I been trying to use my Shapeoko 3, I have vcarve desktop, designed a 3d bowl some v carve text and a boundry which I had set to vcarve, the 3 d bowl and image inside of it came out perfect, the vcarve text came out nice but the border boundry that was also vcarve went off course ruining the whole project, this was my 5 try at things, each time with all new design and toolpath…help please
You have to test out the machine, and prove out feeds and speeds. Please see:
- http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/Operation_Troubleshooting
- http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/Materials
The most likely culprit is insufficient belt tension (but be careful to not bend the motor shafts).
You may have loose set screws at the motor pulleys. Check all of them and add loctite while you are at it. Half the screws on my machine have come loose already.
What should the belt tension be
One of the screws thaat hold a wheel that rides on the aluminum rail for the z axis was stripped, many other screws were loose, tightened them and it is tighter, I have not tried it yet but tomorrow I will, oh I am sorry thanks for your help, you here are quick and helpful, I appreciate it, will post what happens, I pray it works
Please see http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/Shapeoko_3#Belts link which notes how taut I had to get my Z-axis.
Also, please use: http://docs.carbide3d.com/article/41-machine-operating-checklist
@brothergreg if you want to post the file I can attempt to mill it on my SO3 and see if it turns out better.
It sounds like the border you might want to try a smaller step over or stepdown.
i had a problem with a sloppy bed. It seems to be going along fine. Then the force form the bit jerks the bed back and everything is ruined!
The bed should never be “sloppy”. If it is then a belt or pulley or motor screws are loose.
Thanks for your offer, it was loose pulley screws, however now my machine is untrue, I did my project, but had to shim the right side up, for the first pass, was good on the left yet light on the right, if any advice on truing it up, I believe there is no need to post that I am new