Machine tool alignment, and the numbers to prove it

The measurement is the product

Everywhere else on this site the numbers come at the end of a job. Here they are the job. You can have a machine or a fleet surveyed without committing to anything that follows, and walk away with a report saying what is inside tolerance, what is not, by how much, and what that does to the part.

It is the right first move more often than people expect. It tells you which machine is actually costing you scrap, which is usually not the one the floor complains about, and it turns rebuild spending into a queue you can plan instead of an emergency you cannot.

What we measure with

The instruments are the same ones we use inside a rebuild, which is the point. A survey from a rebuilder is read by somebody who has put the fault right a hundred times, not only recorded it.

Two types of laser

Straightness and squareness over long travels, where a straight edge runs out of length and everything else runs out of accuracy.

Two types of electronic level

Level, twist and bed wind, read to a resolution a spirit level cannot approach, and the first thing to check when a machine has been moved.

Precision electronic indicators

Runout, parallelism and the short-range work, including the spindle checks that decide whether a finish problem is the spindle or the ways.

Straight edge masters

From three inches to twelve feet, with blue, which is still the most honest picture of a bearing surface anyone has.

Metrology software

Plotting way surfaces and alignments, so the result is a picture of the machine rather than a page of readings nobody reads twice.

A test cut, where it helps

The machine's own opinion, which is occasionally different from the instruments and is always worth hearing.

When a survey pays for itself

Before you buy a used machine, so you find out what it needs before you own it. After a move or a crash, because something has shifted and nobody has checked. On a fleet doing tight work, on a schedule, so drift is caught while it is still cheap. And whenever a machine is making bad parts and the argument in the building has become whether it is the machine or the operator, because measurement ends that conversation in an afternoon.

Where the survey finds something, the work that follows is usually repair on your floor or a geometric rebuild of the one axis that moved. Where it finds nothing, you have that in writing, which is worth having too.

Questions we get

Can I buy a survey without buying a repair?

Yes, and it is often the sensible order. We measure, you get the report, and what you do with it is your decision. We will tell you what we would do and roughly how big it is, and if the answer is that the machine is fine, that is the answer.

What does a geometry survey actually measure?

Flatness and straightness of the ways over their travel, squareness between axes, parallelism of the axis to the spindle, spindle runout and alignment, level in both directions, and the relationship of the tailstock or the column to the rest of it. Which of those matters depends on the machine and on what it is failing to hold.

How often should a machine be checked?

Most plants check when something has already gone wrong, which is late. A machine earning its living on tight work is worth a survey on a schedule, and always worth one after a move, after a crash, and before you accept a used machine somebody else is selling you.

Can you survey a whole fleet?

Yes, and it is the version that pays best. Measuring several machines in one visit tells you which one is actually costing you scrap, which is usually not the one people complain about. It also turns rebuild spending into a queue you can plan rather than a surprise.

Do you check a machine before we buy it?

Yes. A survey before purchase is the cheapest part of buying a used machine tool, and it is the one most often skipped. It tells you what the machine will need before you own the problem, and it is worth having whether or not we do the work afterwards.

What do I get?

The readings, plotted where plotting helps, against the tolerances they should be inside. Plain language on what is out, by how much, and what it will do to the part. Where a fix is worth doing we say what it is, and where it is not, we say that too.

Reviewed September 2026 by Cavco Machine Tool Rebuilding, LLC.

Tell us which machines you want measured

Call, or send the makes and models and what you are trying to settle. We answer the same day.