Thanks for allowing me to join the community. I look forward to the interactions and learning more about CNC.
I’m hobbyist but hope to retire soon and supplement my income through some woodworking projects someday. I recently purchased a Shapeoko Pro XL from a local private party. The machine is in excellent condition with what appears to be very little use (immaculate condition). The bed has the plastic spoil boards with T slots for clamps. The previous owner used the CNC for sculpting ice cubes. He showed me numerous images of successful projects on ice. I’ve downloaded Carbide Create and Carbide Motion. I connected and after a few attempts was able to get my CNC and software all connected, initialized, and the bitsetter figured out. I attempted my first couple of projects this weekend on some simple jack-o-lantern faces in cedar material. I used designs from Carbide Create’s software. I made two attempts and contour cuts in cedar boards of varying widths using the 1/8 end mill bit. On each attempt, the cutters make it’s 4-5 passes and makes its progression to its next depth. Eventually, it continues through the cedar material and into the plastic spoil board. I’ve reviewed all the settings, and from what I see, they appear to be correct. I’ve watched the videos on entering the data, zeroing the coordinates to the project, and entering the material’s proper measurements.
I do recall when I picked up the CNC, the previous owner mentioned trying to troubleshoot a Z axis issue previously, but made is sound like it was resolved with a new Z axis cable. It should be noted, there is a new Z axis cable that is ran and connected outside the normal routing. The other Z axis cable is still routed, but not connected. I double checked the connections, and they appear secure.
Not sure if this is a hardware, software, or user error. Any ideas?