Carbide 3D Shapeoko HDM release

I am super disappointed in Carbide 3d at this moment. When I called in about buying the Shapeoko pro, I grilled them about ball screws and why none of their machines had them. Why should I choose shapeoko over onefinity…They told me…“why mess with what has been working for us”…and now not too much later they are releasing the HDM which I’m sure has been in the works, especially with the popularity of the onefinity. Had I known it was being released I would have waited, but I’m sure it was all about the sale.

The belts are definitely a little bit of a hassle and the ball screws were definitely an appealing option.

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Alina,

What is the primary use case of your CNC router?

IMO the Shapeoko Pro and Shapeoko HDM are, in general [and there are plenty of exceptions], for entirely different audiences.

Folks making flags/signs/other general woodwork with the occasional aluminum are certainly in good hands with the Shapeoko and Shapeoko Pro. Those folks do not need the rigidity of the HDM or ball screws.

I’m not convinced ball screws are any better than belts for general woodwork[1]. The linear rails compared to v-wheels were the real improvement.

Folks doing a lot of metalwork, up to apparently mild steel, would find the rigidity and spindle in the HDM to be right up their alley.

I’m certainly considering outfitting my shop with a Pro AND an HDM.

[1] - I’ve seen the torque of the steppers to be a limiting factor, not the belt.

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If you called Apple and asked about the next iPhone, do you think they would tell you? Of course not. This is the exact same situation. Sounds like you have incorrect expectations.

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I think apple is overpriced and I dislike it. Their upgrades aren’t really adding many new features. I get your point though…this on the other hand is a major change.

I do mostly wood. So I haven’t had a ton of issues. I’m just not loving the belts and I’m always uncertain of the tension etc.

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I know @LiamN 's method described here to set/check belt tension was a big quality of life improvement for me, I can now check the tension in seconds (insert the shaft of a 1/4" endmill under the middle of the belt, launch the smartphone app, pluck the belt and check the sound is in the 100-120Hz range…done)

(summary of the procedure here)

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Thanks! I will have to try that.

In a separate topic, Do you have any tips on preventing the machine from attempting to travel beyond its capabilities, which results in a grinding sound, which then results in either a ruined piece because the machine lost its actual position or I have to rehome which is a hassle…

For example, I actually have this issue when I am trying to get the router as far over to the left as possible while manually jogging. I kind of have to eye ball it because it doesn’t stop moving when it reaches the end. It does it in every other direction, but for some reason it will grind when I push it over as far over to the left…perhaps I need to go into my settings and change the dimensions in there?

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You don’t even have to call…

Apple will launch the next iPhone in 2021. We don’t yet know if the company will only release the “iPhone 13” series in the fall, or if the year’s lineup will also include an “iPhone SE Plus” or even a foldable “iPhone Fold.”

Just check Apple Insider…

Possibly. Did you follow 10.3 of the assembly instructions ?

(alternatively there is a mini tutorial to set machine configuration here on the forum)

This should set travel limits such that you cannot jog to the point of crashing the gantry on the left.

Note that this only applies to jogging: while running a job, position limits are not enforced (long story), so you need to make sure your job fits in the work area beforehand.

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I will go back and reconfigure. I did set it up, but maybe missed something. The limits not applying while running is a major hassle. Any chance this will ever be figured out in the future?

part of my set-up procedure is getting the exact limits. I will rapid to the front right corner and jog until right before I hit the actual, physical limits, then enter those values in on the settings screen. That only effects jogging though.

As far as when a program is running, that is totally programmer. I ran industrial machines in aerospace and those machines have soft limits and limit switches, but they also cost hundreds of thousands, or millions. And programming beyond the limits of the machine still caused issues.

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What Josh said. It can be done but it brings new issues, checking the job using a viewer is a more practical solution 99.9% of the time

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Well, since Carbide Motion knows 1) where you set the zero point and 2) the dimensions of the gcode file and 3) the dimensions of the machine you configured, in theory it should be relatively simple for @robgrz to have Carbide Motion show some red text on the main Run screen with (for example)
“Warning: The configured zero point and the loaded gcode file exceed the configured machine dimensions” (or other words to that extend that cause fewer support calls)…
if it wanted to be fancy you also have a “yellow color” version that triggers when you’re within 1/2" or so of the machine size and just tells you that you’re cutting it close.

This wouldn’t stop you from running the gcode, but at least you get to see that it’s not going to fit… and avoid that crash.

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Yeah, and if we do that, and someone runs into a clamp, they’ll still blame us.

That said, my understanding is a 3D visualizer for G-Code is one of the features being considered over the long haul, so hopefully we’ll get that.

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I’m sure y’all get blamed for clamps etc … and this won’t even go close to that… but at least a basic warning for “you’re bigger than the machine” would be nice.

I am just getting back from summer vacation, and I wanted to write a Qt component to visualize gcode during my break… but I didn’t get to it unfortunately, I wrote some code instead to reorder the order in gcode files to minimize rapid travel distance (e.g. the famous traveling salesman problem)

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Oh well, at least you’ll never run out of things to do on that project :wink:

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I am super disappointed in Carbide 3d at this moment. When I called in about buying the Shapeoko pro, I grilled them about ball screws and why none of their machines had them. Why should I choose shapeoko over onefinity…They told me…“why mess with what has been working for us”…and now not too much later they are releasing the HDM which I’m sure has been in the works, especially with the popularity of the onefinity. Had I known it was being released I would have waited, but I’m sure it was all about the sale.

The belts are definitely a little bit of a hassle and the ball screws were definitely an appealing option.

3 Likes