The pause command works great in UGS. I have had to pause a job many times to adjust a clamp at the last minute. Resume starts it right back up perfectly.
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Yep, using the pause command definitely comes in handy. The Pause button in Easel works well too. Better a lost clamp or even project than a lost finger or hand. 
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Not sure why, but the Pause command for me is not terribly useful. If I press pause, my machine will continue to work for quite some time before stopping - I assume the commands are sent to some type of buffer before they’re acted upon.
When things go badly wrong, all I can do is hit the power switch to the controller. Anything else seems to take a minute or so to take effect.
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Are you using UGS?
Yep, I use UGS driven by an old Mac. Everything seems to work instantly except for pause or cancel. Either of these seem to require a whole series of commands to be completed before they do anything.
That is odd, on my PC running UGS 2.0 the pause command stops all motion instantly.
It’s not really an issue as its now expected behaviour. Now when I’m starting a job, one hand is on the mouse, the other hovers over the power switch.
It does however mean that if I panic and kill a job, I’ll need to reset both machine home and X, Y and Z because stopping the machine doesn’t stop UGS. If I’ve been sloppy in selecting zero (and haven’t marked it) anything that’s already been cut will probably need to be discarded.
My next mod is going to be a homing plate or “block”. I know it won’t help for jobs started in the middle of a sheet when I’ve not marked zero, but it’ll at least speed things up.
I see exactly the same issue. There is a significant delay after hitting the cancel button in UGS (1.0.8 and 2.0 pre-release, same behavior) while the Arduino works through buffered commands.
In fact, it’s even more insidious than that.
Just hitting my e-stop and killing power to the power supply ALSO isn’t enough. If I turn power back on the motion resumes. It took me a while to figure out why, but it finally occurred to me that even when the power supply power is killed the USB port on my computer is supplying power to the Arduino. Once power comes back and powers up the gshield, it can move steppers again.
Now that I know what’s going on, I know that I have to hit the e-stop button and then unplug the USB cable in order to be safe when I power back up. Good times.
The “Cancel” button does not immediately stop the tool, it just stops sending new gcode commands the commands in the buffer will continue moving the spindle. The “Pause” button triggers an immediate interrupt and stops all motion instantly.
I have the same issue with the E-Stop, Only my spindle and stepper motors are powered via the E-Stop circuit so hitting it will safe the machine, but if I reset the E-Stop everything will start up in a horrible way if I don’t Disconnect UGS first and turn off the spindle power.
Ah, the PAUSE button. That’s a good tip, I’ll have to try that.
I find that if you pause and stop the spindle to change a broken bit or some other reason it was often difficullt to return to the exact same spot.
I bought a small laser pointer (a dollar store toy for cats - they chase the spot of light) and taped it to the side of the spindle extrusion. When the X-carve stops I turn it on and mark the spot on the spoilboard with a pencil where the laser shines.
I also mark a home reference point for a project’s start so if I have a stoppage and the cutter returns to home that I know it returns to the same spot, or can be returned to the same spot either with the control arrows for “X” and “Y” or manually.
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I like that idea.
When V Carving or using a tiny bit, if I remember, I’ll often let the tool just touch the work at 0,0,0. Leaving a tiny mark at the zero point can be the difference between throwing an interrupted job away and being able to resume work after replacing a broken bit or resuming an interrupted job. Not so useful with larger tools.
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I know this is an old thread, but I found a clamping system for the shapeoko on amazon and it’s been the best thing i’ve done so far as fas as upgrades to my machine.
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Where are the hold downs?
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I think he meant Hole Downs. Lot of them. 
Cheap, effective, quick! These are door shims from the orange box store. I routed a .25 groove down them. The fulcrum should be a little bit higher than the stock being cut. These hold-downs are thin enough that the bit gets raised over them when it is moving from one cut to the next, and they are cheap enough to be sacrificial (as you can see from their current condition).
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This is an old thread, I know, but: given the passage of time, and further use, are you still happy with the (revised) cam profile?
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Thank You!!! Greatest simple idea ever!