Tips for a Newbie?

[goldbug68 (Bill Willis)]

Shapeoko 4 arrives Tuesday. Excited to get it setup!! Will be our first CNC. Glad there is a forum with details to many questions. Any setup tips or first use pointers would be awesome!

[veteranbicycle (David Lewis)]

CNC is just an alternate method of expressing a design. Learn CAD and you will be able to take full advantage of the power of your new tool!

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

First, find a suitable flat surface — some folks find more than one helps — things you need to account for:

• the machine itself
• tools and parts which you will be working with
• assembly instructions or a tablet or laptop

View the assembly videos:

How to Assemble the Shapeoko 4 CNC Router

and

Assembling the Shapeoko 4 XL: The Lost Commentary

Write in to support@carbide3d.com and get a draft copy of the XXL instructions.

Once the machine is up and running the considerations become:

• computer
• measurement tools
• workholding and associated tooling
• where to place collets and tooling and associated tools
• where to lay out and prep stock and if need be cut to size
• where to lay out cut parts and post-process them

Other considerations:

• safety — eye and hearing protection? does the material you’re cutting warrant a filter mask or respirator?
• dust collection — if at all possible, a system w/ a 2.5" hose (much quieter and less likely to clog)

Start w/ inexpensive stock and don’t commit to anything expensive until feeling confident in the machine and your workflow.

If you have any further questions, ask here or at support@carbide3d.com

[ehendrix (Eric Hendrix)]

Some things are self explanatory. Others you can figure out on your own. Then after that is where the Carbise3D Community comes in.

We are all here to help each other.

Enjoy your new toy!

[goldbug68 (Bill Willis)]

Thx for the tips! Working on shop layout that includes dust collection, separate internet, work space, etc. Will definitely get the copy of the xxl instructions. Pretty mechanical so I am thinking it shouldn’t be too tough to build. Been spending a lot of time reviewing software and process to get images or designs to svg and ready for gcode. I have for sons that are up to speed with all the software so hoping for a short learning curve

[fenrus (Arjan van de Ven)]

start… not TOO complicated…
and get some cheap bits to start with… mistakes will happen and snapping a $5 bit doesn’t feel as bad as a $40 one.

also read the ebook and go through the tutorial section here to see if there’s ideas you like… they’re mostly entry level capable

[Kel (Kelly Freeman)]

Will, I’m going to jump on this thread with a couple of questions. I’ve been watching videos and researching machines for about a year now. I’m a newbie as well. I’ve already purchased Pro XXL and delivered. I’m building table for the CNC now. My first question is, this CNC will be in the garage and my home computer is in the residence…is a separate or additional computer needed for the CNC in garage? is there a tutorial video for this portion of set up? thanks for any assistance.
Kel

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

You need to have a computer to connect to the machine and control it. If you’re using our software (Carbide Motion) it needs to either be a Windows or Mac OS X computer which meets our system requirements:

Carbide Motion Machine Control Software

or, a Raspberry Pi 4:

Carbide Motion on a Raspberry Pi

If you’ve got a Raspberry Pi 4 lying around give this a shot over the weekend: https://carbide3d.com/carbidemotion/pi This was a quick R&D project and we just got it working a few hours ago so we haven’t tested it too much yet. We don’t know if the Raspberry Pi will become a supported platform for us yet, but let us know if you find it useful. PS- Be sure you run sudo apt-get update before trying to install this package if you’re on a fresh Pi install

That latter will afford the option to run headless and to control the machine wirelessly using a tablet or phone (for values of screen sizes where the touch input will work).

Basically you just plug things up and configure per:

Setting Grbl Configuration in CM 517 and later

Carbide Motion 517 uses a new system for setting Travel Dimensions which is potentially confusing: [image] Pressing the Load Defaults button takes one to a window which allows one to select first machine size: [image] and then Z-axis type: [image] after which selection the Travel Dimensions for the selections made are entered into the dialog and will be preserved if one clicks “Ok” (and of course that change discarded if one selects “Cancel”). In addition there is a “Send Configuration…

and then run “Hello World”:

"Hello World" in Carbide Motion 536 and later

Carbide Motion has received a number of updates, and the screens have changed a bit. Here is a version of “Hello World” done using the new version. At the page: there was a link to the files needed for this in a .zip archive — this has now moved to: https://my.carbide3d.com/gswso/09/ https://docs.carbide3d.com/tutorials/hello-world/s3_hello_world.zip click on that link to download the files: [image] “Save” Once the file has downloaded: [image] “Open Folder” The folder will open in…

I don’t know that anyone has covered that aspect w/ a video — it’s so simple — but of course if you have difficulties or a problem, let us know at support@carbide3d.com and we’ll do our best to assist.

[ehendrix (Eric Hendrix)]

@Kel

My first question is, this CNC will be in the garage and my home computer is in the residence…is a separate or additional computer needed for the CNC in garage?

Welcome to the community Kelly.
I too have my main computer in the house and my SPXXL in the garage.
I have a separate laptop ( Some use a Tablet.) to actually operate the SPXXL with a thumb drive holding my Gcode files. This is nice for when I need to make changes and only have to take the Thumb Drive in the house to my other computer.

It is a pretty straight forward setup. Easy operation. Carbide Motion is not a large learning curve. Only have to get use to the processes.

Have fun with your new toy.