I’m going to begin assembling my Shapeoko XXL this week. I am planning on setting it up in my garage. But, I live in PA and it can get very cold in the winter. So, before I did this - I wanted to make sure that the cold wouldn’t hurt the machine. Will it be OK out there?
There’s been a bit of discussion about this — consensus as best I recall:
- condensation on the electronics is a potential concern — if possible, use a lamp to warm things up slowly and an enclosure to limit moisture
- belts are well w/in their operating temperature range (even up in Canada), but temperature expansion may be a concern — before doing a job w/ exacting tolerances it may be necessary to recalibrate for belt stretch: http://docs.carbide3d.com/shapeoko-faq/how-to-calibrate-the-machine-for-belt-stretch/
Actually, it has a lot in common w/ a car in terms of mechanicals and so forth, so should be fine — just we expect it to perform w/ a bit more precision.
FWIW, I keep mine (an XL) in my basement and move it out onto the deck for some cuts, then put it away.
1 Like