I’m kind of a newbie, but I have a Shapeoko XL that I received as a gift a few months ago and haven’t had any issues with it, but then all of a sudden yesterday I’ve found the X-Axis missing the mark from where it was supposed to and then moving slightly left farther and farther on each subsequent movement/cut.
I set up the bit setter default position, but every time I load a new tool it misses the bit setter a littler more to the left each time. I was also cutting a tray and it would start farther to the left then it was supposed to after I had zeroed everything with the Bit Zero then on each cut it would move farther and farther left.
It’s as if the movement on the X-Axis is either moving too far to the left, or not far enough to the right.
I’ve tried tightening and loosing the V-Wheels on the bottom, but neither had an affect. The tension on the belt seems correct, it’s taught but not over tight (can squeeze about a finger under it) nor does there look like there’s any damage on it. There aren’t any weird sounds or anything coming from it, and it seems to be working fine just the day before. It also seems to be really easy to stop the movement on the X Axis by hand, one finger with little pressure is enough to stop it, or help it moving.
In the link to the google drive I’ve included pictures where you can see I’ve set the default exactly over the Bit Setter, but each time it moves away and comes back it gets farther away.
I’ve also included a picture of the cuts it was making in wood, those cuts are supposed to be all on top of each other.
Any help is appreciated as I seem to be really stuck! Thanks!
What you are seeing is either skipped steps (forces too high during cutting - slow down the feed rate, increase the spindle speed) or slipping pulleys (addressed with an earlier post - make sure the set screw is tight AND on the flat of the d-shaped stepper shaft). An easy place to start is regenerate your file using a feed rate 25% of what you are using now, turn the router up, and see if it still happens. You only need to watch it cut the first couple levels to see what’s what (you ARE watching the machine cut…right?). Looks to me like the end mill might not be super sharp either - lots of tear-out on the bottom of that larger pocket cut.
Hi Brian, Thank you so much! That definitely seems like it was the issue. I went to tighten those screws and found they were very loose. I tightened them up and tested, but noticed a tiny bit of slipping again, I checked the screws again and found they were loose. I removed the x axis motor and found that the screw was not sitting on the flat part of the stepper shaft. I was able to adjust that and re-tighten and it seems to be working again. I’m going to upgrade those little screws like in the link you provided so hopefully it doesn’t happen again!
Yeah it looks like the screws were not on the D portion of the stepper shaft. In fact, it was pushed in too far to make contact with that portion.
I don’t think the speed or plunge depth was the issue as it was missing the mark when turned on, but I think you’re right on the sharpness. I was using a #201 bit, but maybe that wasn’t the right bit for the job in hardwood. There was lots of left over ‘fluff’ on the tops of the cuts that the bit didn’t cut off.
Glad that post solved your problem. Such a simple solution, the included grub screws are inadequate. On my prior post it was escalated to the Carbide team, but looks like they still need to take action. @WillAdams - is there more information Carbide needs to make a change on the pulley set screws?
