I was looking at the same solution to increase the size of the table I was using for my original PRO XXL. How flat are those laminated project boards?
Also, just got the shipping notice for my 5 Pro XXL! Was originally supposed to ship on the 24th, so they are definitely ahead of the quoted lead times!
My longest spirit level’s edge indicates pretty flat. Where they butt-up I had a lip I sanded down…but that was the worst of it. I would say level enough for the job, but definitely not what we would call machine level. I also used four pieces of Unistrut to help connect the top pieces.
I did go thru Lowe’s stock of the 72"x30" project boards and picked the two best ones. My main consideration was warp/cup.
ER 11 for collet flexibility. Thought about the air cool spindle but deferred that till later. Also never asked if it works with the 5.
Would also be very interested in a capable laser attachment
I have put tennis balls (sliced open) and or furniture pads to help with stability/ movement. If you need leveling support might look at shims on the table top. Shims can be tricky things though
Yes, the 65mm VFD spindle kit works perfectly w/ the Shapeoko 5 Pro.
Good choice and if you do transition to the air cooled, I believe it is ER11 as well. At least you wont need to buy new collets.
I did the exact same thing buying the pricey kreg table and casters based on that recommendation in the video. Was also a bit startled by all this talk about these are not the casters you’re looking for.
As I stated in the video, I’ve used this type of table in my shop for years and really like the base it’s provided for the 4x4 here in the shop. Adding all the cabinetry below should further strengthen the overall structure. It’s a blank canvas for you to create your own solutions underneath.
We will be adding drawers and cabinetry to ours. A drawer in the front of the table has been sorely missed.
I have these under my HDM enclosure. Total weight with HSM is probably 800ish pounds. I don’t move it frequently so it is generally sitting firmly on the pads. Plus you can level with these.
Well…
I was excited when the doorbell rang, unfortunately it was short lived…
Both boxes came completely mangled. The UPS guy even tried to say it was Carbide’s fault for the way they package everything… The table slats and gantry are all banged up so that sucks. And one of the ballscrews definitely took an impact.
I’m not sure if I’ll attempt to put it together at this point today.
I will say, all the pieces look very nice, I still can’t wait to get this machine working, but man, what a bummer!
Apparently I can only upload one picture, so I’ll start with this one.
Here are some others:
And some more:
Were all the pieces just thrown into the box without any protection?
Please let us know about that at support@carbide3d.com and we’ll do our best to get it sorted out as quickly as we can.
Will do Will!
Sending now.
For reference, this is how this box is packaged:
Anyone who has any issues w/ their shipments should let us know at support@carbide3d.com and send us photos of the packaging and parts are received.
Oh wow, mine definitely fell off the truck a few times then haha. I’m missing a few of the smaller foam pieces. All the “fragile” tape was open before it arrived so I assume anything could have fallen out and they hastily taped it up.
Ah, yes, the UPS adage of “wasn’t packed well enough.”
I worked at UPS 25 years ago in Dallas. The main hub was ill equipped to handle the size of boxes they would accept. Boxes that were larger got carted around on cart wagon trains to reduce damage. When I worked in the automotive aftermarket and shipped a lot of car exhausts, they would end up banged up a lot, and that was more recent. I wish they would invest in the infrastructure to properly ship what they will accept.
We’ve had issues with UPS recently as well; abusing and ruining oversized items. Appears they didn’t even slow down to unload @Hivetyrant’s boxes.
Wish I could say FedEx was any better, but as anyone who had ordered pet food from Chewy probably would agree FedEx sucks too.
It’s frustrating, I’ve always had good experiences with UPS. Fedex is 100% the worst though, I’ve refused to buy things from companies that use them before.
