It is open source hardware and open source software
It is newish
Low risk to the makerspace
Cons
I put it together (I have poor fine motor coordination)
Z Axis is wobbly - [6]
May not be quite square on x-y
I put it together (see example cuts [4])
High maintenance
High noise (acoustic)
I am not looking for a free fix of the Shapeoko, but I recognise that it may need some tweaking to get the best results. I realise that I may at end of any load period I may have any of the following:-
Broken machine (i.e. a write-off)
Better machine
More dust and disposal charges
Reduce life-span of machine
Another loan period
Missing
Drill bits and other consumables
Manuals
Expertise
When
I am planning to be in the Makerspace on Tuesday 2nd. Happy to bring it along then or another time.
My Questions
1 – How do I avoid any personnel liability for usage ?
2 – Loan period, ( 6 months ?)
3 – I would not like to be maintainer or instructor (see “Why”) above.
4 – Labelling ?
5 – Access control (short, medium and long term) ?
3 - Comments noted, no rush. It more that I think the Space will need an expert or guru for using rather than the any tune-up. I do not want to this to be a fix-up project, rather a kick-start to the space to help make an informed decision for this post - https://discourse.southlondonmakerspace.org/t/cnc-router/320
Export/Guru as ssing a laser cut the toolchain is quite short and by comparison (IMHO) easy. A Shapeoko/CNC has a tool chain which has not easy defaults. I still have not cracked it and one of the reasons the machine is collecting dust. The nearest I have is these steps
a) (Make 2D or 2.5D files) CAD/DXF/SVG generator
b) ( Convert to gcode) cam.py or http://jscut.org
c) (Send gcode to Shapeoko) GrblServer
Step B) is not trivial and does not have many Free/Libre options. So I think an Induction should be required (see risk assessment). Yep - someone(s) needs to take responsibility.
@RichM (mostly) and I (a bit) Vacuumed. Tightened. Realised the carriage was hitting the base plate at the back right. Tweaked some more. Realised it really isn’t square or even height.
Found you could measure height of carriage from base plate by putting the callipers in the aluminium section groove. Measurements at present are
Rear Left - 10.35 12.0 - Rear Right
Front Left - 10.0 10.95 - Front Right
That needs sorting before it’s going to do accurate work.
Didn’t get as far as sending the test job, as the ‘Universal Gcode Sender’ linked from the shakeoko docs didn’t connect to the Arduino. Didn’t look into that any further (it’s also from 2012, so I suspect the world has moved on to some better thing)
@bmsleight - What I don’t see, however, is the Pi?
Yep - the PI was not listed in the equipment in the last post. (In situ).
I was having trouble connecting the PI (with https://github.com/cho45/GrblServer) to the Shapeoko. I had previously run it direct form a standalone machine. I was aiming to tweak after the laser training, but ran out of time at >2300, so did not want to leave something non-functioning. I suspect the firmware may need reloading on the Arduino - as your comment and my failed attempts to connect over the last day.
(Not) Missing Pi – Ah, yes. Was looking at the top post list. Let’s get it cutting properly before thinking about, ah, user experience refinements like the Pi with GrblServer.
Is the firmware stock Shapeoko / whatever-the-Arduino-project-is-whose-name-I’ve-forgetten? ie. Do we need to know any special settings?
Next steps: further structural tweaks to square it, Arduino firmware re-load.
Been playing with the shapeoko - I have re-squared all the aluminium extrusion, calliper claims around 1mm difference of height between bed and X rail, so quietly optimistic. Tightened up spindle bracket, no wobble now. Not sure X rail is 90º to two Y rails, but no wobble so we’ll see how it goes.
I uploaded latest version of firmware with what claimed to be Shapeoko2 defaults then realised I didn’t make a note of any of the settings from the 0.8 firmware
I have the spindle moving fine with https://github.com/winder/Universal-G-Code-Sender (version 1.0.8 set to 115200 baud for 0.9 firmware) - I had to set axis X and Z inverted after firmware update, but now it isn’t moving the right amount of distance - getting around 10mm movement when I should get 1mm movement.
