After having been in storage for 3 years (or so) I have finally setup my Shapeoko 3 and attempted my first cut. I designed a simple 100mm x 100m square in Carbide Create 756 and put a couple of words on it. I managed to get the Shapeoko to run the file but the text on the wood is roughly 50% bigger than I would have expected (about 160 - 170mm across). Any ideas what I am doing wrong?
The machine seems to home perfectly, move perfectly (N/S/E/W) and the bitsetter works nicely.
If you are already using a version of Carbide Motion later than 3 then your firmware is up-to-date.
If you have an older machine, and have re-sent the current machine configuration and it’s moving twice as far is it ought for a given command your machine is probably set to 4x micro-stepping — power down and toggle the DIP switches on the controller to 8x to halve the motion.
Thanks but how can not taking into account the diameter of a 6mm tool add 60mm to a 100mm wide design? I could see how it could add 6mm quite easily (3mm each side) Unless it’s adding 6mm for each of the 10 letters and the design is somehow expanding / scaling in the CNC? I will keep reading as you suggest.
Tomorrow I wi try a simple 100mm sided square. If it comes out 150mm big surely it has to be something else!
Just for fun I tried jogging 100mm on the X axis and measuring - sure enough it moves just over 150mm
This would I guess suggest a steps / mm issue? But why?
Found it! -The X motor pulley was on the outside not the inside on the HDZ. Now fixed and cutting nicely.
I presume I missed that step on the HDZ install 3 years ago!
