Run my XXL with only 1/2 of it’s stock base/spoil board installed?
Bear with me… I’m trying to make my XXL a little easier to carry around. The idea is to pocket out 1/2" deep recesses in the underside of the stock spoil board so that I can install these:
Yesterday I discovered the Z Axis issues when trying to go >100mm in the -Z direction. So I suppose I could do this pretty easily with a trim router BUT the other idea would be to remove 1 half of the stock spoilboard and put it on top of the other side and use the Shapeoko to create the recess zeroed in the SE corner. Then rinse and repeat for the other side in the SW corner.
On a scale of 1 - 10: 1 being kinda dumb… 10 being you could kill something.
I won’t give it a score but most people want to install a stiffer baseboard to make it stiffer. Id the baseboard is cut in half, assuming you keep the front remove the back, you may have an issue keeping it square, you would have nothing to keep the tension front to back which would affect tramming. IMO, for the amount of weight you will reduce, you will create yourself a lot more issues than you will gain from this.
If you need more depth, you can go deeper in front of the Shapeoko frame. The Y axis moves in front of the frame and you can place something that goes below the baseboard.
Mark, don’t do this. Put your machine onto something, make is square and don’t move it again (in relation to the “something”.)
You’re just going to keep knocking it out of square, etc.
An XXL is quite large but moving it around is not a good idea. If you are limited in space look around on the forum and people have all kinds of work arounds. You could put the XXL on a platform that you could lift up above your work area. You could make a rolling table so when done with the machine you can put it in another part of the shop.
If you decide to lift it make a torsion box for the machine to sit on and hoist it up on the air. Just dont try to move it around the results will not be good.
Perhaps I did a poor job explaining myself… Heres an illustration, I’ve colored the 2 XXL wasteboard half different colors so you can keep track. I’m asking the question of… can the Shapeoko XXL run with half of it’s washboard installed… so that I can modify the other half the wasteboard?
Too all those providing this advice… I know, but it’s not a possibility for me. Too much footprint and too infrequent of use to crowd the space. It would make many other tools impossible to reach or use while running. Simply can’t do it. I’ve consulted with several folks about how big of an issue this will be for me and given I’m doing primarily wood shaping… not say personalized cutting boards with engraving or milling .75" aluminum and I’m okay with scarifying a bit of accuracy.
Maybe you should consider something like this support an X_Carve owner built to save room. It could be modified to further reduce the footprint and take the whole thing on wheels.
It would be much safer. It is not a question of losing a bit of accuracy but creating issues that would make your Shapeoko unreliable.
You asked. I think you got some good answers - It’s going to twist in all directions, and it’s going to be hard to get and keep square even if you don’t move it. If you do move it, it’s going to be all over the place.
You asked for ranking on a scale. You won’t get killed, you won’t hurt anyone else. It’s not a terrible idea to explore, but in the end, really not practical. It’s above “dumb” but well below “that gave me a hernia.” Maybe somewhere around “That tasted so bad I think you gave me cancer”
All kidding aside, I don’t think you’ll be very happy with where you end up on this. The XXL is a big machine, it’s heavy, it’s not really stable without a stiff platform underneath it, and the “wasteboard” is replaceable, but also a structural part of the machine. You really need it in place that much more when moving it, not less. You might consider changing out the wasteboard for something stiff and flat, but weighs less - maybe plywood with a .25" mdf facing on top that can be milled flat in the work area?
We are still mis-communicating… All I want to do is install some handles on the underside of my XXL so that I can move it FULLY assembled more easily. My only question is… do you think I can recess out the holes using the shapeoko and not a trim router workflow that I pictured safely and with more accuracy then a trim router?
Step 1: Remove half of stock wasteboard
Step 2: Flip removed stock wasteboard 180 degrees so it is upside down
Step 3: Place removed washboard on top of other half that is still installed
Step 4: Recess holes for handles
Step 5: Reinstall removed half
Step 6: Install handles into recesses
Step 7: Move more easily
We get it. Taking that off to make it more mobile as not a great idea. Picking up the machine and moving it isn’t a great idea (step 7). Putting handles on it to move it isn’t a great idea - it’s not intended to take forces from there (7).
We’re telling you that moving the machine isn’t a great idea. Your ultimate goal isn’t a great idea. We’re skipping ahead from “Well, yeah, of course you can pocket?” (Step 6) to “Wait…what are you trying to do?” (Step 7)
The machine can readily make the pockets for handles using the process you describe. (step 3 and 4) That’s the sort of work it’s intended for, and really good at.
Lol okay thanks; I was just concerned that running the pocketing operations with only 1/2 of the wasteboard on the machine would cause problems.
PS I never suggesting moving it with the wasteboard off; that’d be silly and way too much of a pain in the ass. I’m planning to add a supplementary wasteboard so it’s only going to get heavier. Need the handles to make it less awkward that’s all.
I don’t think anyone above has suggested moving without wasteboards on it. quite the opposite. They think that moving the machine using handles is going to get you out of square and is a dumb idea.
As I.
There was a post either here or maybe the FB forum (might have even been instructables) that someone had taken a shapeoko or xcarve and mounted it to baseboard and then used pulleys to pull the front up and out of the way when not being used. Way better idea than twisting it while picking it up.
Do a search for other solutions. Otherwise…
