Where to start with this relic

Hey all, I bought a shapeoko back in 2013. I partially assembled it and have since lost all documentation on what model it is, and how to get it finished up and working.

I recall some faint details like getting some upgraded z axis, two y axis stepper motors, grbl shield v4 or something. I think there was a wiki, and a hello world initial type thing to run through with a sharpie.

Would like to get over the hump and prove to myself that I can get this thing somewhat working. My biggest reservations come from the overcoming the software workflow to g-code to sending instructions to the machine.

Any suggestions on how to get started? Where to go to read up on my very old machine? Etc?
Thank you



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The wiki is still on the Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20211127090321/https://wiki.shapeoko.com/

and has gradually been moving to Reddit:

https://old.reddit.com/r/shapeoko/wiki

For CAM, try Carbide Create, see: Carbide Create V7 and

If you have any specific questions, let me know.

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Thank you for this! Still not sure what machine I got

That is the first gen shapeoko.

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Woah … THEEE Winston Moy! I watched a lot of your videos years ago. Very cool you are still here and involved. I am not there yet, but can’t think of a better person to float this question too: I recall these early Shapeoko’s were intended to get a dremel attached to them as the spindle. Are there any true spindles that are in the approximate form factor size wise of a dremel that I could potentially use instead? Admittedly that is many many steps in the future for me but curious

Note that it seems to have some sort of 3rd party after-market belt anchors and also has the dual-drive option.

Folks made various spindle mounts (and there was a “Universal Mount” which @edwardrford did which should have been included).

Changes I would recommend:

  • invert the belts — it makes a huge change for keeping them clean and the aesthetics.
  • through bolts on the Z-axis carriage greatly increases rigidity and seemed (to me at least) to still allow sufficient adjustability
  • replace all the nylon spacers with metal spacers (or stacked washers — metal spacers look better)
  • (maybe) upgrade to 9mm wide GT2 belts
  • make a mount for a Makita RT0701/Carbide Compact Router

at that point, I’d stop and just use it (there was at least one person who was able to rebuild his Shapeoko 1 (after sourcing more fasteners from the hardware store) after completing his upgrades).

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Damn and I thought the Shapeoko 2 at my local hacker space was old.

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Technically it’s brand new. Haha. It’s never been run. Hope to change that.

I do recall opting for the dual y axis motors.

I also made the custom belt anchors, just as a fun thing way back then. Tbh I still like them, but no idea how they function.

I dug around more last night and found the “Universal Mount” it came with.

Thanks for the upgrade recommendations but to be honest just trying to prioritize getting it going.

I do have questions /thoughts tho:

  • would inverting the belts have any performance benefit? I don’t mind how it looks currently and I did make custom belt anchors. lol

  • the through bolts on the Z-axis carriage I will definitely like to keep on the back burner and investigate what it would take.

  • I remember making alum spacers on a lathe. They are on the z axis motor. Are there others?

  • I know nothing about belts. But the idea of swapping for wider is kinda intimidating as I assume other components would need to change/ shift over. Do wider belts improve performance?

Again, thank you for all this guidance and discussion.

I wouldn’t call it a “true” spindle, but for the Shapeoko 2, one of the upgrade paths was for a DC spindle. You can find these on ebay between like 250W to 800W in power. Some could have the RPM set automatically, through I was fine with a manual dial, just like a router.

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Inverting belts is an improvement in terms of keeping them clean.

The nylon spacers are pretty obvious if present — I’d be surprised anyone would make only a partial set, so probably you got them all.

New 9mm belts would need new pulleys and replacement belt anchors and idlers — not a huge upgrade if you are already on Gates GT2 belts, but a marked improvement if you’re on MXL.

Still regretting that I was pushed into selling my SO2 and giving away my SO1 — I’d really would have liked to’ve kit bashed them into a hybrid ~8"x8" XY machine.

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Glanced at my machine and yep there are a lot of nylon spacers. Would be nice to get on a lathe and turn down a bunch of alum spacers but that is not in the cards right now.

The belts are definitely 6mm wide, but I don’t understand how inverting them would work. Wouldn’t that necessitate essentially drilling new hole patterns in the end plates to shift the motors?

I love all this tinkering, or pondering tinkering, but trying to restrain myself to first and foremost getting it running. Again thanks to all for the insights.

Yes, inverting the belts requires new holes, but I think only for the idlers — probably not worth doing, it’s just one of the SO2 changes which I thought made a lot of sense.

Might be able to get spacers at a hardware store.

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