Shapeoko 3 XL Setup help

Okay, I’ve looked all over, and I’ve seen conversations started and half finished on this topic. I just got a regular at home and it’s perfect. No problems whatsoever. However, my students wanted one for our robotics club, so we got an XL.

I have seen Motion Table settings from 850x420 to 840x400. Currently, I have my table set to 830x430. This takes away about 1/8" of cutting space, BUT the rapid position is centered with the table…only on the X axis, the Y axis is about 5/8" short of the center (closer to the rear).

What is needed to set up Carbide Motion for the XL? A document attached to the assembly instruction might be helpful.

Thanks

You should start by calibrating your machine for belt stretch:

http://docs.carbide3d.com/article/42-how-to-calibrate-the-machine-for-belt-stretch — moved to: http://docs.carbide3d.com/shapeoko-faq/how-to-calibrate-the-machine-for-belt-stretch/

Then, once you’re confident that 1mm == 1mm you can determine how much your machine can move based on such things as where you have your belt anchors and whether or no they interfere.

If you want a perfectly centered table you’ll need to set the machine so that it has the same offset on the far ends for soft limits as it does from the homing switches — I believe this is 5mm.

It’s just a bit of math, and I believe a good exercise to learn about the machine and its capabilities. Need to find the time to do this on my finally upgraded machine at home.

Thanks, it’s a good exercise.

However, if I do take the 5mm offset and put in 834 for the X axis, the center is off center by… 6mm. So the software is doing something goofy.

Could be. (I know what I’m going to be doing tonight…)

Please write up your methodology for determining this — if it’s sound, file a bug report w/ support@carbide3d.com and hopefully we can get this addressed.

William

I did the calibration with some scrap UHMW, it is off very slightly. 39.956…on the X, and similar on the Y.

However, are there any firm numbers that you are supposed to use when setting up Motion for the XL?

See the tail end of the limit switch installation instructions:

http://docs.carbide3d.com/article/67-shapeoko-3-limit-switch-installation

430 x 430 for SO3.

For XL Shapeoko machines the Table Dimensions should be set to 850 X and 430 Y
For XXL Shapeoko machines the Table Dimensions should be set to 850 X and 850 Y

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Thanks, that is what I needed. If I set to 850, the carriage slams into the left Y plate. 840 bumps the plate, 834 is the same offset as the carriage to the right plate, and 830 is number that gets rapid position to work on the X axis.