My new Shapeoko 3 is it just me?

[ArtF]

Your on your way, gratz.. :)

Art

[kelly100]

Rocket:

  It would take a pokeys 56 or 57 and 3 stepper drivers. All told probably a couple hundred
bucks and a bit of wiring. That however, would make the machine orders of magnitude more
capable and useful. You could run Mach3, Mach4 or Auggie on it at that point. Youd have graphical
displays of the loaded file and what will happen when you run it, and it really helps in understanding
whats happening. It ISNT however, something to do when your not familiar with G code and how a machine
works.
  My advice, find out whats wrong, ask them , and us, when your wondering on something. Fix the trouble
by finding what you need to edit, its likely its only one line its choking on or doesnt understand.
Then , when you've cut a few gears and your familiar with things, look at an upgrade and get rid
of that silly program. Whether you go Mach3, or Auggie, you'd be magnitudes better off.

           But really, do not do this until your ready or feel you are. What you have CAN work, though you may
have to edit files from GM to make them work. If you find the problem I can probably make a post change for you
to make the files work directly when posted, or at least in a condition where you know what you have to do to make
them work.

 

Reading through this post with interest. Wondering what changing the controller and stepper drivers will bring to the party? Increased current? Finer delineation? Where does the order of magnitude come in?

Not sure I need to or would do any of the mods you suggested, but my curiosity is piqued....

Granted, this post is a couple of years old and not sure how relevant it is in light of Shapeoko's current hardware / firmware.

Assuming things are as they were during the original post, can you elaborate, Art?

Mike

[ArtF]

Mike:

  As I recall the discussion was in the context of a machine described as being severely limited by using no GCode control but
rather a proprietary language for its cuts. Its quite possible current software is much better than described. I have no experience
with the particular router but had seen dozens of varieties upgraded so that Mach3 could drive them and the results are typically
an order of magnitude better in feedrates and availability of toolpath programs to use.

  Its worth mentioning that upgrading a router that is mechanically weak wouldnt do much, so I wouldnt try
any upgrade unless one was sure what improvement your looking for.At the time the ability being discussed
was the problem of not running normal GCode, that severely limited its use, theres little worse than proprietary
code control for a machine. GCode is a standard and allows one to run code from almost any cam program.  Reading this post
thread though , Im unsure why it came up, it seems to be using Gcode at the end of the thread.

  Still havent seen one of these Shapeoko's yet. Are you using one? How do you find it?

Art

[kelly100]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, Art.

Actually, I don't have a machine as of yet. Still doing my due diligence on machine and software and deciding where and how far I want to go with this venture.

I come from a machinery background in several different manufacturing venues. I've done some CNC programing but that was back in the day when the programs were stored on tape (ancient I know). Have done some tool and die work and just like to tinker in general. Used to build all our PC's until Bill Gates told me his latest software wouldn't run on my computer and I would need to upgrade. Been an iMac guy ever since and never looked back.

Seems the mills/routers that are within my price point are a rack and pinion on a toothed belt configuration and use a relatively small off the shelf router for a spindle. The steppers don't look exactly robust but you'd know more about that than I. Kind of an odd confutation but they seem to sell so I have to believe they work, at least to some extent.

Looked at a Probotix unit. Seems more conventional with screw drives but the sticker reflects the more substantial machine and would probably result in divorce papers.

My concern is laying out a few thousand dollars only to watch my pride and joy take two hours to spit out Christmas ornaments. The projects I have in mind would vary from milling 1/4" to 3/8"" acrylic and plexiglass to 1/2" to 3/4" hardwoods with ball park dimensions as large as 10" x 24" +/-.

Any insight you can share would be much appreciated.

[ArtF]

  Yes, I have to say the probotix looks like a nice machine, it seems to be very well built
from the photos. Though for my money Id go for a 6040 machine at about $1000 on ebay, then
fix it up as you like from there. A 500 watt spindle they come with is 2/3HP, and while
not perfect for all things, it would do most people.
  Theres lots of forums on people with 6040 machines, how they find it and fixes they have done to
make it work the way they wish. At its price point it allows you to build over time and is
,from all reports, not a bad machine, hard to duplicate for that price. Of course you need to
add a computer and monitor as well as a copy of Mach3 , but for less than 1500 in total,
it seems a good price for having a machine on your workbench that has done very well
with thousands of users.

  As to time, depends highly on complexity of the work. My own router is only
300mm x 300mm but  is made of cast iron so its pretty heavy and stable, I use
a 1500 watt spindle and I only do 2mm per pass in most hardwoods, at about
3000mm/min. From all the routers Ive seen over the years, the best deal is,
if you have the capability , to start with something like a 6040 and run from there.

Art

[kelly100]

Art, I looked at the 6040's. I kind of like them and kind of don't.

Like the overall design and more compact footprint. Also like the controller concept (eStop, Jog Buttons and Pendant Capability). Looks like it belongs there as opposed to Carbide's afterthought configuration. And of course the $1k price tag is nice

From the you tube videos I watched, the machine seems like they have a good bit of slop in the gantry travel. In one video the guy could push it back and forth what appeared to be 1/4"+ front to back. Granted, I won't be building rocket ships but that seems like a lot. Appears there can be issues with controllers cutting out indiscriminately. A couple of guys replaced theirs easily enough but that detracts from the price point.

The single stepper on the Y axis is a head scratcher. But the biggest things, at least for me, is replacement parts availability, the pirated Mach3 software and......"Made In China". I could probably live with everything but the last two issues.

Be nice to find a supplier with a DIY menu where you could could customize a basic kit with optional steppers, controller and spindle variations without having to go to the nut and bolt ground up assemble scenario. IMO

[ArtF]

Hi:

I agree with pretty much every point, you can occasionally get a good deal on them as a place to start, really
its a matter of how much fooling around one wishes to do, Ive heard from them that loves 'em, to them that
hates them. My Y axis has only one motor but youd be hard pressed to stop it or detect backlash, depends on
the build really. I just find th ehigher the quality the higher seems the cost multiplier for that quality. Ive had
better luck just getting parts and building up from scratch using quality ebay parts from factories like linear slides
and such..

Art

[kelly100]

Looking round the net on what's available and what budget allows... dream sheet would be the Shapeoko fram, base and rails with a pokeys controller / stepper driver electronics, ball screw actuators and maybe a 1.5 hp spindle.

Looked at several videos on the PoKeys 57 controller. Pretty broad architecture, pendant, E stop, spindle speed, laser and homing limit capability. Don't know what more you would need in a 3 axis machine. Coffee maker? And can add tweaks with Mach3 to top it off.

But I"m sure Carbide wouldn't be all that anxious to sell me just their mechanicals so... May start with the XL as a base and upgrade to the above as I go along

For work other than gears, whats your design preference? Have Fusion 360 but that seems like swatting flies with a battleship. The open source programs are ok to a point but you get what you pay for, or don't in this case. VCarve looks good but $350 for the desktop and $700 for the Pro version? Lot of my beer money for software that will only run on Windows.

Have January 30th as a drop dead date for a choice of where to start

[ArtF]

Well for software I use a mixture, I use vexx for drawing as I like the way it draws ( which follows as I wrote it),
for toolpathing and the rest of my drawing I use vectric , it has good toolpathing. For 3d modeling I own
a copy of Alibre Atom3d. I think most of us use a variety of programs, I dont consider any one of them
perfect for me, so I keep lots of them around as tools for when applicable. :)

Art

[kelly100]

Art, is vexx available commercially?

Did a web search but didn?t find any drawing software.

Do appreciate all your asbice BTW

Mike

[ArtF]

Mike:

Vexx is free and installed with a gearotic install. You dont need a license for Vexx,
so its just a handy tool to have in the toolbox of app's you end up using.

Art