Thank you for the instruction. I just accomplished this on our XXL Pro and it was spot on as best as we could determine using a tape measure. We found it very difficult to measure using a tape ruler considering we are trying to get thousandths measurement.
@@SunridgeStudio I'm uploading my version of checking and running through these steps with my Shapeoko Pro CNC and wanted to let you know I'm pointing my viewers to this video as my reference point and for the best description for the methods. Hopefully it brings you some well-deserved viewers and followers! Thanks again!
Good video, but it should be pointed out that to square the Shapeoko Pro after assembly, you not only have to loosen the shoulder bolts, you actually need to remove the MDF slats from the hybrid table and than loosen all the screws holding the aluminum channels down. One of the great things about the hybrid table is the rigidity it provides, but you have to loosen everything if you're going make an adjustment. If on assumes that Shapeoko cut all the pieces accurately, then the instructions Winston gives in his assembly video to slide the gantry all the way forward and make sure that it contacts both front end plates should result in a square setup, which you can then check by sliding the gantry all the way to the rear and seeing if it contacts both end rails at the same time. I wish I knew how important that was during assembly, as it's a pain afterwards. On my Shapeoko Pro Standard, my initial setup was pretty square, but I did notice gap on one side of several thousandths, so I did a re-adjustment. I used some light duty clamps with rubber pads to hold the gantry against the front end plates while I tightened the bolts down. This reduced my gap to about 0.002" (just shows how things want to move as you tighten bolts), which I believe is good enough. My next step is to check squareness not using a tape measure, but by cutting a recess around a 5" square on a piece of scrap and measuring that with an accurate dial/digital caliper. Measuring the diagonals of a 4.2" square with the caliper can also confirm squareness.
I have no belt slipping so far. The router seems to be the weak point of this Shapeoko Pro system. I broke 2-3 router bits in this year due to the cutting stepdown or feedrate was too aggressive. Now if I cut at full load of the bit, I'll set cutting stepdown to 1/4 of the diameter of the bit, and cutting feedrate to around 50 inches/minute. You may also want to check if the belt is tighten enough?
New Shapeoko XXL Pro owner and new subscriber to your channel here. Question. For no reason at all, my Shapeoko is not longer recognizing or calculating the surface area correctly. Ex. When I rapid position to the SW corner or Center, the router tries to go farther left than it can going to the SW position and the center is no where near the center. This just happened. I used the machine with no problem last week. So do you know how to get the machine to go back to way it was a week ago. Have to admit I am not comfortable messing with the MDI. Would updating the software help? Any advice you have is greatly appreciated.
@@SunridgeStudio Did exactly what u said, and after 7 days, they replied with reinstall my XXL. It worked. No problems with surface area since. Very happy to be back in business. Somehow, the coordinates got screwed up.
Are you sure you didn't make things worse with this adjustment? In my understanding the steps per unit of distance are just a function of the fixed number of steps per revolution of the motor, the fixed gearing ratio, and the pitch of the lead screw or the pitch of teeth on the belts. To me all of those seem like known constants (except maybe for the belts stretching or contracting slightly) to just calculate the steps/mm setting from, and the manufacturer default happens to match those calculated values exactly. Being off by 1mm over a distance of 70cm when measuring hand-drawn marks with a tape-measure to me seems like it's more of a measurement error than anything else.
Thank you for the comment! I agree with you. Even if I don't calibrate X&Y axis for Shapeoko Pro, the machine shall work fine in general, as the final adjustment is tiny. For this machine, the minor deviation from calculated number (40) shall come from the tension of belt, as both X and Y axises are still using belt. Z axis is using lead screw, so I did not calibrate Z. Another reason I want to calibrate X&Y is that this is the pre-condition of squaring the machine. What I did not show in the video is that I actually finetuned the number for X&Y axises for tens of times, and verified the final number I inputed in MDI can achieve the best/consistent result.
Thank You, I know this is years later but it has helped me a great deal entering G Code
Great Video!
great info . thank you
Awesome video!
Thank you for the instruction. I just accomplished this on our XXL Pro and it was spot on as best as we could determine using a tape measure. We found it very difficult to measure using a tape ruler considering we are trying to get thousandths measurement.
Congratulations! A metric tape measure may be easier to use in this case. My machine was also quite good at X/Y and square, but tramming Z was needed.
Thank you so much for this info and even more for these formulas!!! I’m off to the shop to do this on my shapeoko pro. 😎
Glad it was helpful!
@@SunridgeStudio I'm uploading my version of checking and running through these steps with my Shapeoko Pro CNC and wanted to let you know I'm pointing my viewers to this video as my reference point and for the best description for the methods. Hopefully it brings you some well-deserved viewers and followers! Thanks again!
Just watched your video. Thank you so much for the reference!
Good video, but it should be pointed out that to square the Shapeoko Pro after assembly, you not only have to loosen the shoulder bolts, you actually need to remove the MDF slats from the hybrid table and than loosen all the screws holding the aluminum channels down. One of the great things about the hybrid table is the rigidity it provides, but you have to loosen everything if you're going make an adjustment. If on assumes that Shapeoko cut all the pieces accurately, then the instructions Winston gives in his assembly video to slide the gantry all the way forward and make sure that it contacts both front end plates should result in a square setup, which you can then check by sliding the gantry all the way to the rear and seeing if it contacts both end rails at the same time. I wish I knew how important that was during assembly, as it's a pain afterwards. On my Shapeoko Pro Standard, my initial setup was pretty square, but I did notice gap on one side of several thousandths, so I did a re-adjustment. I used some light duty clamps with rubber pads to hold the gantry against the front end plates while I tightened the bolts down. This reduced my gap to about 0.002" (just shows how things want to move as you tighten bolts), which I believe is good enough. My next step is to check squareness not using a tape measure, but by cutting a recess around a 5" square on a piece of scrap and measuring that with an accurate dial/digital caliper. Measuring the diagonals of a 4.2" square with the caliper can also confirm squareness.
It's a good point. Thank you for your comment!
Have you had any belt slipping on the X axis?
I have no belt slipping so far. The router seems to be the weak point of this Shapeoko Pro system. I broke 2-3 router bits in this year due to the cutting stepdown or feedrate was too aggressive. Now if I cut at full load of the bit, I'll set cutting stepdown to 1/4 of the diameter of the bit, and cutting feedrate to around 50 inches/minute. You may also want to check if the belt is tighten enough?
New Shapeoko XXL Pro owner and new subscriber to your channel here. Question. For no reason at all, my Shapeoko is not longer recognizing or calculating the surface area correctly. Ex. When I rapid position to the SW corner or Center, the router tries to go farther left than it can going to the SW position and the center is no where near the center. This just happened. I used the machine with no problem last week. So do you know how to get the machine to go back to way it was a week ago. Have to admit I am not comfortable messing with the MDI. Would updating the software help? Any advice you have is greatly appreciated.
I never met this issue before. Suggest you contacting Carbide3d directly. They are quite helpful based on my experience.
@@SunridgeStudio Did exactly what u said, and after 7 days, they replied with reinstall my XXL. It worked. No problems with surface area since. Very happy to be back in business. Somehow, the coordinates got screwed up.
Are you sure you didn't make things worse with this adjustment? In my understanding the steps per unit of distance are just a function of the fixed number of steps per revolution of the motor, the fixed gearing ratio, and the pitch of the lead screw or the pitch of teeth on the belts. To me all of those seem like known constants (except maybe for the belts stretching or contracting slightly) to just calculate the steps/mm setting from, and the manufacturer default happens to match those calculated values exactly. Being off by 1mm over a distance of 70cm when measuring hand-drawn marks with a tape-measure to me seems like it's more of a measurement error than anything else.
Thank you for the comment! I agree with you. Even if I don't calibrate X&Y axis for Shapeoko Pro, the machine shall work fine in general, as the final adjustment is tiny. For this machine, the minor deviation from calculated number (40) shall come from the tension of belt, as both X and Y axises are still using belt. Z axis is using lead screw, so I did not calibrate Z. Another reason I want to calibrate X&Y is that this is the pre-condition of squaring the machine. What I did not show in the video is that I actually finetuned the number for X&Y axises for tens of times, and verified the final number I inputed in MDI can achieve the best/consistent result.