Shapeoko XL Assembly Comments

Well it came this afternoon and I started assembly. I thought I’d use this to record my comments and suggestions on how to improve the assembly document. I’m to the point where I have the Y extrusions done and stopped to research an issue.

So far:

  1. Missing one M5x25 screw to attach the washboard. No big deal.

  2. It’d be helpful if the instructions said “use the Y extrusion with the holes tapped on the side on the left”. I’d noticed the holes before assembling and paged forward to see what goes there to decide with is which.

  3. The XZ carriage went on the extrusion without issue (one eccentric is loose but no problem there). The left side Y extrusion was tight but went on without issue. The right side Y extrusion was very difficult to get on. The instructions didn’t say anything about adjusting eccentrics here. The Y does not slide smooth and I don’t have belts installed on anything except Z. So I’m going to work on getting Y to slide smooth before I go further by adjusting it’s eccentrics before putting the belts on.

I will say the frame is very accurate. I measured square of the frame and it’s accurate to within 1/64" across the diagonal. I’m impressed.

I noticed the wasteboard is similar in size to the Festool part I use with my tracksaw. I may use it as a template to drill the washboard pattern.

So far so good. Quit for the day; too hot out to do more.

Got it running today. I took this morning to get it to run silky smooth, squaring and tuning the eccentrics. Just an their 'Helllo World" project and it worked.

I did one change from the instructions. I moved the X-Limit switch to the other side of it’s mounting plate to give more room to clear the drag chain. It triggers on the belt bracket but I don’t care

I did the same thing, even with the drag chain angled out, it would still catch the limit switch every now and then, or fall off the rail.

Usually folks can loosen the hardware, pull things into a desired alignment, then tighten.

Alternately, if you bend the bracket up slightly things will clear better.

Some folks have put a couple of washers under the drag chain bracket to push it out into a better alignment.

I played around today trying to make a box design similar to stuff I’d seen John Clark do. Not great but not to bad for playing around. This is going to be a lot of fun!

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