HDZ Upgrade - am I missing parts?

CNC Machines Shapeoko 3
1

I recently ordered the HDZ upgrade, and based on the instructions it seems like I might be missing a few things.

I have:

  • Pre-December 2019 Shapeoko 3 XL
  • Formerly a belted Z

I ordered the HDZ upgrade and appear to be missing:

  • 1 M4 × 6mm Button Head Cap Screw
  • 2 Drag Chain Tail Support Plate - I think I have the 2 Drag Chain Middle Support Plates. The ones I have are just little rectangles of metal with no holes
  • A bag of cable ties (it included a handful but not a bag of 100 - this is probably fine, though)

Additionally, the plates that I have don’t have tape pre-applied, though it came with little circles of VHB tape. How many circles should I use at each point?

For the screw, I just swapped it with a slightly longer socket head cap (I’m guessing this is OK).

Do I need those plates for the Shapeoko XL?

2

Cable management on an SO3 is something of a user-defined experience which varies somewhat by when the machine was made.

Basically, if it looks stupid and it works, it’s not stupid, so pretty much any arrangement which suits ones skills and available materials and so forth should be fine.

Things which help:

  • drilling and tapping holes is a lot more secure and lasting than the adhesive (though the VHB adhesive, properly applied to a clean surface and not subjected to torsion is incredibly long-lasting)
  • strategic usage of additional plates or even a length of aluminum angle can help a lot
  • strategically using zip ties and taking advantage of extra length on them to afford additional stress relief/guidance seems to help a lot

I wrote a bit on this at:

If you have difficulties, upload a photo and we’ll gladly look into this with you.

3

Thanks! I’m not very confident about drilling and tapping holes, so I’m fine with the adhesive for now. Previously I was using thick, double-sided mounting tape to attach the drag chains directly to the rails. I guess my question is, is there anything about the HDZ specifically that would necessitate a different approach? If so, should I try and request the tail support plates which weren’t included, or just DIY something else? And will a single circle of the tape be sufficient for attaching the plates to the rails?