alignment

[eggplant]

Hi all,

Just a quick question. If say I put a piece of material to cut onto my machines table, how do I go about making sure its exactly aligned along the x and y planes? I could of course line up the workpiece by making it level with the edge of the table but if the workpiece was smaller and was to be positioned in the middle of the table how would I ensure it was straight? For eg if I was to cut a square 60mm square onto a piece of 100mm material how would I ensure the square I cut was parralell to the 100mm material (assuming Im not cutting right through of course !)

Thanks

[Hood]

There are many ways such as using edge finders/probes to allign to the axis. Other metods include making stops or having dowels etc.
One idea that may work for you is clamp a piece of material to the table as near as you can get to true with the axis then run along the edge to dress it true, then you can slide your workpiece against it and clamp it and if needed remove the stop material before machining.
Hood

[eggplant]

One idea that may work for you is clamp a piece of material to the table as near as you can get to true with the axis then run along the edge to dress it true, then you can slide your workpiece against it and clamp it and if needed remove the stop material before machining.

Logical, thanks. Maybe a piece of mdf or plastic could be fastened to the table and routhed/engraved in concentric squares, might work I'll have to have a go. Thinking about it, I suppose its only the same as using a rule, not 100% accurate but probably ok for starters.

Thanks again