Im wanting to model some adapters for ball screws for the shapeoko pro, but I cant find any of the drawings online for the actual machine, are these available somewhere for those of us who want to modify or upgrade the machine or are we stuck with reverse engineering or modeling the machine components ourselves?
I’m in a similar, but simpler boat. I’ve got a pro XXL on order. While I’m waiting for it to show up, I’m wanting to make a table for it. I’m looking for exact dimensions for the footprint of the machine. I’m not clear if the 50" x 42" x 19" listed on the website are exact or ballpark.
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If you look at the SMW fixture plates, they equal the exact area that the spindle would be able to interface with, there are a strips on either side where the spindle cant reach and the smw fixture plates seem to account for this, I bought enough to cover the entire surface of the pro xxl but you could probably make something yourself from a different substrate
Yes pretty much.
There are no incentives for a company like Carbide3D to release their designs/intellectual property to the public/competitors.
It’s basic commercial logic.
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Im going to slightly challenge that logic, a simple example would be companys that share their drawings prior to a release for the “feeder” companies who make accessories.
I mean, if you think about it, C3d is a company that by and large is making tools for people who are natural “tinkerers”. They know people are going to modify their stuff. Protecting a specific algorithm is one thing, or the rights to art work, but once we have the machine in hand, we have the intellectual property provided you have a set of calibrated or accurate calipers. Most larger companies that sell cnc equipment offer drawings for alot of the machines in order to coordinate workholding and other things you might need them for, its more of a convenience to the customer than anything, just would be nice to have the data so that I could model some components while Im waiting for my machine.
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I’m interested in doing something similar. I agree with you completely, but can see the flip side of the argument as well. I also realize my answer offers nothing 
.
Check out @DanStory’s Instagram… he’s been working up a ballscrew upgrade for S3 machine.
Edit: if you’d like to bounce ideas around, I’d love to join you.
Im probably going to just end up measuring out my rails and fabricating a new mount or something. I have the 3dtech gantry riser plates, which are awesome because they create a gap between the gantry and the side rails which is a perfect spot to put a ball screw carriage. Just need to fabricate some mounting plates for the steppers and relocate them to the end of the machine. Not quite sure yet how i would do the gantry conversion, hopefully there is room between the linear rails and the z axis mount.
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