Swap Left / Right X axis mounting plates

[ClayJar (Nathaniel Klumb)]

I have done the swap on my XL, and I’m loving it. Some details:

• You’ll need to drill a new hole in each Y plate to be able to move the X-axis belt. I used a 3D-printed drill guide (from the second thread below).
• You’ll need standoffs, nuts, and new machine screws for the motors so they’re mounted far enough off the plate for the Y-axis belts to line up (the McMaster-Carr part numbers are in the same thread). You’ll want to sand down a side of one standoff per plate to gain pulley clearance. You’ll also need to pop the pulleys off the motors and flip the pulleys around.
• You’ll need to make a stop block and remount the Y-axis switch (easy) or remount the switch (harder) so homing Y works.
• If you use a Suckit, you will either need to make a stop block (easy) or cut some custom arms (not hard) because the black Suckit arm may crash against the large belt pulley nut.
• You’ll need to finesse the wires a bit, probably (but I didn’t need to change any wiring).
• You’ll need to change one and only one GRBL setting to update the Y axis direction. This is utterly trivial, and no changes in your designs or how you use them are necessary.

If you’re actively considering it, I can collect the information I used and get it all together here in a more concentrated format. I spent a little time ordering everything and getting it all together, but doing the actual conversion once everything was ready turned out to be pretty straightforward. I gained 60-some millimeters of on-deck Y axis travel, and that’s proven to be exceptionally useful when I’m using my J Tech laser (which mounts off the front side of the router mount).

References

I used two threads as references when I did my conversion. The first I used more as background:

Alternative S3 construction to move usable space

This was on the FB group, looks like one or two discussions here also, but no pictures. This is NOT my build but something Mark Jurisch did. Some of the elements were flipped around such that the cutting area on his S3 is fully over the stock wasteboard instead of some of it hanging over the front. Thought it might be worth discussing, as I know I have little use for vertically mounting boards, but would happily reclaim an inch or two of usable cutting area. [image] [image]

The second thread had additional useful information, including some from me when I did my conversion:

XXL Aluminum Baseboard

My Shapeoko 3 XXL should arrive in a couple days and I’ve been reading about issues with the MDF base sagging. I’m thinking about getting the wasteboard made out of 1/2" aluminum before I assemble to provide a more rigid base. I still plan on installing a threaded MDF waste board on top of it. I believe I found the drawing for the stock mdf board is two pieces. Can any one confirm if my drawing would work for a 1 piece base? [image]