video! Where can I get this "plate with holes" you are making calibration with?

[nickp]

Great video! I have an error in my Taig Z and have it all apart... traced it to the column not being square with the base.

[jjjbossjjj]

Great video! How much of alignemnt can be adjusted via the linear rails themselves? Thx!

[smokey]

Can you please do a video of how to set up the electronics I have the same electrical layout but need help setting it up

[KristopherGrove]

Whoa! Did your Y-axis grow or was it always that size?
Great stuff - Thanks for the update! I needed some motivation to finish my OB Minimill mods.

[smokey]

Can you do a video of how you wired your arduino to the tb6600 off that screw block I’m doing same design but lil diffrent would really appreciate it

[sulaiman]

Hi. Awesome build! Do you have any feedback re the linear rails. I am building a very similar machine and am wondering if I should go with genuine HIWIN rails or if the ebay rails do a good enough job. Thanks for your content. I have watched your vids far too many times!

[jakesheffey]

I love informative videos, what is the torque of your servos, are you able to machine steel accurately, doesn’t matter how fast it is im just curious about accuracy

[СоловьевВладимир-ъв]

And what kind of engines did you use stepper or servos, and can give a link to them or their name

[whtube]

90 degrees is overrated 😁👍 Imagine how much better the world would be f x, y, and z axis were at 84 degrees to each other.

[janbeck]

Just my 2 cents, but I am not sure you are testing what you think you are testing. As an example lets take your picture at 3:40. Assume the X axis is perfect, except for the tilt. You'll never measure any tilt with the setup you are showing (moving in the x direction). You would have to move the Y axis for that. Even worse, if the tilt were around the Y axis direction, neither X nor Y movement would show in the dial indicator.
Edit: I think I should clarify that the any tilt of the X table around the Y axis is not really a problem because it can be corrected entirely by tramming the spindle.

[playlist]

Great video. Sad that you are using imperial unit system.