First of all I want this to be seen as a constructive post, feeding back to improve things for everyone. It is not meant to be confrontational even if my ability to elucidate isn’t all that great. Sometimes people who write manuals are too close to the product to see it from an idiot’s perspective. I’m here to be your token idiot.
And with that, let’s begin. This is a collection of my thoughts made during my build.
I’ve just been assembling my 4x2 over a couple of days and wanted to make some observations on the process. Overall it was a fairly straight forward but there are a few areas that I found frustrating. Some are my fault. Some, I feel, are not.
The manual assumes you have the 4x4 and only casually and occasionally mentions differences between the 4x4 and other machines. One frustrating point for me has been raised by others back in 2023 and still hasn’t been fixed in the manual revisions. My first hurdle was on opening the base frame box to find 3 bars not 4. There’s no mention of the different machines having a different count. This is compounded by the 4 sets of matching holes in the left and right sides. I don’t have Internet access in my workshop so I drove home to look at the forums and google to see if anyone else had the same problem ( Assembly didn’t get very far - #3 by WillAdams ) - Ok. This issue ( Shapeoko 5 pro 2x4, where place baseframes? - #5 by Logan01 ) says use the front 3 sets of holes but really, that was 2023, both of these should have made it to the next manual revision and really contributes to the feeling that not buying the 4x4 makes you of less interest to Carbide 3D.
I think that keeping the main body of the document for the 4x4 isn’t a big issue on it’s own if the other machines are also very specifically covered for differences. Perhaps something like
—(4x2)(2x2) —
For the 4x2 blah blah…
For the 2x2 blah
Bag labels and documentation references aren’t consistent: BHCS/SHCS/FHS, the bag says M6 x 20 Bolt head screws - just stick with one term or put both on the bag it doesn’t matter but be consistent across the bags and documentation. I’m not an engineer, I’m a woodworker.
The worst bolts to fit were the very first ones on each side of the frames. Fitting bolts through holes on end caps that don’t fit properly was not a fun task. Applying pressure from a clamp helped a lot but it was still annoying. You’re trying to feed a bolt through 2 layers, whilst lining it up with a 3rd hole. Took far longer than it should have
The wiring harness information is just wild. The diagrams mean nothing until you’ve already worked out what you’re meant to do. This was the biggest let down for me but whoever had to write that has my sympathy. I have very few answers to “How would you write it then?” one of them being “Not like that” but I’m unable to offer a better suggestion. Looks like a hellish thing to have to explain. In the end I just compared the connectors that were available on each end.
When it comes to the wiring. Tell me that there are 3 drag chains - specifically mentioning 2 drag chains when there are 3 in the box - just say there are 3 and to put the longer empty one aside for the moment. It left me scratching my head, “Why have I got 3 drag chains? Which empty one do I use?”
None of the tools provided fit the drag chain bolts properly and you need to provide your own tool. I can see no valid reason for this. One of the Allen keys provided was never used at all - replace that with one the correct size for the drag chain bolts.
Page 33: “6. Put the drag chain hardware bag, with the remaining screws, back in the Wiring Harness Box. You’ll need them when we install the router drag chains in Step 5.” should say “…when we install the router drag chains in Step 6.”
Pictures of dark frame and dark connectors fixing to a dark object don’t help much. I’d rather see a line drawing than a dark render.
I felt the ‘extra hardware’ bag is some kind on inside joke because multiple times I had to go to that bag to make up for ones that weren’t in the bigger bags and I was meticulous about opening bags, taking out exactly how many parts were indicated, then closing the bag and returning it to the box. The only ‘extra’ hardware I have from that bag are the sticky zip-tie feet things.
The grounding block doesn’t appear in the list of contents for each box - mine was in the controller box. Should be added to the controller box contents list. I spent $someTime searching for it.
Working alone to assemble I found the foam from the box very useful when attaching the gantry to act as a second set of hands providing support when lifting the heavy load. I know the docs say not to do it alone, but sometimes you don’t have that option.
There are a number of sheets of paper with the QR code to go to the online manuals. It would be a nice addition if one (or all) of these had the hole spacings for the controller mount holes marked out on them and also the correct head size for the mounting hardware.
The only issue I had after assembly was the rear left limit switch wasn’t triggering so Carbide Motion wasn’t happy. I just proded it with my finger and the led came on and after reinitialising the machine eveything seems fine, homing worked.
What are the 3 spanners for?