Month: November 2016
Shapeoko upgrade (12) – wasteboard + closing up
Last but not least, I decided to put a new wasteboard in place. I had 2 pieces of 6 mm MDF cut to 750 x 750 mm panels. Then, cut a hole pattern in both of them that matches my threaded insert spacing.... Read More
Shapeoko upgrade (11) – new Makita mounting brackets
Ever since I installed the linear rail Z-axis, my spindle hasn’t been mounted perfectly perpendicular to my bed. The old mounts were a tad flimsy and not 100% identical.  The widening of t... Read More
Shapeoko upgrade (10) – Gecko G540 / Mach3
I actually almost forgot to write a little something about maybe one of the more substantial yet invisible upgrades: I ditched the whole Arduino/Gshield setup and bought a real CNC controller: theÂ... Read More
Shapeoko upgrade (9) – Drag chain bracket
Next project on the block: making a new drag chain bracket. I actually made one ages ago mostly with hand tools, and it worked to a degree, but there definitely was some room for improvement. So here... Read More
Shapeoko upgrade (8) – Aluminium Z-plate
A new day, a new project. Today: cutting a plate for the final version of my Z-stage out of 4mm aluminium. Why have a plate and belt drive at all instead of direct drive? Well I mentioned this before:... Read More
Shapeoko upgrade (7) – New belts, pulleys and idlers
Ok, so now that I have the much more powerful 276 oz-in NEMA 23 motors driving my machine, I went on and replaced all the pulleys and idlers in order to have them accept 9mm GT3 belting. I do this... Read More