About 95 boards cut so far (or a 180 board project), and I’m already learning skills I had absolutely no intention of learning. First, I have shut the machine off and reset it 279 times with 284 zero’s. Yes, I kept tabs. On Average I cut 1 board about every 5 hours of actual labor. Yeah, Im new to all of this but thats tons of work. I mean if I didn’t have a Phd and I wasn’t a Paintless Dent Repair Technician who takes stuff apart for a living… I wouldn’t have cut anything. In all honestly, I need at least one more machine exactly like this so I can steal parts from just to keep her up and running.
Left Y axis started rattling, then buzzing, then jamming, followed by HM009 errors and what appears to be a pretty catastrophic failure. After replacing the stepper motor and homing sensor with no improvement, I tore into it and found ball bearings coming out of the ball nut.
I don’t know yet if the ball nut caused the original problem or became collateral damage from something else. I’m currently attempting to repack it and find out. Apparently owning a Shapeoko 5 Pro means that by Week 2 you’re expected to be a CNC operator, machinist, electrician, diagnostician, and master of repacking tiny ball bearings into places human fingers were clearly never intended to reach.
Machine: Shapeoko 5.1 Pro 4x4.
Boards cut: FML
Return on investment thus far: I have acquired several new job skills.
You mean call the number and talk to the message machine? Yeah, Ive done that and had no luck. Im 99.9% sure that this isnt the actual cause of the “real” problem. Either way, Im seriously thinking about disputing the charge on the American Express card and just sending it back. Too many problems this soon. I may try my luck with a different brand. Im open to suggestions.
It isn’t clear from your message if you already contacted support. If you’re packing bearings then something went wrong somewhere. Maybe you got a faulty machine or maybe it’s user error, but either way, C3D support is generally responsive - especially so given that your machine is under “no-fault” replacement warranty. They also have free 1x1 video training sessions for new users.
I know the frustration of failed cuts and I hope you get things resolved soon.
I’m on my second machine in 8 years and have used support more than I want to admit. They’ve always been extremely helpful and proactive. If calling doesn’t work I typically send an email.
Bearings don’t just fall out of the ballscrew or the linear motion hardware on their own. The system doesn’t generate enough force to make that happen. When we’ve looked into similar reports, what we usually find is that the ballnut was removed from the screw, and once that happens, there’s nothing retaining the balls so they will come out every time. That’s the nature of a ballscrew, not a defect.
I don’t know what that red grease is, but Mobil Vactra is the recommended oil. If you prefer grease, Mobil EP1 or EP2 works. For the ballscrew itself, I’d stick to oil.
Our support team has seen more of these machines than anyone, and they know the patterns and what to look for to get you running. Reach out to them directly at support@carbide3d.com and they’ll get you sorted. They work from a single queue of phone messages (which are automatically transcribed and added to the queue) and emails to fairly handle everyone in the order they contacted us.
I did figure out how to pack them myself. That was the solution. I had to take everything apart and clean everything. Then painstakinly push them into place…she purrs like a kitten now…Still…like a kitten made of paper on a rainy day.
