15 mm belts on 3 XXL

It can be done and at a reasonable cost. All said and done I’m in it for $260 and an afternoon of my time. I am awaiting 1.5 inch long M5 standoffs for the x axis stepper. When I have
completed the upgrade I can go into detail of how I did it, that is if any of you are interested.



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I would very much like to upgrade my old 3XXL with wider belts. Look forward to seeing how you accomplished it.

Same as @Chaotica would love to upgrade more as well as hear your insights on how much you feel it overall improved your machine!

$260 sounds VERY reasonable! Please give us details.
(Or someone drop some rumors on the Shapeoko 6)

The standoffs arrived yesterday and I took a couple of hours today to finish up the belt upgrade on the x axis.

You can purchase the steppers directly from carbide. Order 3 steppers for the shapeoko 4. You will also need 6 of the 608z bearings, which you can source from carbide as well, but I found multiple sources for those. The belt anchors/clips will also come from carbide, and are rather pricey for the small pieces that they are. The belts can also be purchased from carbide, but I think they only come in the tune up kit that has the v wheels and and the motor pulleys. If you source the belts else where it’s probably a good idea to get the steel reinforced belts while you’re at it.
I read this long post here on the forum where one of the members did a really good job at explaining where the 3 XXL was weak and could use some improvements. One that he listed was going to 15mm belts, but more specifically steel reinforced belts made the biggest impact.
You will also need longer bolts for the bearings, and the y axis Hall effect sensor. On the sensor I also used some plastic spacers for more clearance.
You will need to drill 3/16 holes just to the right or left of the existing belt anchor bolt holes (depending what side you are doing). I didn’t write down my measurements, but you will see where you need to put the hole when you lay the belt anchor down on the extrusion.

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