OH Woe is me!!!

[earlyrider]

Use white lithium grease.

[bergerud]

It may be too late now but while you have access to the x drive gears, you can perform an accurate x calibration. Using a dial indicator (or a digital caliper) you can bypass the errors introduced by the board sensor. Turning the x gears by hand you can directly compare the brass roller reading with the dial indicator. With a 1" dial indicator, you can calibrate to 1 part in a thousand. Quite satisfying.

[geekviking]

I dont understand how, but would like too, can you explain what I need to do?

THANKS!

[bergerud]

First you should read "Manually Calibrating the X-Axis" and understand the suggested method which involves comparing the length of a board measured by you and the machine. You should try this first. To directly see what the brass roller measures, you need to go to X position/board tracking under the sensor check menu. (At the main menu press 0 (Configuration Menu), then press 7 (Sensor Check) then arrow to X position/board tracking.) One readout is the brass roller measurement and the other is the measurement from the x drive. The brass roller data is the important one. With a board clamped in the machine and an indicator or caliper clamped to the board to measure its movement relative to the machine, you manually turn the x gears to move the board. Move the board through an inch of travel and compare the brass roller reading with the indicator reading. If the readings are different and I bet they will be, you have to go through a trial and error loop. Now follow the calibration instructions to change the default X calibration number. (If I remember, the instructions are backwards, decreasing the number increases the measured board length. I have a post on this.) Now go back to the X position readout, roll the board through an inch and compare again. After going around this loop a few times, you can get the two measurements to agree to all decimal places. (Make a note of the number you found in case defaults somehow get restored later.)

It is nice how consistent and repeatable the readings are as compared to measuring lengths with the board sensor. One can be confident that any board measurement errors are now only due to the board sensor. (Note also how the computer resets the x drive data to compensate for the backlash.)

I hope this is detailed enough to get you through it. I was awhile ago that I did it. I would have to go through it again to give a better explanation.

[geekviking]

No, this is great info! Thanks bud, I'm going to go dive into it now.
Thank you very much for the time & advice, I'd like to get it calibrated out too.