I do not know how you checked the square of the squaring plate, but the behavior you describe is exactly what happens when the squaring plate is not square with the belts.
I do not know how you checked the square of the squaring plate, but the behavior you describe is exactly what happens when the squaring plate is not square with the belts.
I've never checked the belts being square to the plate, as I did not know there is an adjustment to the belts. I've always checked the plate being square to the bit using a framing square aligning the bit at the keyboard side and then at the far side. Will check this out.
There is no adjustment to the belts unless a positioning tap is broken off on the base. Square with respect to the belts, however, is what matters.
OK, not sure if this is a good check or not but put a 3" wide straight edge against the the squaring plate. The ribs on the left belt are parallel to the straight edge, the ribs on the right belt are cocked off about one rib's worth. Loosened the four mount bolts and there is no play to straighten it out.
How about measuring the squaring plate with the framing square relative to a small board placed vertically between the belts?
Checking it that way both belts are square to the squaring plate. Any more ideas?
Load the board up tight against the squaring plate and put in a sharp pointed bit (1/16" carving, 60/90 V bit) in the chuck. Lower the head down so the bit just touches the board enough to leave a mark. Manually move the board through the machine while insuring that it keeps contact with the squaring plate. After making the length of the board with the bit measure the mark from the edge to see if it is equal the full length of the board.
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Did that and the line is parellel to the edge of the whole length of a 3' board.
What happens if you place the board away from the squaring plate? For example, place the board with a 1/8" gap between the board edge and the squaring plate. Now watch what happens to the gap as the board is measured.
Tried that procedure using 1/8" shims to set the distance from the squaring plate to the board and then removing them before starting the measuring process and I kept getting a tracking error because the board would run off the encoder. Reduced the distance to 1/16" inch and when the machine stopped after measuring the lenght I had 1/16" gap on one side and 3/16" on the other