x and y axes adjustment

[variador 0]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum and Ultimaker. The kit is going together fine, so far so good.

The Extruder moves around fairly well as I get to the point in the instructions where you are supposed to square up the x and y axes. Having part 3B and looking at the pictures is of no help. Squaring up the axes is understandable but I don't understand how the piece of wood (3B) is supposed to help. Can't tell from the pictures and there aren't really any instructions. I do understand that it is time to set the pulleys to the rods in a permanent fashion that is square. Maybe been looking at it too long. It must be obvious because it isn't a question that gets asked. I must be looking and thinking of it the wrong way.

What it the wood lining up with? what part of the wood is indicating where the pulley is to go?

What does the block (holding the extruder bars) have to do with it.

It is funny, I am not getting a message from the photos at all. (Extruder Section note on part 3B)

How does the position of the sliding block and the frame square up where the the pulleys are supposed to be?

Time for a break to help acquire a fresh look. Any help appreciated.

[Daid 306]

You use the 3B part to put between the slider blocks and the edge of the frame, this will give you the same distance at both ends of the X/Y rods. It's just a simple measuring tool in this case.

[petermeuris 0]

Still it is not clear to me either, it looks as if you start moving the head the axes are parellel no ?

[Daid 306]

The idea is that you have the smaller X/Y rods exactly parallel with the thicker X/Y rods in the frame. There is a little room for skew there, and you don't want that as it puts extra stress on your machine and makes your printed models skewed.

[armstrom 0]

I don't get this either. My axes still have quite a bit of friction (granted, they are not greased yet). I understand what the instructions are asking me to do, what I fail to understand is how it is helpful. The openings in the sides of the frame are radiused and so is the end of part 3B. However, the only way to make contact between the wooden block and the frame is to use part 3B such that the radiuses don't fit together (not that they're the same anyway). But that leads to the part wanting to push away from the side of the frame as it moves along the radius of the corner. Clearly this is not a repeatable setup. Wouldn't a better solution be to have a pair of gauges in the shape of a Z (but with a straight center section, if that makes sense). You could then gauge the distance between the cross rod (the ones through the extruder carriage) and the edge of the frame.

I have my partially completed ultimaker with me today at work so I will probably bring it in during lunch and measure the perpendicularity using the portable CMM on my desk I just need to prepare myself for the shock of how bad it's going to be. I'm used to instruments that are repeatable down to about 5-10 microns so bearings pressed into wood will not quite measure up (so to speak). I have some other questions/concerns about the assembly but I'll save those for another thread.

-Matt