I just bought an unopened shapeoko 3 for a really good price. It is an older model. Pretty sure it’s a 2015 model but my question is about the serial number. Mine is 458 and I was wondering if there is a cross reference somewhere that would tell me when it was made. It’s just strictly out of curiosity. Thanks in advance.
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We might have a list which maps serial numbers to specific model variants available at support. #458 was quite early though, I think the initial batch, so should be a “Launch Edition” machine, so:
- belt drive Z-axis
- open bent alu. enclosure and controller w/ Grbl 0.9
- no homing switches
- M3 belt anchors
- 6mm belts
- two-piece baseplate w/ cross straps
You can mostly update it to a current machine (the only things which won’t change will be the belt anchors) by:
- upgraded Z-axis, Shapeoko Z-Plus – Carbide 3D or Shapeoko HDZ – Carbide 3D
- Carbide Motion PCB – Carbide 3D
- while homing switches are included w/ the Z-Plus or HDZ, we have them separately or you could upgrade them alone: Shapeoko Proximity Switch Kit – Carbide 3D or set up your own switches
- Note that to upgrade to Grbl 1.1, either w/ a new board or the updater (contact support@carbide3d.com) you’ll need homing switches to use Carbide Motion 5
- 9mm belts are included in: Shapeoko Maintenance Kit – Carbide 3D — I believe you need to include a note when you order that you have a launch edition and need the pulleys
- for the one-piece baseplate you have 2 options: make your own using the originals as a template (If you do this, I’d set them aside in the original box after spraying them w/ urethane or a lacquer so that you can do so again) and clamping them to a suitable piece of MDF (or see the file at: https://docs.carbide3d.com/support/supportfiles/S3_Wasteboard.pdf ) or get the awesome threaded alu. table: Shapeoko Threaded Table – Carbide 3D
Note that the M3 belt anchors are in the plates, so won’t change — in theory you could drill them out and install PEM nuts, but I actually rather like the smaller ones, for one thing they force me to slow down and get out a camera tool kit which has a wrench which fits them.
To use the machine as is you’ll need Carbide Motion 3 which is available at: Downloads
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