hello everyone,
I’m having major issues (my fault!) with my Shapeoko 3.
I have two questions,
how can i determine if the two stepper motors on the y-axis are moving the same distance for a given Y axis displacement?
and I was wondering if anyone knows if the Nema 17 stepper motors are a direct plug in replacement for the motors on the Shapeoko as they don’t say and the support people are not being very forth coming (unfortunately).
The NEMA 17 motor is the same however you may need to replace the connector. Usually if your Y axis is not running the same it is the belts and/or the pulley. Check that your stepper motor pulleys are tight and one of the grub screws is on the flat spot of the motor. You can put a permanent marker across the pulley and shaft and then job back and forth and see if the pulleys and the mark are still lined up. Also check your v-wheels for tightness and any gunk on them or the rail.
Can you elaborate?
The motors are sent the same signals and should move the exact same number of steps. If they don’t, you have an issue with your wiring or a motor or the driver.
They are 23s, not 17s
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I cut the blank too small and ploughed the bit into a stainless clamp. if i had put the clamp 1cm further to the left it would have missed…
Once i get up and running again, i will make some wood ones 
needless to say, the Shapeoko wasn’t happy. I will check the pulleys and grub screws, the belt tension is ok, but obviously i will need to demount them to look at the pulleys etc.
Testing the x travel is trivial as there is only one motor. i’ll try marking the pulleys on Y and see if they move the same amount.
the reason why i say something is amis, is after the accident it makes a horrendous noise (sometimes) and i have lost accuracy, i didn’t notice as i was doing pieces where absolute dimmensions didn’t really matter, but i was trying to cut some circular holes in 3mm MDF, and it didn’t come out as 40mm but around 38 or so. but the hole, visualy appears circular, just the wrong size, so it makes me suspect something with the X-axis.
Nema 17s was a guess, but i couldn’t find any info telling me what they actually were. Thanks, i can source Nema 23 and Nema 23 high couple (20 kg/cm) directly here in France which was why i wanted to know, otherwise i have to pat VAT and import duty from stuff coming in from outside the EU.
As an aside, i did get a reply along the same lines from support. But i thank you all for your ideas and suggestions.
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