Request for input on setup

CNC Machines Shapeoko
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Hi, just got my new Shapeoko 3. Setting it up and its looking good and I’m looking forward to the potential it holds.

However, I set it up according to the directions but I am looking for your help if I need to take another step with squaring before using it.

  • I’ve measured the diagonals, they are within 1/16in of each other,.
  • The waste board is parallel to both the front and rear frames
    But,
  • when the gantry is fully forwards, there is a parallel gap of ~1/8in between the left plate and front frame
  • and when the gantry is fully back, there is a gap at the back right corner.

Is this cosmetic or can/should I do more to get it right?
Thanks in advance!

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The community has a bit on this at: https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Calibration_and_Squaring_the_Machine#Squaring_the_Machine and you can write in to support@carbide3d.com for guidance if needed.

Unfortunately, the gaps as described will interfere with homing, even if the balance of the machine is square — a quick work-around is to add a small block to the back right corner to facilitate homing if the rails are parallel and square otherwise.

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I have had the exact same issue with my new XXL setup. I could never get the “gap” to go away even though everything else seems quite square and parallel. Kind of frustrating! So far my only work around has been to manually pull/hold the gantry into the correct position up against the end plates (no gaps) prior to turning on the machine. THEN once I “power up” the ol’ gantry the stepper motors seem to do a good job of holding things “square” on their own. Seems to cut okay after I’ve done this each time, but I’m not sure if this is a good long term solution. Could it be putting some undue stress and wear on the stepper motors? It’d be great to know what I can do or need to do for a permanent fix.

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That technique was described for “Poor Man’s Homing” for machines w/o homing switches, so you should be fine.

To square up the machine, it should be possible to identify what lack or surplus of material is causing it to be out of square and either shim or file things to make it square.

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Thanks Will! So are you saying I should “measure” each of the Y axis rails to see if they are the same? And if not, either Shim or File accordingly (should they NOT be the exact same length)?

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The extrusions are probably the same length, the problem is that one or more ends are cut at a slight angle — you’ll need to shim and or file things to square things up.

It may be that you need to shim things.

It may be that you need to remove all the extrusions, stack them, clamp them together in alignment, then draw file the ends to square them up.

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I have the exact same issue. Diagonal measurement exactly the same. But the X extrusion does not sit square so I push the left side back while turning it on. I thought about the X extrusion being cut out of square but dismissed it saying that C3D quality must be better than that. I hope it is anyway.

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