Good Morning folks,
I am waiting on an order for the regular SO3. I am trying to figure out what my working surface will be like and am unable to find any information on if there are any cross members on the bottom of the machine supporting the black frames.
I have found that having a rigid and well supported wasteboard that wont sag when being pushed by the Z axis to be important for milling. so I am just wondering what “upgrades” I will need to make or account for.
Hi @CNCNerd,
On the regular SO3, the baseboard is directly mounted to the front and back steel plates, there is no additional mechanical part underneath the baseboard.
Due to the limited size of the SO3, there is usually no sag issue (as you might have seen on the forum…for larger machines, XL and XXL)
If you are really concerned about sag, there are a variety of options:
With the one-piece baseboard on an SO3, the cross-straps the launch edition machines had have been obsoleted: https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/B.O.M.#Frame
My SO3 has an aluminum threaded table:
and I’m planning on mounting it on a DeWalt mitersaw stand and will probably put the MDF base in-between.
@CNCnerd, FYI this is the best thing I have done for my SO3:
I could now stand on my baseboard, and it would not deflect. But I won’t fit inside my enclosure, so I don’t 
oh wow… regardless of it size it would be a good idea to have some bracing. Too bad the alum bed is out of stock because I would have ordered it with no hesitation.
I had an AVIC Pro machine, I am just downsizing, with that said I understand how important it is to have a solid frame. I has a “cnc mogul” back in the day before SO were born (I think). it was a similar machine and I quickly learned a few lessons.
I know I can’t compare a $1,400 frame to 3K frame…but it seem like the SO3 can hold its own on the maker scene(?)
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